Golden League organisers seek big expansion from 2010

By Harpreet Bhal

LONDON (Reuters) - The IAAF plans to take its flagship Golden League athletics series outside Europe from 2010 in a major expansion that could also see London, Lausanne and Stockholm added to the program.

The sport's governing body hopes to finalise a deal to double the number of meetings in the series to 12, including 2012 Olympics host city London.

"London is a good candidate (for the golden league)," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said Tuesday. "It has big budgets and good sponsors. It is also great timing to promote athletics in the run up to the Olympics."

"One of the main aims of the new Golden League is to go outside Europe to internationalise the event," Davies added. "A number of possibilities include the United States, Asia and the Gulf states."

Raising new sponsorship money in the current economic climate may not be easy. The IAAF council will hear how talks on sponsorship have gone at a council meeting in Berlin on March 21-22 and prospective hosts will be asked to submit tenders.

"It is an ambitious new scheme," Davies said. "If it does work in terms of the finance, the next stage is to decide who will be in it."

The Golden League, which will be held this year in Berlin, Oslo, Rome, Paris, Zurich and Brussels, offers a million-dollar jackpot to be shared by athletes who win their event at every meeting.

Kenyan 800 metres Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo won the $1 million (682,272 pound) Golden League jackpot outright last year.