London 2012 Organizers Unveil Plans For Olympic Stadium

Plan Calls For 80,000-Seat Facility To Be  Reduced To 25,000-Seat Venue After Games

Organizers of the London 2012 Olympics today revealed plans for their Olympic Stadium, a "coliseum-style stadium" in east London that is a "more cautious design" than Beijing’s Olympic Stadium, according to Tom Lutz of the Manchester GUARDIAN.  The venue is designed so that it “can continue to be used on a smaller scale after the Olympics," with plans calling for its reduction after the Games from an 80,000-seat facility to a 25,000-seat “multi-purpose venue with athletics as a major use.” No anchor tenant, such as a soccer or rugby team, has been found. Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said, “This is a very important Olympic milestone and this stadium is focused very much on legacy and sustainability. Once the Games are over this will then be translated into a stadium that will not only host grand prix athletics events and other national sport events but will also serve the communities of the boroughs.” Lutz adds the permanent seating will be built on a concrete bowl sunk into the ground, a design architects hope “will bring spectators closer to the action.” Chief Stadium Architect Rob Sheard of HOK Sport said, “The atmosphere inside this bowl, we think, will be pretty special”  (Manchester GUARDIAN, 11/7).  More Sheard: "This is not a stadium that’s going to be screaming from the rooftops that it’s bigger and more spectacular. This is just a cleverer building. This is a cleverer solution” (BBC SPORT, 11/7).

Stadium Budget Nearly Double '04 Estimates

DOUBLE UP: With a price tag estimated last month at US$1.04B, the stadium’s budget has “nearly doubled” from the US$588M ’04 estimate given during London’s bid for the Games (Manchester GUARDIAN, 11/7). But in London, David Bond notes the final cost “could be higher” than that. The figure Olympic Delivery Authority Chair John Armitt gave the London Assembly last month “was a forecast and is only 80[%] certain of being the final cost.” The final bill “will only be known once the work is complete," a year before the Games (London TELEGRAPH, 11/7).  Also in London, Owen Slot notes the construction contract received "only one bidder,” Team McAlpine. This “hardly left London 2012 in a position of strength to negotiate” the price. Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium was built “by the same construction company at less than half the cost” (LONDON TIMES, 11/7).