Olympic Site to Become Theme Park?

A recent Wharf article, outlines a pledge by Professor Terry Stevens to turn the Olympic Site into the worlds first Sports Theme Park. He believes that turning the site into a Theme Park, rather than a sports venue will appeal to a wider range of people, therefore bringing in greater amounts of Tourists and money into the area.

Professor Stevens says: “If you only have sport it’s just a minority interest but put entertainment alongside it and you can really capture people’s imagination. You only have to look at the successful Ferrari World, which opened in Abu Dhabi. It’s only about Ferrari cars but it’s that kind of thinking we could apply to something encompassing all sports.”

He goes on to say: “It would need expertise from the entertainments world to make it an exciting entertainment venue. I would look at AEG, which has turned The O2 into something really successful, Merlin Entertainment or Disney. I won’t say any of them would necessarily be interested but that’s the kind of people we need involved

“It would have a major impact on the local area. Look what’s happened in Orlando from the business of theme parks. Masses of hotels and jobs.”

John Briggs, a member of the Economy, Culture and Sport committee believes that the idea is entirely feasible and could be a real possiblity.

“It’s important the sports venues are preserved but if the Olympic Park is going to be a success it needs to have a strong leisure-minded leadership to make it a popular place for families, kids, non-elite athletes and an experience for people that aren’t sports geeks, so I think it’s a good idea,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean we dumb it down but just make it more accessible.”