Olympics-2012 stadium considered as 2018 soccer World Cup venue

London's 2012 Olympic Stadium may have a future as an 80,000 seater soccer arena if city officials succeed in including it as part of England's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup finals.
London United, the body organising which of the capital's stadiums should be part of the World Cup bid, the Olympic Stadium have confirmed, along with Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur's proposed new stadium, is part of their plans.
Should England host the 2018 World Cup, Wembley would be used for the opening match and the final and it is unlikely that three other London venues would also be used.
"London United would like to put the Olympic stadium forward as a potential venue for the 2018 World Cup bid," a London United spokesman told Reuters.
Sebastian Coe, the London Olympic Committee (LOCOG) chairman and part of the 2018 bidding team, insists that the legacy use of the stadium will be chiefly athletics, with the Games capacity of 80,000 being scaled back to around 30,000 seats.
In July Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell ruled out the Olympic Stadium being used for the 2018 World Cup, however the newly formed Olympic Park Legacy Company, responsible for planning post-Games use of the venues, has not ruled out the idea of it being retained at its larger capacity.
"The Olympic Park Legacy Company is currently looking at the legacy use of the Olympic venues including the stadium," a spokesman said. "Nothing is ruled out and nothing is ruled in, at this stage.
"It is taken as read that the stadium will fulfil all its legacy obligations in terms of elite sport. Between now and Christmas, we will work through our review to determine the best additional uses of the stadium and its optimum size.
"We remain supportive of London's 2018 World Cup bid."
The 16 English cities bidding to be included in the 2018 bid must submit their proposals before the end of November with a decision on what 12 cities will be chosen in December.

London 2012 Olympics receives £39m Airwave boost

The Home Office is spending £39m to boost the capacity of the Airwave radio system to enable emergency services to cope with the 2012 Olympics and a major incident while maintaining "business as usual" services in and around London.
The contract between Airwave Solutions and the National Policing Improvement Agency covers core communications for the police, fire and ambulance services, including additional policing requirements during Olympics events, coverage within Olympics venues, and capability to support public order operations involving several thousand police officers in a confined geographical area.
Security minister Lord West said: "Investing now means the Airwave network system can be thoroughly tested before 2012 and will ensure it remains resilient during Games time."
The expansion to the radio communication system will extend to all 2012 host venue police forces, fire and ambulance services as well as other counties which are hosting 2012 events or athletes' training camps.
"An effective radio system is vital to the delivery of a safe and secure 2012 Games, said Chris Alison, Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner responsible for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"The investment in the Airwave system is a significant step in achieving this aim and will benefit all emergency services."
Airwave chief executive Richard Bobbett said the contract required a number of innovations from a technical and network management point of view.
The 2012 Games is expected to be the most technology enabled Olympics ever, and thousands of wireless applications will be needed to support the events, security, athletes, TV cameras, administration and management during the seven weeks covering the build-up, the Games themselves and the subsequent Paralympics.
Ofcom last month published a Spectrum Plan detailing how radio frequencies will be made available to organisers and users from more than 150 countries to ensure services such as Airwave will not be affected by the volume of wireless services required.