Proposed Chicago Olympic Stadium To Get London's Sloppy Seconds?

By Marcus Gilmer in News on May 27, 2008 8:01PM

We've heard about "going green," but Chicago 2016 is taking recycling to a whole new level. Spokesman Patrick Sandusky stated that the group has been in discussion with London officials about possibly reusing parts of London's stadium, being built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, in the proposed Washington Park stadium. Sandusky claims, "What's important to note is they have a similar concept in terms of re-purposing the stadium, so we're talking to them about how to best use a stadium and how to leave the best legacy." Both stadiums would hold around 80,000 seats for each city's respective games, but the London stadium will be renovated to a 25,000 permanent seat structure, while the Chicago stadium would only hold 5,000 post-Olympic permanent seats under current plans.

Even if recycling London's stadium isn't feasible, Sandusky said the talks are worth it.

"The bigger discussion point is, 'You proposed a similar type stadium [as Chicago's]. How do you best plan for delivering a stadium like this?'" he said. "They've given us a lot of advice in that regard."

Chicago is expected to make the IOC's shortlist of candidate cities for the 2016 games (most likely along with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo) in June. The games will officially be awarded in October 2009.

Image courtesy of Chicago 2016