WHATS GOING ON AT ODSAL

[Man of Kent]

Sad day for rugby league. Hope this doesn’t decimate the Bradford fanbase.

[PREPOSTEROUS]

Fair enough, wasnt posturing. Struggling to understand his time frame though. A brand new facility will be a lot more than 2-4 years away. In addition, if wasnt economical to expand a blank canvas existing stadium in Horsefall, it certainly wont purchasing new land and subsequent build.

[Moove]

If it's a two-to-four year process to look at building a new stadium back in Bradford, would it not have been better to have started that when Chalmers took control? Surely the costs were known pretty early on?

Good to see the club subsidising transport for supporters but being out of the city for two years it's going to be tough to get the inevitable drop-off in fans back. Will be sad to lose another iconic RL stadium but I guess something needs to be done.

[Man of Kent]

6 minutes ago, PREPOSTEROUS said:

Fair enough, wasnt posturing. Struggling to understand his time frame though. A brand new facility will be a lot more than 2-4 years away. In addition, if wasnt economical to expand a blank canvas existing stadium in Horsefall, it certainly wont purchasing new land and subsequent build.

I remember when my football club moved on a “short term basis” to groundshare. The stadium was sold for flats and we never returned.

[PREPOSTEROUS]

1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

I remember when my football club moved on a “short term basis” to groundshare. The stadium was sold for flats. 

Perhaps there is some sort of deal on the cards with the RFL giving up the lease and the council selling Odsal to reinvest in a new stadium.

Ironic how all this began with the red herring of predatory developers sniffing round the stadium, now it might be the saviour of the club.

[Man of Kent]

3 minutes ago, PREPOSTEROUS said:

Perhaps there is some sort of deal on the cards with the RFL giving up the lease and the council selling Odsal to reinvest in a new stadium.

I hope that is true but you have to be cynical when it comes to new rugby stadia in West Yorkshire 

[Lounge Room Lizard]

Chambers has no plans for the Bulls to return to the City. All he has in a fantasy dream. He has managed to rip the Soul away from the Bulls that will see even more fans walk away. Him and his little Puppet Mick the ##### can try and paint this as something good. The reality is that it is a sad day for the Bulls and Rugby League. The Question remains-What is exactly his long term plan for the Bulls and how will they achieve it? After a couple of years at Dewsbury, where will they play in Bradford? Still talking about returning to the City to play somewhere doesnt give out that much hope of a quick return sadly.

[Man of Kent]

12 minutes ago, Lounge Room Lizard said:

Chambers has no plans for the Bulls to return to the City. All he has in a fantasy dream. He has managed to rip the Soul away from the Bulls that will see even more fans walk away. Him and his little Puppet Mick the ##### can try and paint this as something good. The reality is that it is a sad day for the Bulls and Rugby League. The Question remains-What is exactly his long term plan for the Bulls and how will they achieve it? After a couple of years at Dewsbury, where will they play in Bradford? Still talking about returning to the City to play somewhere doesnt give out that much hope of a quick return sadly.

The absence of an identified site of this apparent ‘boutique stadium’ is what would worry me if I was a Bulls fan. Reads a bit like wishful thinking.

It may be that they move into a refurbished Horsfall when ready. I read that the FA will cover most of the costs of an upgrade 

[Man of Kent]

.

[Northern Eel]

Meanwhile, the RFL reveal that they have not yet received an application from Bradford to use the Dewsbury ground and that the move remains subject to approval. If it wasn't such a pathetic mess, it would be laughable. 

Then, in another turn, Park Avenue come out and say they will leave their ground share offer open for a limited period, and if the Bulls don't take it up, will begin their own professional Rugby League club in the BD postcode. Bulls RL of Bradford?

[overtheborder]

Hopefully the club make attempts to market the club (perhaps even more so now), especially to youngsters in the area. Get some free tickets handed out. On the flip side, it's good news for Dewsbury i think - a little bit of free publicity out of this for the duration of Bradford's stay.

