Typical that Parker gets the fundamental details completely wrong and it's not picked up by the editor.

Aside from that glaring inaccuracy he does refer to two "extremely good sources" which suggests it wasn't a player's mate that told him.

Hypothetically I can't see how a development wouldn't involve some sort of new stadium. Solving the Odsal problem would put the club on much more of an even keel financially since the old ground has been a millstone for 40 years.

We don't need anything fancy either, something on a reasonable scale like Leigh or Warrington would be ideal.

If this were true I can only imagine the reaction from our good friends in Wakey, Fax, Fev and Keefleh

Good job the curse of all Odsal developments is in place. How many pie in the sky redevelopments have their been? I can remember 3 in the past 30 years at least.

"the Odsal project is well advanced" what happened to the good old days of projects having proper pie in the sky names like the superdome?! Come back to me when it has a proper name.

I'm also not convinced by any insider info that can't differentiate between the lease and freehold.

There have been numerous people on this board alluding to this type of deal whereby the rfl benefit from a new headquarters (surely just a happy coincidence that the rfl supremo now has a good mate currently running the bull's- how lucky was that for nige?...), we benefit from a new stadium most likely on the richard dunne site, and the council benefit from realizing some profit from selling on/developing a sizable well located piece of land they can reinvest elsewhere in the city....all makes far too much good sence for it to happen.....no chance.

I don't get it - he's suggesting the rfl sell the leasehold back to the council, who already own the freehold? What??

Surely there has to be a third party involved somehow, they buy the Odsal freehold from the council, the council uses the funds to build god knows what over the road, the rfl then become leasehold tenants of the new building. No?

He's got confused with who owns what, but you're right there has to be a third party. Im guessing the gist is the council and rfl sell to a third party who develops odsal for whatever logistics they want to profit from and and council and rfl build on the richard dunn site. Not quite sure how their partnership would work as I don't know the details of the leasehold and any covenants but I'm guessing the council needs the agreement of the rfl and vice versa so they'll be in the deal together and in the end the Bulls would be Tennents to the rfl still....I guess.

Not that it's happening mind.

You're right. There has to be money coming in from another source. Assuming this isn't all total bollox.

If this is kosher then a smallish stadium on the Richard Dunn site may be a goer.

Can't see fat Nige trading in his salary for an office in our current building. He'd hardly fit in it.

If we end up with a new ground after all we've been through it could well be a turning point. But enough of this day dreaming. We're more likely to be in C1 next year with only the main stand open and the weeds growing on the terraces.

they cannot do anything (unless provided for in the lease) without the leaseholders permission. Buy the lease, you can do what you want as you are free and leaseholder. It works when theres a massive development potential making purchase of the leasehold financially viable. THen there are several options, sell the whole site to a developer or develop it themselves with partners, etc etc. BMC would essentially get money back, by selling RDunne to the RFL. Timing is clearly going to be an issue here, so it is likely we will be elsewhere until the new stadium is built.

I'm probably mistaken but I am sure I've read somewhere trustyworthy that the Dunns site actually forms part of the Odsal lease and that's why we could charge to park on it.

Surely, all they need to do is carve it up into two parcels, RFL says 'Thanks for Dunns we relinquish the lease hold for a just enough of a share in the money from the disposal as a whole to crack on with our development'.

Nige includes a Spicy Cottage franchise in the development and lives happily ever after.

The story is basically true though short of some detail. Bullseye is also right that there has to be money coming in from another source. That source is Sport England who if you remember awarded £10.75m to help grow and sustain participation in Rugby League for the four-year period 2017-2020 as part of the ‘Towards an Active Nation’ strategy. This includes conditions for expenditure on infrastructure. What better infrastructure than a 30,000 capacity stadium with bells and whistles at the iconic Odsal?

Only the RFL could drive one of their members out of existence so they could build a new HQ. They really are not aware of how precarious leagues foothold is in British professional sport.

Yes, the actual freehold covers both the stadium grounds and Dunns grounds as well

So new ground before Wakey then that'll go down well.

This is what I got told a few weeks ago. The council are land rich but cash poor. They also recognise that sport underpins a lot of what they now have statutory responsibility for - public health, exercise. As long as they get a 21st century version of Dicky Dunnes and Bradford Bulls stays at Odsal, they will negotiate with all stakeholders.
The RFL are cash rich (Sport England funding for infrastructure/legacy), have a stake in Odsal (by luck or Machiavellian judgement??) and want offices, an RFL stadium and a tenant (Bulls).
Bulls just need a stadium.... and already have a chairman, chosen specifically by the RFL, who is trusted by the RFL.
I don't know where Nige fits in, but the plan seems to be coming together.
As has been said many times, it's all about the land development.

So none of this actually helps us in anyway does it? We are still relegated and looking less and less likely to have a sustainable team playing in our fancy new stadium in however many years time.

I suspect there was always a plan to keep the club going on life support. Whether ambitions go beyond that we'll have to wait and see - if there's anyone left that's bothered. I've already decided this season is over.

A new ground would be a massive step in the right direction though - thinking longer term.