The OPLC, the body that determines how the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park in Stratford will be used, has a number of key decisions to make in the coming months, including the future tenants of the Olympic Stadium.

Premier League football clubs West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur are fighting it out to secure the venue after being short-listed as final bidders last month.

The new panel of consultants are set to help in determining the final outcome for this and many of the other iconic buildings in the Olympic Park.

A spokesperson for the OPLC told insidethegames: "The Olympic Park Legacy Company has appointed a Real Estate Advisory Panel to assist on key activities including development consultancy, commercial investment and financial advice.

"The panel consists of Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRE, Drivers Jonas Deloitte, Gerald Eve with Ikon Consulting Ltd and DTZ."

The final tenant for the Olympic Stadium was set to be announced before "the end of this year" according to OPLC chair Baroness Margret Ford.

However, the deadline has slipped back, with a decision currently expected to be announced before March 31, 2011.

West Ham are considered to be front-runners in the race with their proposal favoured by a number of stakeholders - including UK Athletics - as they are committed to retaining the athletics track.

Their bid is backed by Newham Council which will borrow the bulk of the funding required secured against football club revenue.

Meanwhile Tottenham's proposal, backed by American entertainment giants AEG, who own and operate the O2 Arena, will see the running track removed entirely.

Such a move has been widely criticised by a number of high profile figures, including the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) senior vice-president and influential International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Sergey Bubka, who last month stated that London "must keep their promise of an athletics legacy" that they made in Singapore in 2005 when they were awarded the Games.

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