The London Athletics Meet event in July attracted a sell-out crowd of 50,000 people to the arena built initially for the London 2012 Games, but UK Athletics still suffered "substantial losses" of several hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to The Times.

Emergency funding of £150,000 ($181,698/€171,871) was provided by UK Sport but the lack of sponsorship and broadcast revenue meant the meeting lost money, and while sources have denied estimates of between £500,000 ($605,587/€572,820) and £1 million $1.2 million/€1.1 million), there has been an admission that the final bill was well into six figures.

"We always thought going back to the London Stadium for the first year given where we were would be challenging," Buckner told insidethegames.

"But as a board we thought: 'Do you know what? It’s the right thing to do'.

"And I think our aim is, off the back of that success, to step-by-step re-build the event.

"Last year it was disappointing that we still lost money on the meeting but it wasn’t unexpected.

"The result was disappointing in some ways, but we think there is potential for the future, particularly in Olympic year and beyond.

"For events to be successful you have got to have three things - a full stadium with a large crowd, a commercial partnership and TV income and revenue.

"It’s well documented that the contract between UK Athletics and the BBC ended and subsequently we haven’t been able to get significant TV income.

"The way the TV market has changed it is very difficult now for Olympic sports to do that.

"So that’s been a bit tough.

"And whilst we sold the event out we didn’t have additional commercial partners, which we also need.

"We hope we are in a better position to do that in 2024.

"We have already sold close to 30,000 tickets for next year’s event, and there is additional capacity in the stadium.

"And we are in some quite good discussion with commercial partners.

"So in terms of a long-term strategy, whilst last year was a bit disappointing we felt there were enough positives in it, and that it’s the right place to be.

"And if we can sell it out every year and build that audience and get the commercial income in we can have a really good event there."

Asked why London had been chosen as the venue in preference to Birmingham’s newly rebuilt Alexander Stadium – where the cash-strapped UK Atheltics closed its office earlier this year - Buckner responded:

"Birmingham did a fantastic job at last year’s Commonwealth Games.

"But no disrespect to them, I think the history and heritage around the London Stadium and the size of the audience are big factors.

"It’s the biggest one-day athletics meeting in the world.

"There’s such an appetite for it in London, and with the capacity of the stadium - if we get it right it is there. 

"It’s just got that buzz about it.

"It was really nice going back there after the 2012 Olympics and the 2017 World Championships.

"It connects to so many memories in a positive way, in terms of families, and back to London, and what it means.

"I’m not saying it’s there yet, but if you look at the iconic location such as Wimbledon and Wembley, the London Stadium can be an iconic location for athletics.

"It has a very different feel from when there is a football crowd in there.

"I feel that stadium was built for the Olympics, and for the legacy of the Olympics, and the community and the families, and the people who turn up understand that and it gives it such a great feel.

"And everyone who is there is thinking: 'Wow, this is amazing.'

"You can’t sustain losses on events which we have been doing too long, but it does feel like it’s heading in a positive direction."