West Ham confirmed as main tenants of the Olympic Stadium A computer-generated image of West Ham's plans for the Olympic Stadium. Photograph: Westfield Group/PA Wire/PA West Ham have been confirmed as the main tenants of the Olympic Stadium by the London Mayor Boris Johnson, marking a major milestone in a controversial seven-year saga. The club's vice chair Karren Brady said she was "delighted" to secure the deal, which is subject to planning permission, and would now embark on selling the idea to fans as new pictures of the 54,000 seat venue were unveiled. "It was important to me that we struck the right deal that would stand the test of time that represented the right deal for West Ham United and our loyal and patient supporters," she said. Johnson said: "This is a truly momentous milestone for London's spectacular Olympic stadium ensuring its credible and sustainable future. Through this deal with West Ham we are defying the gloomsters who predicted this landmark would become a dusty relic. The Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales insisted its £40m investment would "benefit Newham residents, London and the nation as a whole." The east end club will leave their Upton Park home and move into the £429m stadium in time for the 2016-17 season, but the decision has already sparked a wide ranging debate about whether an asset built with public money should be effectively handed to a Premier League football club. Both West Ham, who will pay £15m upfront towards conversion costs of at least £150m and an annual rent of £2m, and the London Legacy Development Corporation argue that the deal offers the best chance of a viable future for the stadium. West Ham have agreed a 99-year lease on the stadium with the LLDC, which is expected to unveil detailed plans for the new design on Friday, and will now embark on a concerted campaign to sell the scheme to fans. Ed Warner, the UK Athletics chairman, who said earlier this year that the process was becoming a "Stratford farce," said he was "excited that athletics will be a central part of a vibrant year-round solution to this iconic venue." The world athletics championship will take place in the stadium in 2017 and track and field is guaranteed 20 days use per year. Long running, often tense, negotiations between the club and the LLDC have resulted in a deal that both parties are understood to be happy with. For West Ham, it will give them a new, state of the art stadium at marginal upfront cost and expand their capacity to 54,000 as well as making the club an attractive investment opportunity. For the LLDC chairman Boris Johnson, who has long been convinced that a Premier League football team offers the best chance of success for the stadium, it will mean the reopened Olympic Park will have a guaranteed focal point and global profile. In addition to football and athletics, the stadium will also be used for pop concerts and other sporting events. Johnson wanted a clause in the contract ensuring that the public purse would be protected if West Ham was sold in the next 10 years. David Gold and David Sullivan, who between them own two-thirds of the club, have insisted that it is not for sale. West Ham say that they will offer 100,000 free tickets per season to local children and remain committed to "affordable family football." The proceeds from the sale of Upton Park for redevelopment will be used to help pay down the club's £70m debt. All the club's bank debt must be cleared by the time it moves to the Olympic Stadium for the 2016-17 season as it will no longer have an asset to secure it on. Conversion of the stadium to make it suitable for both football and athletics, with retractable seats and a new cantilevered roof to cover them, will cost at least £150m. Of that, the majority will come from the public purse including a £40m loan from Newham Council. An earlier deal to award the stadium to West Ham, following a bitter battle with Tottenham Hotspur, had to be abandoned when it became mired in "legal stasis" following challenges in the High Court and the European Union. The eyton Orient owner Barry Hearn has vowed to press on with his judicial review of the process, claiming it will "crush" his club if it is not allowed to share the stadium with West Ham. But he has also conceded that he is ultimately unlikely to be successful and is drawing up alternative plans to move to Essex. Hugh Robertson, the sports minister, said: "I thought there was a really obvious end to this, which was going to be a multi-use stadium with football at its heart. I always suspected that would be the way to get the stadium best used. He said he was confident a way could be found to accommodate matches for the 2015 rugby World Cup in the stadium, despite the complication of having to pause construction work to host them.