Andrew Altman, the chief executive of the London Legacy Development Cooperation, will leave his job after the conclusion of the Olympic Games. He is thereby paying the price for failing to secure the future of the stadium. His exit was announced just 24 hours after new chairman Daniel Moylan formally started work.

Will the eight stadiums, four in Ukraine and four in Poland, built or renovated for the Euro 2012 be profitable in the long run, or will they end up as white elephants and be a financial burden for their owners and the community? The World Stadium Index takes a look at the future for the Euro 2012 stadiums.

Poland’s third largest construction company and one of the Euro 2012 contractors, PBG, and two of its subsidiaries declared bankruptcy this Monday because of liquidity problems stemming from infrastructure contracts and road work done in preparation for the Euro 2012.

In the first of two articles on Euro 2012 co-host Ukraine, Ukraine-based journalist Mark Rachkevych presents the rocky road of Ukraine’s Euro 2012 preparations. Overspending and corruption cases have surrounded the country’s construction and infrastructure projects in preparation for the tournament.

Many of the stadiums constructed or renovated for sport’s major events end up as a great financial burden for their public owners and local communities, who are not able to fill the stadiums after the ‘circus’ has left town. That is the tendency shown in a new report from the Danish Institute for Sports Studies (Idan) and Play the Game.

COMMENT: International sport and local politicians are responsible for the waste of resources worth billions of dollars when demanding oversized stadiums that mainly serve the interests of the contractors who build and maintain them.

Despite major delays, new and spectacular stadiums in Poland and Ukraine will be ready to host this summer’s UEFA Euro 2012. But will there be a long lasting legacy justifying the massive investments?

The next football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games threaten to produce a catalogue of white elephants for Brazil, while restricting benefits to the business community, a panel of academics warned at today’s Play the Game.