100%. Would love to know what the RFL were thinking at the time. Surely the potential return of Caisley wasn't putting the wind up them that much??

Anyway. Will be interesting to see if anyone puts a bid in.

I’ve said this before. The rfl were doing 1 of two things. They were either in complete panic mode to try and get some sort of asset to set against the stupid unsecured loan that they’d given us, totally focussed on the short term and trying to spin the damage onto the Bulls in the eyes of the RL fan base to save their own skins.
Or it was all a careful Machiavellian plan to step by step strip a member club of its stadium so that they could bring together the holy grail (for the rfl) - A national rugby league stadium that they controlled, central, with Red hall being moved there, along with the heritage museum, all on one site. For internationals, cup semifinals and a few plums thrown for the tenant club…
Derailed by a combination of austerity, financial crash and resistance from the fans.

That would be the one and only time that they've thought ahead then

Judging by the latest council plans to cut spending across the board we can forget about them spending a brass farthing on RL or Odsal.

Calderdale Council have mentioned disposal/sale of The Shay in recent meeting.
Might stop some of the sniping from Fax fans seen on social media.

Most councils in this country are on the verge of bankrupcy.

It's now become a choice between which vital service they have to shelve to ensure which other vital service remains. Sports stadia are probably quite far down the list in comparison to things like child safeguarding etc.

The RFL aren't going to palm this drain on resources off that easily. The only option is private investment and I doubt you'll see many people queuing up for that. Plus any self respecting business person will leave it until they can use people's desparation or foreclosure as leverage to get costs down.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... ium-lease/ So to Lease or not to Lease? Now that is a question for the Bulls. The Circle could be closer to completion!

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... ium-lease/ So to Lease or not to Lease? Now that is a question for the Bulls. The Circle could be closer to completion!

Interesting
The club clearly believe they can afford the lease, if we take it on would get money coming in from Stock Cars.
I heard at the game on Sunday the club are putting plans together for renovating Odsal on a smaller scale.

Very interesting this, it's a big old cost, will it be a drain on the finances? As that then affects your IMG finance grading. The upkeep alone of it as we all know there's alot that needs improving, replacing, updating. The club/board have obviously looked at all the financial side of it all (so you would hope). What are the options? How much income does the stock cars bring in, would that be an income stream that Bradford Bulls would benefit from? Could we buy it to then sell it ourselves and potentially build a new ground elsewhere. Could we purchase it, and sell some of the ground off and reduce the size of it and redevelop a smaller Odsal. I just can see them buying it and beinh able to keep it and run it as it is currently without it massively affecting the finances.

We are currently responsible for the upkeep of Odsal so in that respect if we purchase the lease nothing would change. If the lease is purchased for the rumoured 750k we will save 60k per year and gain 60k per year from Stock Cars.

When we had the lease prior to 2012 Peter Hood cited Odsal as a financial millstone. What's changed since then? Well, there's the income from stockcars coming in and no need to pay rental to the leaseholder as a plus but as a minus the SouthBank stand is now over 20 years old and likely to need maintenance or might even be nearing the end of its life. The main stand roof will also need looking after. Then there's the upkeep of floodlights and barriers. That's all just to stand still and not make any improvements. I hope the club have looked into those costs. Owning the lease might create some opportunities to sell it further down the line and move to a new site potentially but proximity of the stadium site to housing may reduce the number of things you could do with it. I'd be interested to see who else has bid.

I find Jason Hirsts comments in the T&A very interesting Beyond that, it’s hard to answer. If we do get the lease, two months down the line I could give you a more detailed response.

“It’s not because I’m hiding anything, it’s just all hypotheticals at the moment.
- this would back up that something is planned to start in the short/medium term- I’ve heard funding is in place for smaller scare redevelopment

I heard that the club looking at a £15 million Revamp of Odsal.

Well we're due another artists impression.

The Caddick rumour was doing the rounds again at the game. Already has the contract for the park & ride, missed out on buying the golf course

I'd be interested to see what they had planned for 15M as that would soon be swallowed up quite literally by a hole in the ground. But we have to start somewhere and it would be progress. I guess the dream would be to do gradual upgrades ala Headingly but that is easier said than done at a site such as Odsal

if that figure was accurate I think you could do a fair bit with 15mil I’m sure a few year ago roofing the terracing was priced up at 500k in the Marc green era you could upgrade floodlights a big screen reduce the capacity which is something that Hirst really wants to do

Perhaps literally a roof for 0.5 million but the terracing needs more than that doing.

as I say reducing the capacity would likely be the first thing on the list then look at minimum standards to maximise img points ie upgraded floodlights big screen, I’d personally look at doing something with touchdown bar and upgrade hospitality anything beyond that add things that would help bring in income

Cost of construction has also rocketed since Marc Green era and as we found out, he wasn’t great with numbers! Anyway, if the rumour is 15 million the true figure is probably 5 so I won’t be dreaming of a revamped Odsal anytime soon.

We’ve heard it all before and too many times, a clean seat would be a start as things stand.

To be honest I don’t think it can be anything but a positive that we are trying to get the lease back

I would cautiously agree. But Odsal is going to need significant investment and has much greater construction challenges compared to somewhere like Belle Vue or Post Office RD.

Hopefully everyone involved has their eyes wide open and are not believing we can build a stand over the main terracing for 500k. It sounds like Hirst has some ideas, perhaps those will come with some compromises and the land utilised in other schemes to raise the capital to improve our own facilities.

As I say, I am interested to see what they have planned, but we've been let down too many times for me to believe it is finally happening this time.

I think owning the lease would definitely be a positive. At the moment I do believe the stock cars are the primary tenants which is why the pitch is so small and they leave it in the state it is.

If we're the lease holders we can make the pitch bigger and put in some ground rules for them keeping it as tidy as can be for starters.

The big question for me is who is paying this supposed £15million. I think some are getting ahead of themselves. Loved to be proved wrong but we've been here so many times it just seems fantasy stuff at the moment.

I’d love to know where this £15M has come from?

Pure fantasy island.

Probably and what is more depressing is that 15M would barely scratch the surface of what it would cost to make any sizeable changes at Odsal. ⁸