Sebastian Coe says Birmingham’s empty seats will not damage London’s 2029 worlds bid

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, said empty seats at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham earlier in the week would not harm London’s bid to host the 2029 world championships. Coe dismissed suggestions that the sparse crowds should count against London as a candidate.

Sparse attendance has been a prominent issue at the championships, with critics pointing to ticket prices and marketing as factors behind low turnouts. Organisers noted the final four days of competition were close to a sellout. European Athletics defended the event and on Friday said it was delighted that the championships were getting peak audiences “exceeding two million people” and a 20% market share on the BBC. The crowd debate has become one of the main talking points around the championships in Birmingham.

Coe stressed London’s past ability to fill stadiums when questioned about the impact of empty seats on its bid. “Look, it’s horses for courses,” he said. “We had London in 2012, London in 2017, London will point to having sold out Diamond League five months before the event took place … I think back to 2017 in London, we started on a Friday night and we had the advantage of Mo Farah being the centrepiece.”

On the specific circumstances in Birmingham, Coe described several practical challenges that he believes affected attendance. “So I think it was a challenge. It’s always a challenge starting a championship on a Monday morning … local circumstances, middle of the summer, pretty hot out there, not a lot of covering in the stadium, I think there will be a whole series of things,” he said.

Coe also outlined the formal bidding review process for the 2029 world championships and his own role in it. He said he would not have a vote on the host city and that an evaluation panel would assess the four candidate cities using a series of metrics before making a recommendation. The four cities under consideration, he said, are London, Munich, Nairobi and Rome.

“The council will hear the case, the evaluation panel will give a preference to the council,” said Coe. “It’s a pretty coherent process, and it takes the beauty parade element out of it, but it still gives the council the opportunity to properly interrogate beyond the work of the evaluation.” The final decision on the 2029 host city will be taken next month.