Athletics' plan to kick West Ham out of stadium for up to three weeks
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.
The formal bid from UK Athletics, UK Sport and the other stakeholders will also need to cover alternative dates in July and August. But 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.
That would, therefore, mean the Premier League fixtures — as well as Uefa fixtures, should West Ham qualify for Europe that season — being arranged accordingly, with the east London club playing all their matches away from home over that period.
All of West Ham's games during the event would need to be played away from home
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The Times understands there are certain contractual obligations that mean the London Stadium has to allow for a limited number of global sports events to take precedence.
A London Stadium spokesperson said: 'We are delighted that London Stadium is seen as a potential venue for the World Athletics Championships in 2029, one of the biggest events on the world sporting calendar. The 2017 Championships we hosted to sold-out crowds were a huge success, bringing investment and more than £100million in economic benefits to London.
'It is early days in the process for 2029 and full details of any bid are to be developed, including potential dates for the event. During this process we will work closely with all our stakeholders, including West Ham, to make sure any benefits to the venue, city and country are considered fully alongside all other requirements.'
Jack Buckner, the UKA chief executive, said: 'We will be having that discussion with them.
'But we are delighted to now have the government support for this bid. There's a ton of work. But to get to the start line, it feels great. And that level of backing and support is massive.'
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