Yankee Stadium

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Lore & Background

Land preparation for the stadium began in mid-2007, with construction officially starting on 22 May 2008. The stadium held 80,000 people for the Olympics and the Paralympic games, before it was remodelled between 2013 and 2015 with 66,000 seats, but with capacity for football limited to 60,000 under the terms of the lease. The decision of what happened to the stadium post Olympics had to be run twice after the first process was delayed by legal cases and a complaint to the European Commission in regards to state aid. It was decided to run a second round of bidding for the stadium, this time keeping it in public ownership and seeking an anchor tenant instead of an owner. The stadium has been owned and operated by different companies starting with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). In October 2012, the whole park including the stadium was handed over to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) who set up a subsidiary company with Newham Council known as E20 Stadium LLP in July 2012 to oversee the stadium. In 2015, Vinci SA were appointed to manage the Stadium for a 25-year period through London Stadium 185. Newham Council left the E20 Stadium partnership in 2017 and their stake was taken by the LLDC. The LLDC bought LS185 from Vinci in 2019. In January 2025 the LLDC relinquished their interest in E20 Stadium LLP and LS185 to GLA Holdings Ltd. E20 Stadium LLP was renamed London Stadium LLP on 3 April 2025.

In Their Own Story

The stadium site is on former industrial land between the River Lea (which rejoins the Navigation below Old Ford Lock), the City Mill River, and the Old Pudding Mill River, parts of the Bow Back Rivers. Another branch of this system, St Thomas' Creek, 200 metres (660 feet) to the south, completes an 'island' surrounded by water. 200 metres (660 feet) to the east is the Waterworks River; with the London Aquatics Centre on its eastern bank. This 'island' site for the stadium lies at the southern end of the Olympic Park. To make room for its construction, the already partially obstructed Pudding Mill River, a short channel of the Lea that ran from the west side of the stadium south-eastwards across the site, was filled in. A number of businesses were required to move for the stadium and park. During the bidding for the 2012 Olympics a group of businesses in Marshgate Lane, where the stadium was to be built, wrote to the IOC to withdraw their support for the plans due to unfair treatment. It was found in 2005 that the site of the stadium was host to Queen Mary College's department of nuclear engineering, which had a small nuclear reactor.

Reader's Guide

Great Britain had bid for three successive summer Olympic Games between 1992 and 2000. There had been two failed attempts to bring the Olympic Games to Manchester, and one to Birmingham. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) indicated that if Britain was serious about hosting the Games, then a proposal from London would be the one that the committee would listen to, according to British Olympic Association (BOA) chief executive Simon Clegg. In 1997 the BOA appointed David Luckes to conduct a feasibility study about hosting the games. By 2000 Luckes had come up with two proposals: one based on west London around Wembley Stadium, and one involving the regeneration of an area of east London stretching from the Isle of Dogs, through Stratford and north into the Lower Lee Valley. Culture Secretary Chris Smith removed athletics from a Wembley stadium rebuild in December 1999. A new stadium was announced in March 2000 for Picketts Lock in the Lower Lea Valley to host the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. In October 2001 Great Britain withdrew from hosting the World Athletics Championships at Picketts Lock and the proposed stadium was cancelled on cost grounds. When Beijing won the 2008 Olympic Games in 2001, this left the way open for London to bid for the 2012 Games using the land earmarked in east London. London Mayor Livingstone supported a bid for the games as long as it regenerated east London. In 2002 Mayor Livingstone stated that the proposed site was in Stratford. In May 2003 the British government gave the go ahead for an Olympic bid. London's bid book was submitted to the IOC in 2004 and confirmed the idea of an Olympic park and stadium in the east of the city. The IOC awarded London the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games after the city won the most votes in July 2005.

Did You Know?

• The stadium was originally constructed for the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics, serving as the athletics venue and as the site of their opening and closing ceremonies.
• Land preparation for the stadium began in mid-2007, with construction officially starting on 22 May 2008.
• The stadium held 80,000 people for the Olympics and the Paralympic games, before it was remodelled between 2013 and 2015 with 66,000 seats.
• It was found in 2005 that the site of the stadium was host to Queen Mary College's department of nuclear engineering, which had a small nuclear reactor.
• Vinci SA set up a subsidiary company called London Stadium 185 (LS185), with the 185 signifying how many medals were won by British athletes at the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.