World Cup Bid Could Change Olympic Stadium Plans

Media sources revealed that Baroness Ford has suggested plans for the Olympic Stadium after London 2012 could change, if England won its 2018 World Cup bid.

Ford, who heads up the company responsible for seeing that the Olympic Park benefits the area post-Olympics, has claimed that the plan to scale down the main stadium’s capacity may shift, especially if it becomes a big part of England’s 2018 World Cup bid.

London 2012 organisers have maintained a strong opinion that the stadium in east London must meet various obligations for the benefit of community use, such as an athletics track and be reduced to 25,000 seats from 80,000.

However, the possibility of winning the bid to host the World Cup has put forth a reason to keep the stadium at a certain capacity.

With that, Ford allegedly plans to carry out a review of stadium use to ensure that the ‘right kind of operators’ take care of the stadium, referring to the work she did with the Dome, which was successfully converted to the O2 arena.

The legacy plan for the Olympic Stadium has already faced a series issues regarding its use after Closing Ceremonies.

After professional rugby and football teams failed to show interest in moving to the venue following the Games, various legacy and community-beneficial schemes were proposed, including turning it into an ‘athletics hub’, a sport academy for youths, as well as making it a place for concerts, large conferences, and possibly American football matches.