Lord Sebastian Coe wants West Ham to vacate the London Stadium for the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
The event would require the Hammers to leave for around three weeks during the 2029/30 football season.
Although he did not explicitly tell West Ham to make way, Coe suggested that it would be the right thing to do.
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Sebastian Coe wants West Ham to vacate London Stadium
London is among four confirmed cities bidding for the 2029 World Championships, alongside Rome, Munich and Nairobi.
West Ham’s London Stadium remains the United Kingdom’s go-to athletics venue, having hosted the 2012 Olympic Games.
The timing of the World Championships (September) means that West Ham will need to vacate the stadium mid-season.
The club have so far refused to cooperate, claiming a “contractual right” to prioritise the football season over athletics.
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Coe suggested this should not be the case, given the favourable deal West Ham agreed for the stadium after the Olympics.
2012 London Paralympics - Day 10 - Athletics
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“I’ve sat on the board of one Premier League club, and I’m very close to another one, and I think they would have been pretty satisfied with that deal,” he told The Guardian.
The Olympic gold medallist continued: “All I would say is that I would hope that there is a recognition that outside the Olympic Games and the World Cup, this is the third-largest sporting gathering in a four-year cycle.
“I do ask cities to try to accommodate us. There has to be a recognition that it’s a big global sport. This is not a gimme to anyone.”
The initial deadline for London to bid for the 2029 World Championships is 3 April, but the final deadline is not until August.
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