London 2012 Olympics: left-field Formula One proposal for Stadium shows just how lean the field is Yet retaining the track is non-negotiable, so the LLDC has had to cast its net wide. Football has always been the most obvious source of an anchor tenant, and West Ham United have remained patient despite the LLDC's repeated failures to close out a deal. West Ham remain by far the most likely means by which the LLDC can wring enough revenue from its primary asset to underwrite the maintenance of all the other venues on the Park. The other bidders demonstrate just how lean the field is. The University of East London can offer educational uses, exploiting the offices and large amount of indoor space in the stadium undercroft. The UEL has secured the backing of Essex County Cricket Club, initially to run an academy on the stadium site that the county hopes will tap talent in east London, but there are suggestions of Twenty20 matches too. This appears highly ambitious. Playing cricket in the arena would require drop-in pitches such as those regularly used in Australia and New Zealand, but they are expensive and technically challenging. There are also suggestions that the UEL may be cooling its interest. Then there is the University College of Football Business. An affiliate of Bucks New University offering degrees in the football business, UCFB is currently based at Burnley's Turf Moor, and counts former FA chief executive Brian Barwick and Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell as members of its advisory board. UCFB would not comment on its interest in the stadium, but we can assume that it may be interested in moving from Burnley to the capital and using the stadium as its base. This might well ensure the nation's stock of bright-eyed executives capable of negotiating a shirt deal remains healthy, but it will not pay for the Olympic Park. Which brings us to the F1 bid, which knocks everyone out of the Park when it comes to ambition, but is being viewed with scepticism even by those considering the shortlist. The cost and logistical challenge of staging an F1 race is huge. Even autocratic Gulf states wince at the cost, and that just when they write the staging rights cheque to Bernie Ecclestone. Quite how it could work in the Park is unclear, but it has to be a distant outsider. Which brings us back to West Ham. They offer the most straightforward solution, and even that is complicated. They are the only football club willing to tolerate a track, but only if they are permitted to build over it with new seating that they are keen not to pay for. That is one of many arguments that remain before the stadium's future is settled.