Tottenham register interest in the Olympic Stadium

Tottenham have registered an interest in taking over the London 2012 Olympic Stadium, the club has announced.

Spurs join fellow Premier League side West Ham in submitting a formal interest in the 80,000-seater stadium.

"It is only prudent and good management that we ensure that we investigate all possible options for the club," said Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

Spurs also had planning permission for a new stadium in north London approved by Haringey Council on Thursday.

The official deadline for submitting bids to take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games passed on Thursday.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company, which is overseeing the process and hopes to select a tenant by March next year, would not say how many firms had expressed interest in the east London arena.

"I can confirm we have registered an interest in the Olympic Stadium site within the deadline of September 30, in conjunction with AEG [Europe], the world's largest entertainment and facilities management company," revealed Levy.

"We were informed by the Olympic Park Legacy Company that were we not to register an interest at this time, there would not be an opportunity at any future date.

"We have always maintained that we wouldn't undertake any project that could undermine the overall financial stability and future success of the club and this shall remain our guiding principle going forward and in determining our best option in the interests of the club and all its fans and stakeholders."

Levy was delighted at the news that the club's application for planning permission for a new stadium - called the Northumberland Development Project - was approved.

"I should stress that there is still much work to be done. We shall continue to work with Haringey Council and the application will now be considered by the Mayor of London and referred to the Secretary of State.

"We shall keep everyone connected with the club updated over the coming months as discussions continue with the various public sector bodies," he added.
Meanwhile, West Ham players Carlton Cole, Mark Noble and Scott Parker were at Downing Street on Thursday to present the club's joint bid to run the 2012 Olympic Stadium, with the club and Newham Council having delivered their bid earlier in the day.

Their plan is to convert the stadium to a 60,000-capacity arena for football, athletics, concerts and community use.

heh, that'd be ironic. Spurs leaving North London... for East London. I actually thought it was being converted to a much smaller capacity than that, though it'd be interesting to see them trying to fill a 60,000 seater in Stratford. Good luck trying to get any atmosphere going in that thing. West Ham territory and presumably a nice big running track around the pitch. Wonder what it'd do to the rivalry...

It'd be like we'd bullied them out of North London after having moved from Woolwich all those years ago.

Now doesn't seem to be a good time to build new stadiums; Liverpool are considering ground-sharing with Everton after having set-backs to their original stadium blue-prints and now the Spuds are considering scratching their original stadium plans. Would certainly be a hit to the locality of the rivalry but I imagine the thumb-biting will persist.

Hah, been winding my mate up (who's also my boss) about it this morning.

Anyway, i can't see this as anything but a last resort unfortunately. They've also had planning permission granted this morning for the new ground. Like Don says, now is not a great time though, and that doubt must be in the back of their heads.

Yeah, I thought it was going down to the 20,000-30,000 range (seated) not 60,000.

Apparently it is, yeah. Some of the 'layers' of the stadium are only temporary or something.

5 days later

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/05/tottenham-hotspur-olympic-stadium

The prospect of Tottenham Hotspur abandoning plans to rebuild White Hart Lane and moving instead to the Olympic Stadium moved a significant step closer yesterday when the club's corporate partners revealed plans to ditch the running track after the 2012 Games and spoke openly about outflanking West Ham's rival bid.

AEG, the US sports and entertainment company that turned the Millennium Dome from national embarrassment to a huge success story as the O2 Arena, was bullish about its chances of securing the stadium and claimed its partnership with Spurs was the only one that could fulfil the Stratford stadium's commercial potential.

The Olympic Stadium option has previously been talked of as a "back-up plan" for Spurs but it is understood that the idea is now under serious consideration as an alternative to rebuilding White Hart Lane.

:hmm:

I'd be curious to see what their plans for the running track were. If they wanted to put seats there it'd be very low-rise.

Some of it is only temporary seating. Man City did a similar thing with the City of Manchester. It'd be easily done.

Well, not temporary seating as such, but it'd be easily replaced i think. Bit like flat pack furniture 😃

Thing is, the capacity of the Olympic stadium is to be reduced from 80,000 to 25,000 once the games are over. Why and how would that be done? What would it mean for Spuds' ambitions of acquiring it?

'Why and who' what? 'By whom'?

Anyway, It's usual practice these days to build Olympic stadia in this way, unless you actually have a need for a huge capacity stadium these are far cheaper and then provide a more modest state-of-the-art facility in a usually prime location for whatever takes the city's fancy.

Sydney's stadium is an example of one which came down a bit in capacity, but still houses loads for Rugby and League etc., but London already has a big stadium so I don't know how Spuds will go about this.

Fold-ups like James suggested.

So it's to save on maintenance costs then? I meant to ask how it would be done, rather than who it would be done.

Well, I don't know exactly. London's plans are more extreme it would seem, since they already have Wembley and Twickenham etc.

The Sydney stadium was a much lower reduction 'cause they actually wanted a big stadium afterward - Stadium Australia. The reduction was when they got rid of the track and made it suitable for ovals.

China's stadium is a wasteland. In other words, you need a tenant if you're going to keep it large. It would cost Spuds a fair bit I reckon.

Don Pacifico wrote:

So it's to save on maintenance costs then? I meant to ask how it would be done, rather than who it would be done.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11418422

Not the best, but gives you a bit of an idea.

London's going to an absolute zoo one would think.

3 months later

I saw this too.

Doubt they'll move though. They'll give the stadium to WHU.

Either way, it's going to be brilliant.

Please, please, please. Please. One more luck; please!

Stratford Hotspur 😆

That'd be brilliant. Although an AFC Wimbledon situation leading to there being two Spurs isn't a great thought...

Not sure what i want tbh. One the one hand Sp*rs would have to move from north london and maybe get renamed. On the other it's gonna be a 60'000 seater stadium on the relative cheap--£200 million less than it would cost them to redevelop WHL.

I probably want to see them move, but even if they stay it's good because it's gonna cost a fortune to rebuild their current shitty stadium.

I really feel like it's win-win for us.

On the one hand they might get the decision go their way, they might even end up with a better team after a while and maybe even a few more trophies (wouldn't be hard), but the cost it would come at would just not be worth it, not even close. They'd have to lose everything they are, and they'd lose fans without doubt. Some might even keep going, but it would never be the same. You can't just create history or give a club a soul - and if they move to a completely different part of London, change their name, that's exactly what they are doing; ripping the soul out of the club. Which would be great and just fine by me.

The great part is if they don't win, they start down the tortuous road of trying to build a new stadium. In a shit hole of an area, that can't really handle a new stadium of that size and all it entails. It's just great. I want them to win the decision though. In the short term it might even mean they're more threatening, but long term it will mean the slow death of the club.