Olympic Games: New London Stadium Not for Football

London's proposed Olympic stadium will be downsized to provide the capital with a world-class athletics facility rather than being passed to a football club after the 2012 summer games, according to the mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

The stadium, which will be the centrepiece of the Olympic Park in east London if the city is successful in its bid for the 2012 games, had been expected to pass to a football club after the games, with West Ham the most likely tenant.

However, instead of being leased in the way the Commonwealth Stadium in Manchester passed to Manchester City, the intention is to reduce the stadium's capacity and use it to attract other international events to the capital, Livingstone said.

There is a possibility that the stadium could be used by a rugby club but football has been ruled out as a partner because of the more onerous fixture list.

"Sadly West Ham will not get the stadium," Livingstone told a London 2012 fringe meeting. "Instead we will scale the stadium down to around 25,000 or 30,000 seats and treat it as an athletics facility."

He said the decision not to pass the stadium on was a "more creative" option and that a lasting athletics legacy in the capital would be a more attractive option for International Olympic Committee members when they came to examine London's bid.

"It will engage the IOC because it's the sort of facility that will attract world-class sporting events to London in the future," he said.

The mayor, whose office has agreed to underwrite the upkeep of Olympic facilities after the games in order to ensure the bid leaves a viable legacy in London, said the stadium would also house a sports academy.

Livingstone is effusive about the benefits the Olympic bid has already brought to the capital, not least by forcing London transport up the list of priorities in the department of transport.

"Without the bid we would never have got the East London line improvements through," he said. "It was bottom of the Strategic Rail Authority's list of priorities but the bid got it up the list and the improvements are happening."

The North London line, which runs from Greenwich to Woolwich and passes through the proposed Olympic zone, is expected to be passed to Livingstone for improvements next year.

The mayor's attentions will shift tomorrow to the business community when he addresses a meeting of more than 250 company heads in London.

He will tell the reception, which will be attended by guests from FTSE 100 companies, that the games would generate thousands of new jobs and business opportunities in the capital.