Olympic Legacy
To Cost Further £200M

The Olympic legacy may cost UK taxpayers a further £200 million ($325 million) and finding a future tenant for the purpose-built stadium will likely take a year longer than expected.

The money is needed to cover the cost of the London venue’s conversion and having 25,000 retractable seats on the lower tier, covering at least part of the athletics track.

 
Six years ago when retractable seating was first discussed by the Olympic Park Legacy Company, the idea was tossed because the plan was to have a national track-and-field stadium.
 
The legacy company, now headed by London Mayor Boris Johnson, appears to have done something of a U-turn on the seating in a bid to make the venue more soccer-friendly.
 
London soccer club West Ham United seems the favourite to move into the stadium because it’s now the only viable tenant that doesn’t want to tear up the athletics track.
 
The club is negotiating with Johnson and Dennis Hone of the London Legacy Development Corporation, or what was the Olympic Park Legacy Company, to thrash out a contract and agree how much the Hammers will need to pay toward the stadium’s conversion costs.
 
The Daily Telegraph reckons the soccer club will need to find an annual rental of £2 million, in addition to paying the government a slice of whatever ancillary revenues come in. 
 
AEG and Live Nation are competing to be the stadium’s entertainment provider.