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Athletics meeting could displace West Ham

West Ham United will be forced to temporarily move out of their home if the World Athletics Championships is staged at the London Stadium in September 2029.   Last week the government announced that it would provide the financial backing for a bid, with £35million from the Treasury and a further £10million from the London mayor’s office now guaranteed.

However, the championships now forms the finale for the international track and field season as part of a new World Athletics initiative, meaning that the nine-day event will likely take place after the start of the 2029-30 football season.

September will be the preference for World Athletics, should London be chosen, and organisers would therefore need to look for the event to coincide with the international break at the start of the month, which usually involves a midweek and weekend game.

That, however, would not fully resolve the fixture issue for West Ham. The process for changing the seating configuration that is required to accommodate the athletics track is far quicker than the 15 days it used to take, and can now be done in as little as four days. But that still means the organisers of the athletics event would need the stadium for between two and three weeks, insiders estimate.

There are certain contractual obligations that mean the London Stadium has to allow for a limited number of global sports events to take precedence.

Of course, some West Ham fans might be pleased to see a few games in a stadium where the seats were nearer the pitch.   The London Stadium is not ideal for football even if it was secured for the club on favourable terms.

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