West Ham named preferred bidders for the Olympic Stadium

West Ham United have taken a step closer to making the Olympic Stadium their home after being named as preferred bidders.

Following a board meeting, the London Legacy Development Corporation announced on Wednesday that the Premier League club was its first choice to be the main tenant at the £429m venue in Stratford.

The Hammers fought off rival bids from Intelligent Transport Services in association with Formula One, UCFB College of Football Business and Leyton Orient.

A final deal is still some way off, however, with further negotiations required over who will fund the £20million gap to convert the 80,000-capacity arena to football.

LLDC chairman and London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "We had four good bids, as everybody knows. The bid that has been ranked top is West Ham United. I am very pleased about that.

"It will, if it goes through, mean a football legacy for the stadium but there is still a lot of negotiation to go on between the LLDC and West Ham United about the terms of the deal."