Entertainment giants set for Olympic battle
Two of the world's giants in the entertainment industry have confirmed they are set for a fascinating battle to use the Olympic Stadium for concerts after the 2012 Games.
I broke the story in June that Live Nation, the world's biggest concert producer, was considering a bid to turn the Park into a major music venue.
have announced that they have reached an agreement with to put on concerts in the main stadium if the club wins the right to move in after 2014.
The decision follows an announcement last week by , the owners of the (the former Millennium Dome), that it has also put in a bid for the stadium together with .
This is a major commercial battle. AEG has turned the 02 into the and it certainly won't like the idea of a rival moving onto its patch just up the road.
Live Nation has major artists like Madonna, U2 and Lady Gaga but more importantly it runs about 140 venues around the world and puts on 20,000 concerts each year.
The fact is that the Olympic Park has better transport connections than the 02 which has struggled in recent months with .
With a massive new shopping centre on its doorstep, the Olympic Park will also have plenty of pre-concert entertainment for music fans.
What's interesting is whether Live Nation is going to be bidding for the handball arena too, as I was told in June.
That would give the company a major indoor arena as well as the outdoor concert venue. I am still waiting to get an answer on that.
I'm ´óÏó´«Ã½ London's Olympics Correspondent, which means I report on every aspect of the preparations for 2012. I'm going to be telling you what people are saying about London's preparations - both in the Olympic corridors of power and on the streets of the capital - and I want to hear your views.
Comment number 1.
At 8th Oct 2010, Alex Richardson wrote:I wil be seriously worried and disappointed if the Olympic Stadiums legacy is anything other than in Athletics. We made a promise to the bid organisers to provide London with a lasting legacy from the Olympics. The Olympic stadium is central to providing a legacy to Londoners. To have the Stadium turned into a football or events stadium would be disastrous and we would have never have won The Olympics if the future of the stadium would be as a football arena.
It saddens me that people forget about the pledges they make and seek profit rather than establishing a vibrant athletics scene in the UK (which would stem from the Olympics Stadium).
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Comment number 2.
At 8th Oct 2010, RobH wrote:I hope Spurs lose this bid.
The Northumberland Development Project is absolutely superb and will result in one of the best football stadiums in England being built. I'm also very much behind London 2012 leaving a tangible athletics legacy, and always have been. To lose the NDP would be sad, to lose it and see my club ruin London's Olympic legacy as well would be a travesty.
So, as a Spurs fan, I say good luck to West Ham.
If Chelsea also build a new stadium in the next decade or so (they can surely afford to) we'll have four clubs in London playing in 55,000+ seat stadiums, plus London will have a world class athletics facility when West Ham aren't in the Olympic stadium. And on top of that we'll have the aquatics centre, velodrome, handball arena. Contrast that to where we were in the 90s - with Stamford Bridge as the biggest London club ground and Crystal Palace as our "jewell in the crown" of London athletics, and we have the potential to become an even greater sporting city than we already are. I don't want Spurs to dent that by messing with the Olympic stadium legacy and setting aside the brilliant work they've already done on the NDP.
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Comment number 3.
At 8th Oct 2010, Tiger Rose wrote:I can't see the Spurs bid winning. It seems to be only a contingency plan for them, Spurs fans understandably want to stay in North London, the Athletics lobby wants to keep the track & I haven't heard anybody within the Organising committee or the politicians say they are in favour of tearing up the track so it's very much a wild punt on Spurs part.
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Comment number 4.
At 9th Oct 2010, Olga Rikova wrote:@Alex Richardson (#1) - I would be quite happy if there were any legacy of the Olympics at all left after 2012. I was in South Africa earlier this year for the World Cup and am now out in Delhi for some photographic coverage of the . The atmosphere has been amazing in both locations but the thoughts about what happens to the developed infrastructure post-event are scary - you can read that as roughly non-existent.
Both in South Africa and India the stadiums and the additional purpose-built infrastructure are likely to become white elephants going forward. At least there are some viable options available to use the stadiums for something else in London - I'm grateful for that considering I still feel the event is a royal waste of money for the UK.
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Comment number 5.
At 10th Oct 2010, Pratish wrote:@Olga - I have to agree.. being based in South Africa currently and having seen the amount spent on stadiums and the like for 2010 when a significant amount still needs to be spent on basic education etc is worrying. Think you'd enjoy this cartoon and editorial I spotted on a local political blog some time back... the survey included with that blog post was also quite interesting with the majority of voters preferring the money be spent on education.
Still, the situation in London with 2012 is different. UK is not a developing country and with morale in the City particularly low, perhaps London needs the social benefits and excitement even more than the South Africans did or that the Indians do with the Commonwealth Games. If the O2 centre didn't become a white elephant I'm certain the Olympic stadium will not either.
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