A group including Sebastian Coe, the two-time Olympic 1500 metres champion and now the chairman of London 2012, is due to meet in the first week of next month to discuss a feasbility report on the new circuit they hope to launch next year.

 

Among the issues are to be discussed are the inclusion of meetings in London, Lausanne and Stockholm as well as events in China, the Middle East and the United States as part of the IAAF's plans to make the sport more attractive globally and market it worldwide.

 

It is also believed that three major groups, including a leading European media company, are in discussions with the IAAF about bankrolling the new high-profile multi-million pound circuit.

 

The recommendations made by Coe and his fellow members of the IAAF advisory board, who also include the world governing body's president Lamine Diack and the pole vault world record holder Sergey Bubka, will be discussed by the IAAF's ruling Council at its meeting in Berlin on March 21-22.

 

Coe and Bubka are both vice-presidents of the IAAF.

 

A source close to the discussions told insidethegames:  “We are now entering the final stages of negotiations for the 'new' IAAF Golden League concept which we hope can start in 2010, when the current contract ends.

 

"We are very confident that the investors we need to make this project a reality will come on board within the next three months and negotiations are already well advanced with three different groups.

 

"From that moment on, we will start the serious negotiations with the individual meetings."

 

The inclusion of London, first reported exclusively by insidethegames in October 2008, would be expected.

 

The two-day Aviva London Grand Prix already has the highest budget in the world and attracts the biggest stars, including Bolt, who won the 200m at Crystal Palace last year.

 

A London Golden League could even act as the test event for the new Olympic Stadium being built for the 2012 Games in Stratford, although it is likely that Crystal Palace would host the meeting if the series was launched next year.

 

But the inclusion of Lausanne could mean that the Weltklasse event in Zurich, the self-styled "One Day Olympics" meeting and one of the most popular on the circuit, could be controversially dropped.

 

Since it was first staged in 1928 24 world records have been set there, including the 1500m and mile by Coe in 1979 and 1981 respectively.

 

The source told insidethegames: "It would be a big mistake to assume that the incumbent meetings - Berlin, Brussels, Oslo, Paris, Rome and Zurich - will automatically be part of the new group, even if the Golden League is enlarged from six meetings to 12.  

 

"We may find during our negotiations that some meetings simply do not want, or are not able, to agree to be part of our new Golden League.

 

"But this should not really be a problem, especially in a country like Switzerland where there are two excellent international athletics meetings already well established.

 

"Of course, the Weltklasse in Zurich is a great competition but then so is the Athletissima [in Lausanne].

 

"After all, thanks to the work of [meeting director] Jacky Delapierre and his team over many decades, the Lausanne meeting is acknowledged as one of the best in the world, and is only excluded from the current Golden League structure because having two Swiss cities in a group of only six was considered excessive.

 

"We also know that Lausanne is known around the world as the 'Olympic city' and home of the International Olympic Committee, so it would be an excellent way to reinforce the link between IAAF and athletics as the number one Olympic sport to include Lausanne in the new Golden League.

 

"We also know that Lausanne is very keen to be part of the new set up, and this positive enthusiasm and passion will certainly be a factor when the IAAF comes to make its final selection of cities for the new Golden League.”