[Mr Plow]

What will happen to Odsal now then? I presume Bradford City Council will sell it and it will be filled in?

[Northern Eel]

3 minutes ago, Mr Plow said:

What will happen to Odsal now then? I presume Bradford City Council will sell it and it will be filled in?

I wonder what the land is worth? I'm fairly sure it isn't worth enough to fund a new stadium, so additional partners (retail possibly) will need to be found if the money is ringfenced for a new stadium.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

30 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Meanwhile, the RFL reveal that they have not yet received an application from Bradford to use the Dewsbury ground and that the move remains subject to approval. If it wasn't such a pathetic mess, it would be laughable. 

Then, in another turn, Park Avenue come out and say they will leave their ground share offer open for a limited period, and if the Bulls don't take it up, will begin their own professional Rugby League club in the BD postcode. Bulls RL of Bradford?

I've seen the comments from BPA but not from the RFL - any link? They obviously have a vested interest in not allowing the move.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

1 minute ago, Northern Eel said:

I wonder what the land is worth? I'm fairly sure it isn't worth enough to fund a new stadium, so additional partners (retail possibly) will need to be found if the money is ringfenced for a new stadium.

When Bulls 2014 went belly up various estimates were bouncing around with values of anything up to and above £50m, on the basis of inert landfill and then development. A number of waste dealers were rumoured to have been interested in taking over then. The big drawback for them was that the head lease wasn't included in any deal.

[Amber Avenger]

4 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

I've seen the comments from BPA but not from the RFL - any link? They obviously have a vested interest in not allowing the move.

A comment where they say they aren't making any comment but they actually sort of have given they are party to the lease... 

[Amber Avenger]

1 minute ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

When Bulls 2014 went belly up various estimates were bouncing around with values of anything up to and above £50m, on the basis of inert landfill and then development. A number of waste dealers were rumoured to have been interested in taking over then. The big drawback for them was that the head lease wasn't included in any deal.

Also a big drawback in using the site for landfill or waste iiirc is that due to the new housing development nearby I think it would actually be illegal to use Odsal for that purpose now due to the proximity. Maybe not back then, unsure of dates 

[PREPOSTEROUS]

4 minutes ago, Amber Avenger said:

A comment where they say they aren't making any comment but they actually sort of have given they are party to the lease... 

Massive conflict of interest. 

[Clogiron]

Bit of a difference between the price's Dewsbury charge and the Bulls, will they expect their supporters to pay £9 extra for the same seat, can't see that going down well, probably as well as their pricing has on gates this year

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

18 minutes ago, Amber Avenger said:

Also a big drawback in using the site for landfill or waste iiirc is that due to the new housing development nearby I think it would actually be illegal to use Odsal for that purpose now due to the proximity. Maybe not back then, unsure of dates 

Not sure about inert landfill such as rubble etc. Obviously anything obnoxious would likely be ruled out but rules surrounding a multitude of seeming dangerous or nuisance activities are quite often surprisingly lax - a hole (ex quarry) smack bang in the middle of a small town, and also surrounded by housing, not far from me has recently been filled in as a waste site, and houses are already going up on the new surface.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

This Chalmers is a proper clown, isn’t he?

[Odsal Outlaw]

I don’t get the sense there is any real plan to get us back to Bradford. Being a Bulls fan is a right pain in the ######.

[ojx]

This is very sad for the sport. It needs a vibrant club in Bradford.  RFL should do all that they can to keep them there. RL is going to have a slow death if it can't maintain a club like this.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

To be honest, he is right that the club cannot continue at Odsal. It's the same problem for every reincarnation of the club. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

He's explored different options and this is the only one that works. There's not much else he can do to take the club forward, but staying at Odsal is not the answer.

It's a shame they have to move out of Bradford, but hopefully the council will see how much the city needs the club and try assist in their efforts to return to the city.

[Damien]

A sad day for Bradford and the sport. There is no way that playing in Dewsbury can be good for the club or sport.