West Ham, Tottenham and Leyton Orient are all set to do battle for use of the Olympic Stadium when the London 2012 games have finished.
All three football clubs are keen to move into the striking arena in Stratford alongside rugby union side London Wasps, several nearby county cricket clubs and even AEG, the entertainment company behind the revival of the Millennium Dome.
To help decide who would be the best tenants we’ll take a look at what has happened to Olympic stadiums from the recent past.
Beijing 2008.
The eye-catching Bird’s Nest was the centrepiece of the first games in China. It cost 423milloin US dollars to build but has yet to find a proper use since.
The local football team who were supposed to take up residence backed out and plans to convert it into a retail and entertainment complex have yet to get off the ground.
It currently makes a steady income from one-off sporting events and the hordes of tourists and locals who pay a nominal fee to be shown around the complex every day.
Athens 2004.
Originally built in the 1970s and refurbished for the 2004 games, the Spiridon Louis Stadium is currently home to the AEK Athens football club.
The well-used arena has previously been home to rivals Olympiacos and Panathinaikos and staged the 2007 Champions League Final which online betting favourites AC Milan won against Liverpool.
Sydney 2000.
Stadium Australia is now known as the ANZ Stadium since the Sydney games has hosted a Rugby World Cup Final, the domestic rugby league final and the Australian national football team.
The Wallaby rugby team are also regular visitors as is Twenty20 cricket to a venue which is also home to several local sports teams on a regular basis.
Atlanta 1996.
It cost 207million US dollars to build but was still not deemed good enough by future tenants, the Atlanta Braves baseball team.
When the dust had settled on the troubled Atlanta games they set about tearing large portions of the stadium down and out of the ashes rose their current Turner Field home.
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Barcelona 1992.
Finding a tenant for the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys has proved troublesome for the Barcelona authorities.
Between 1997 and 2009 the city’s second football team, Espanyol, played their homes games at the stadium perched on top of the Montjuic hill which stands to the south-west of the city.
Since they moved on to a new purpose-built arena, the only major event staged at what has been described as a ghost town was this year’s European Athletics Championships.
