Phil Wicks can remember the likes of Usain Bolt descending on a packed stadium in south London for a glittering evening of athletics.
“It was relatively cheap, it was right on the trackside for a big, televised international meet of athletics. I was a student at the time and would go each year.”
This was Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, where the London Diamond League, and its predecessor the London Grand Prix, was held until 2011. Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Kelly Holmes – you name it, many greats have raced here.
It all changed after the London 2012 Olympics, when the London Stadium in east London became the venue in vogue for the UK’s flagship annual athletics event.
Known nowadays as the London Athletics Meet, it has sold out in each of the past three years, drawing 55,000 people from across the country to watch track stars and Olympians go for records and prize money.
But families and fans told BBC News earlier this week that tickets costing £95 for the usually cheaper parts of the track, which our analysis showed were among the most expensive of all 15 cities in the elite league, were pricing them out.
It has sparked a debate over whether the London Stadium, which cost £750m to build and regenerate, is the best venue for the London Diamond League – or if there is an alternative.
Wicks, a former GB distance runner, recalls Crystal Palace’s prices were cheaper, even allowing for inflation, than many London Diamond League seats today.
Now a father of two, he estimates it would cost about £300 plus travel and food to go on a family trip to this year’s meet – but organisers can justify it because they are filling the stadium and entertainment in the capital is expensive, he points out.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, is “a complete wreck now – it’s falling apart,” he says.
‘It was incredible’
That may soon end with plans for a newly developed Crystal Palace National Sports Centre recently submitted to Bromley Council, backed by funding from London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan for the £130m project and with contractors Morgan Sindall on board.
A decision on the application is expected within weeks, and if a commercial partner can be found to fund the stadium part of the development, Crystal Palace’s appeal as a venue for major track and field meets could come roaring back to life.
Many challenges lie ahead, not least the £100m-£150m that campaigners estimate the stadium would cost to be ready by 2030.
Another is that London Diamond League organisers Athletic Ventures – which includes governing body UK Athletics (UKA) – have shown no sign they want to budge from London Stadium, a venue many GB stars love.
But Wicks feels something is missing.
“I’ve been to the London Stadium a few times and the atmosphere there is nothing like it was at the old Crystal Palace stadium,” Wicks says.
“You were so much closer to the track there – you were pretty much on top of the track and it was incredible.”
He compares it to the likes of Oslo and Stockholm Diamond League – the latter attended by hundreds of British people this year – which have smaller stadiums where “you really feel like you’re in the action”.
Asked what the campaign to revive Crystal Palace has been like, former sprint coach John Powell says “there have been more ups and downs than a rollercoaster”.
He is speaking to us trackside at Crystal Palace, its grandstands and shuttered scoreboard almost silenced and yearning to return to their former glory.
Now, he says there’s tangible excitement about the venue’s future and stars should feel there is as much “hallowed turf” here than over in the Olympic Park.
“For me, the [London Diamond League] venue is wrong. Yes, it’s got the Stratford transport hub nearby but it’s a good 15-20 minute walk from there,” Powell says.
“Crystal Palace is the most accessible multi-sport venue in the country by an absolute street.
“Look how much it costs to set up Stratford before you have a single spectator in the ground – Crystal Palace can be ready and waiting with appropriate investment.”
Powell, a retired police superintendent and chair of the Crystal Palace Sports Partnership, also feels younger generations would benefit from being able to train on the same track that global athletics stars race on.
“Upgrade the stadium, bring the Diamond League back and let’s have athletics in its true British athletics home.”
A source close to London Stadium points out it is well-connected and holds more than double the number of fans that a redeveloped 25,000 seat Crystal Palace would, and the seating design has been improved.
But the discussion around Crystal Palace’s suitability is unlikely to go away if the plans are approved, as the debate around London Stadium grows.
Potential hurdles for London Stadium’s legacy
The latest stumbling block surrounds Britain’s bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships at London Stadium – because the event would clash with West Ham’s football fixtures.
British 800m star Keely Hodgkinson weighed in earlier this year, calling for a solution to be found; it is understood talks are ongoing.
Then there are the complex agreements drawn up after the 2012 Games.
UKA is understood to pay £35,000 a year under its 50-year lease to London Stadium, while West Ham’s Premier League relegation means the club’s £4.4m annual rent for the venue is halving, with taxpayers picking up the rest.
It costs £3m each time the London Stadium moves seats from a football set-up to an athletics configuration, but neither UKA nor Diamond League ticket-holders pay for it – the stadium does.
It brings the taxpayer’s total bill for using London Stadium in the year 2026-27 to £23m, as set out in the Greater London Authority budget.
A spokesperson for Sir Sadiq told the BBC the West Ham lease was “a bad financial deal for Londoners” signed under the previous mayor, with no break clause and “significant losses to the taxpayer”.
Sir Sadiq’s office praised the stadium as a “highly valued asset for London”, while at the same time he said he was “proud” of the Crystal Palace redevelopment and “continues to work with partners and the local community on plans for the major refurbishment of the athletics stadium”.
A senior athletics source said any “speculation regarding other venues is irrelevant” and London Stadium “continues to be an excellent venue” for the sport – but that bosses support investment in athletics facilities across the country, too.
The argument from Crystal Palace campaigners is that by investing in a ready-made stadium, taxpayers save money in the long run, and athletics has a natural home. They say concerts, offices and film shoots would bring a viable revenue stream.
Though there is no indication the UK leg of the Diamond League would move from London Stadium, it wouldn’t necessarily stay in the capital if it did.
Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium, which has about 18,000 capacity without temporary seating, has had significant investment and will host the European Championships in August.
And this summer’s Commonwealth Games are being held in Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium.
Not to mention the athletics stadiums that once stood – among them the 25,000-seat Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, built for the World Student Games in 1991 but demolished in 2013 thanks to maintenance costs and public funding budgets.
As the Diamond League’s CEO Petr Stastny tells BBC News, “the London Stadium is the site of the 2012 Olympic Games and as such one of the sport’s most iconic modern venues”.
It is perhaps a marathon, not a sprint, to establish whether the venue can remain a fitting home for major athletics events for years to come.
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