Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham are in a straight fight to take over London’s Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.
The future of the 80,000-seater venue in Stratford, east London, has been a bone of contention, trying to match the Games organisers’ pledge for an athletics legacy with the need to make the stadium viable in the long-term.
The Olympic Park Legacy Company confirmed it would enter final negotiations with the bid led by Spurs with the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), and also the bid by a consortium of West Ham and Newham Council, an east London local authority.
The English Premier League sides’ rival bids will go head-to-head, with the OPLC aiming to have its preferred tenant named by early April.
“We are very pleased with the extensive and serious interest shown in the stadium,” said OPLC chair Baroness Margaret Ford.
“We started this process to ensure the very best legacy for the stadium, and we are now at a point where we have selected the two strongest bids.
“We will go forward to start negotiations with the two consortia of Tottenham Hotspur and AEG, and West Ham United and Newham Council.
“Securing the most appropriate and viable solution is crucial for our long-term aspirations for the future Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park area.”
The two-tier stadium was designed so that the upper tier could be removed, leaving a 25,000-seater athletics venue.
The OLPC will now choose which bid can best enhance and build on those existing, government-approved plans.
West Ham plan to convert the stadium into a 60,000-capacity arena for football, athletics, concerts and community use. AEG have said they have no plans to retain an athletics track and do not consider it a deal breaker.
Many within British football believe a running track around the pitch spoils the atmosphere, with fans far away from the action, particularly behind the goals.
Though a common practice in continental Europe, an athletics track at a football stadium is a rare sight in Britain.
West Ham have been at their Upton Park ground in east London since 1904. Since 1993 they have built three new sides to the stadium, bringing its capacity to 35,300.
Spurs have been at White Hart Lane in north London since 1899.
The ground has a 36,300 capacity. They have plans to create a new 56,000-seater stadium on the present site.