Exclusive: Barry Hearn Criticises ‘very poor’ Olympic Stadium Bidding Process

Barry Hearn, Chairman and Owner of Leyton Orient Football Club, has expressed his concern about the way the Olympic Stadium bidding process has been handled.

Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Hearn said: “I think the bidding process has been handled very poorly. Not enough thought was given by various departments to the ethics involved, to the legalities and European law specifically. I think they were looking for an easy way out, it’s a fact of life that the stadium was not designed for the uses we now have in mind; it was not designed for football, it was designed for athletics.”

Hearn also reiterated his belief that a move to the Olympic stadium would accelerate the progress of a football club.

He said: “We’ve had endless debate on the pros and cons of whether we can ground-share with West Ham and the Olympic Stadium. I think we need something like a quantum move like that to really fast-track the development of a football club.”

In addition, Hearn believes that the time has come for ‘common sense’ to prevail, highlighting the fact that there is more to the Olympic legacy than the financial benefits.

He concluded: “The stadium is a £600 million asset, we have to maximise that asset and use it for the benefit of the community. The Olympics is not all about money, it’s about the good it can do the country and the individuals. It is also about how it can unite all of us within the community with a common purpose. Sport needs respect, it needs investment and it needs people to want to give up time to achieve a level of excellence.”

Read Barry Hearn’s full exclusive iSportconnect interview here: http://bit.ly/UCJuAb