A tale of two Edmontons

Picketts Lock as it could look - but will it get built?

By BBC Sport Online's Mark Barden

It's something of an understatement to say Edmonton, Alberta, and Edmonton, Haringey, are highly contrasting communities.

The former is a provincial capital in Canada's prairie and mountain heartland, a vibrant city of 862,000 people oozing with civic pride.

The latter is part of north London's urban sprawl, where major roads criss-cross a mixture of housing, business parks and green spaces.

One of those spaces links the English Edmonton with its Canadian counterpart - but possibly not for much longer.

Picketts Lock in the Lea Valley is the proposed site of a new 43,000-seat stadium which will host the 2005 World Athletics Championships.

Edmonton, Canada, successfully staged this year's Worlds before handing the baton on to London.

But the championships four years hence may take place elsewhere - possibly even in another country - if the Picketts Lock plan fails.

Capital choice

The outlook for the project is bleak, with the Government reportedly ready to ditch its commitment to the event being held in the capital.

It may not be able to persuade the International Association of Athletics Federations that the Worlds can be staged elsewhere in England.

The IAAF awarded the four-yearly track-and-field extravaganza to London - not Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield or Gateshead.

UK Athletics chief Moorcroft (l): Keen on Picketts Lock

Planning restrictions and poor transport links rule out any major upgrade of London's main athletics stadium at Crystal Palace.

And, after much wrangling early on, the new Wembley Stadium - whenever it gets built - will not include an athletics track.

So, with less than four years to go until the world's best athletes are due to compete in London, preparations for 2005 are still on the blocks even though the starter's gun has fired.

The Government, Sport England and UK Athletics are facing the humiliating prospect of England being stripped of the prestige event.

How different things were in Canada four years before the IAAF's 8th World Championships.

Good shape

In fact, Edmonton was only awarded them in November 1998, when its bid beat those of Monte Carlo, New Delhi, Stanford and Helsinki by a wide margin.

One of the main advantages the Canadian city had was its sporting infrastracture was already in good shape - unlike London's now.

Edmonton staged the 1978 Commonwealth Games, building the aptly-named Commonwealth Stadium to stage the event.

Edmonton upgraded its existing facilities

Its track record also includes hosting the World University Games and World Skating Championships, plus other less high-profile but still large-scale events.

According to Edmonton's own figures, the total cost of hosting the 11-day World Athletics jamboree came out at CAN$ 119m, or £51m.

That broke down as around £29m in operating costs, and £22.6m in capital, or building costs.

The latter included improvements to the Commonwealth Stadium, Clarke Stadium and Rollie Miles Park, plus new facilities for the University of Alberta.

In comparison, the projected cost of building the Picketts Lock Stadium has soared from £87m to an estimated £100m.

And if the Wembley fiaso is any measure of how the UK manages major sporting infrastracture schemes, it could be even higher.

Consequently, the Government, Sport England and UK Athletics, are all getting increasingly cold feet.

Splitting the cost

Sports Minister Richard Caborn's most recent statement on the matter was not exactly brimming with confidence.

"We have known all along there are financial problems with Picketts Lock," he said.

"It may be that people can convince the Secretary of State that it's worth investing millions in a new stadium."

Or, with the scheme seemingly mired in bureaucracy and beset by a buck-passing 'no-can-do' mindset, it may not.

In Canada, the cost of the World Athletics Championships was split between the federal government (£17.3m), provincial administration (£17.3m) and Edmonton itself (£1.4m).

Picketts pessimism from Richard Caborn

The shortfall was made up for in ticket and merchandising sales and, if there were wrangles, they were resolved in time.

The Worlds in Edmonton were not without their problems - ticket sales were initially sluggish and the city was labelled "Deadmonton" by some athletes and members of the visiting media corps.

Claims the IAAF had awarded the championships to the city with its gaze firmly fixed on the American TV market were also made.

Though denied, such suggestions may have made the IAAF more determined that the 2005 championships would be held in a major capital city.

So if Pickett's Lock is scrapped, Berlin may step into the breach - and the UK will be left smarting on the sidelines of world sport once again.

Edmonton, Canada claims the 2001 Championships produced a healthy £216m boost for the local economy.

Edmonton, England, will be lucky if it sees a single penny.

Let's face it, to reap the rewards of spin-off benefits, you have to prove you're capable of staging major events in the first place...