Sadiq Khan backs London bid for 2040 Olympic Games as mayor pledges to make city 'the sporting capital of the world'

Daily Mail​

28-04-2025

Sadiq Khan wants London to host the 2040 Olympic Games as part of his quest to make the city 'the sporting capital of the world'.
London 2012 proved to be a monumental success and Khan, Mayor of London since 2016, is determined to bring the Games back to the UK.
The Olympics were held in London in 1908, 1948 and 2012 and hosting the Games for a fourth time would be a record.
The 2040 Olympic mission is part of a strategy aimed at boosting the economy by bringing a series of sporting competition to these shores.
A report published by the Mayor of London's office on Monday revealed that the staging of six events last year, including the Champions League final at Wembley and the London Athletics Meet, as well as regular-season NFL and Major League Baseball games, generated £230million for the capital. It also attracted almost 500,000 sports fans to the city, with more than 200 million viewers tuning in across the globe.
Khan also intends to join forces with British Athletics and UK Sport to submit a proposal to host the World Athletics Championship in 2029. The Championships could be worth as much as £400m to London and provide the perfect springboard for the Olympic bid.
England, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have already been confirmed as hosts for Euro 2028, while the 2035 Women's World Cup will also land on these shores.
London will also host the Women's Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham this year, which is expected to attract a world-record crowd for a single full-sided women's rugby event.
And Khan said he will hold meetings with the government 'in the near future' to discuss a bid for London to host the 2040 Olympics.
LA and Brisbane are hosts for the 2028 and 2032 Games while India is the favourite destination for 2036.
'I was in Paris last summer and I saw the transformation of their city,' Khan told the Times.
'But we could knock it out of the park in relation to the Olympics, using the assets we already have in the Aquatics Centre, the stadium, the Velodrome.
'And we could have some events outside of London, too. London could be a hub.
'When it comes to major sports events, the public and governments are not unreasonably nervous about a huge amount of money being spent on infrastructure.
'But the reason why 2040 makes sense for London is because we could do it in a brilliant way but also very cheaply.
'An Olympics in London wouldn't cost a fortune but the benefits would be humongous.'
Officials at the Mayor of London's Office are also ambitiously targeting the Superbowl.
The staging of American sports in London has proved hugely lucrative according to the report created by Think Beyond. US Sports events have generated an 'estimated spectator spend of over £600million' since the first NFL London games in 2007, with more than three million fans attending in that time.
The Super Bowl will be held in California in February 2026 and 2027 and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, is the location for 2028.
But there is a gap from 2029 onwards and the five-hour time difference to the East Coast of the US should not present an insurmountable challenge.
Howard Dawber, London's Deputy Mayor for Business and Growth, told The Sun: 'If they were ever going to host it outside the US, we're already the obvious place to do it.
'What I would say is the Mayor has made it clear that it's a long-term ambition. It's something we would like to do. And you know, there's conversations.
'With the NFL looking to promote itself globally, having a Super Bowl outside of the US, in a location that's more accessible to a lot of its core fanbase in western Europe, that makes a lot of sense for them as well.'
The London Mayor's financial commitment to sport would have pricked up ears at Chelsea Football Club.
The Blues' owners are considering either redeveloping their existing stadium at Stamford Bridge or purchasing a site at Earl's Court to build a new home.
The latter would require consultation with the mayor's office and Khan is open to starting some form of dialogue with the Premier League club.
'My message to Chelsea is come and speak to us in relation to what you want to do,' Khan told the Times.
'Chelsea are the victims of their success, and Stamford Bridge is now too small for them. After all, this is a team that has twice won the Champions League.
'We work closely with all seven of our Premier League clubs but I'm sure Chelsea look with some envy at the stadiums some of their rivals in London have.
'We're really keen to make sure that Chelsea, as we are with all our clubs, continue to flourish and thrive, so we're open to talking to Chelsea about what plans they have. At the moment they've not approached us. But we're here.'