Premier League football club West Ham named 'preferred partner' for Olympic Stadium

Premier League football club West Ham has been named "preferred partner" in its bid to move into the London Olympic Stadium and will enter into exclusive negotiations over the terms of a 99-year lease.

An agreement to play in the 486 million pound ($783 million) venue collapsed last year, but the east London club won a new bid Wednesday.

West Ham would be moving 3 1/2 kilometers (2 miles) from its 35,000-capacity Upton Park to a stadium downsized from 80,000 seats at the Olympics to 60,000.

The company tasked with securing the Olympic Park's future named West Ham as the "preferred partner" while rejecting bids to use the stadium from third-tier club Leyton Orient and a group hoping to stage Formula One races.

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