Perfect pitch - search for a stadium

The dream of a major sports stadium for Northern Ireland is taking shape. The next step, as BBC NI political correspondent Gareth Gordon reports, is to find the best location to suit the main sporting organisations.

Twelve sites are competing to be the location for a 30,000-seater multi-sports stadium in Northern Ireland - if the government gives the project the go-ahead.

Stormont Sports Minister Angela Smith announced in May that a stadium would be financially viable if supported by the authorities who run soccer, rugby and the Gaelic Athletic Association.

She said the next step was to find a site which would prove acceptable to all three.

The BBC has learned that Belfast City Council has submitted four possible sites for the £55m arena - the north foreshore of Belfast Lough; the Blanchflower stadium site at Sydenham and the Ormeau and Musgrave Parks.

There are two other potential sites in Belfast - the Titanic Quarter in the east of the city and land behind the Europa Hotel owned by the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company.

Other possible locations include the now disused Maze Prison; as well as the Valley Park in Newtownabbey; Nutts Corner and Craigavon.

Two sites submitted by private landowners - one close to the Junction One retail park outside Antrim and the other near Moira, are also possibilities.

Musgrave Park is one possible location for the stadium

Tony Whitehead of the Strategic Investment Board, who carried out a feasibility study for the government, said interest had been "considerable".

"What we will now be doing is taking this long list of sites and evaluating them in a technical sense, in terms of decontamination; planning; infrastructure requirements; timescale for delivery; commercial potential, that kind of thing," he said.

Mervyn Elder of Belfast City Council said they had all-party approval for the stadium to be built in the city.

"The capital city obviously has the bulk of the population; the conurbation of Belfast has over half a million people and the best transportation system.

"Experience throughout the world has shown that a national stadium should be located within the capital city.

Mervyn Elder said Belfast City Council had all-party approval for a stadium in the city

"There have been bad experiences in America and indeed Sydney and experience has shown where a stadium is outside the main concentration of population, it actually doesn't work."

All the sites will now be visited and a short list will be drawn up by mid-August.

A final decision on whether a stadium will be built or not is expected by November when London must submit its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

It wants to host some of the soccer tournament in Northern Ireland, but will require a commitment on the stadium before including the province in the bid.