London Olympics: Baseball's Return May Cost London Extra £50m

An extra £50m will be added to the cost of the London Olympics if, as looks increasingly likely, baseball and softball are restored to the programme for 2012.

It had seemed that Regent's Park, which would host the sports, would be used only for staging daily evening concerts after the International Olympic Committee controversially decided in July to eject both sports from the games. The voting in Singapore was so close there is now intense pressure from both sports' governing bodies for another ballot to be held. Softball fell one vote short of the majority needed to stay on the programme, the vote tied at 52-52 with one abstention, while baseball lost its place by only three votes. Under IOC rules 53 votes were needed to remain.

They were the first sports to be dropped from the Olympics since polo in 1936. The IOC then rejected the opportunity to add any sports to replace them, turning down applications from rugby sevens, golf, squash, karate and roller sports.

Baseball and softball representatives have visited the Lausanne headquarters of the IOC within the past few days and have lobbied Jacques Rogge, the president, to hold another vote at the general assembly to be held in Turin before the winter Olympics next February. Under IOC rules at least one-third of the 115 members would need to submit a motion to consider a new vote. Then half the membership would need to vote in favour of the motion. If that passed, the sports would again require a majority in favour to win reinstatement.

If the sports are restored it will cost London £50m to build temporary venues to host them. A spokesman for London 2012 said it was fully prepared to absorb the extra expense if the two sports were voted back. "It's entirely a decision for the IOC as to which sports are included in the games," said the spokesman. "We will deliver the games the IOC want."

The restoration of either sport could also have a significant impact on their future in Britain. Great Britain have never qualified to play in the Olympics at either sport but they missed out on qualification for the softball in Athens last year by one place and the British Olympic Association had planned to offer financial support to ensure they were competitive in 2012.