Outgoing UK Athletics Chair Calls For Liverpool, Birmingham To Use London Stadium

Outgoing UK Athletics Chair Ed Warner said that Liverpool and Birmingham "should ask to use London Stadium for athletics" as part of their 2022 Commonwealth Games bids, according to the BBC. Warner said that it is "more cost effective" to use the stadium, which hosted the 2012 Olympics and 2017 World Athletics and Para Athletics Championships. Warner: "The first one to make the call has the knockout bid." Liverpool's plan will see a temporary athletics track put into Everton's proposed new stadium, while Birmingham is planning on refurbishing Alexander Stadium, the home of the national championships. Warner said, "If I was leader of the Liverpool or Birmingham bid I would be ringing [London Mayor] Sadiq Khan and say, 'You know what, can we have the athletics in London and we will do everything else?'" Both cities will be inspected in August, before the final decision in September (BBC, 8/13).