West Ham Win Bid For Olympic Stadium, Spurs To Stay In Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur lost and it sent waves of joy through Tottenham. The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) executives have picked West Ham United's bid for the Olympic Stadium over Tottenham's, essentially awarding the stadium to West Ham after the 2012 Olympics. The OPLC board, London's mayor and government must still sign off on the decision, but it would be considered a massive shock if they attempted to overturn the decision.

West Ham appeared to be the more popular bid between the two. The Hammers proposed to keep the athletics track and downsize the ground to 60,000, but keep the stadium intact for the most part. Tottenham, who teamed with entertainment giant AEG in the bid, proposed to tear the stadium down and build a new one in its place without an athletics track and a 60,000 seat capacity.

The athletics community has been squarely in West Ham's corner because they will keep the athletics track and allow the city to host major athletics events. It also allows the city to keep its promise of an "Olympic legacy" that was made when they won the right to host the Games.

Tottenham supporters have been outraged at the thought of the club leaving Tottenham for the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, which is in East London. Now, the club will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out their stadium future. Spurs' current stadium, White Hart Lane, holds just a tick over 36,000 people and is over 100 years old so the club has been actively searching out a more modern and larger ground.

A plan to build a new stadium next to the current stadium was largely popular with supporters and received approval from the Haringey Council, but the club's chairman, Daniel Levy, has recently said that it is no longer an option. Whether that is actually the case or it was posturing to win the Olympic Stadium or get a better deal from the local government on the stadium plans will likely become clear in the coming months.