Who knows?

But in commercial property it's the norm for the leaseholder to have to maintain the property. The RFL let the stadium deteriorate in the years between 2012 and now. Anyone can see that.

I can't see any potential buyer wanting to pump money into it to improve it. They're more likely to see it as a development site.

My conspiracy goes like

1) CBMDC get the lease back
2) Richard Dunn becomes a victim of a weird kind of fire that destroys concrete and the lands cleared
3) CBMC sell the Odsal plot (that used to include the RD area if I remember right before it was split some years ago
4) CBMDC pledge to build a stadium on the RD plot
5) Were still playing zero G RL at Dewsbury in the year 2099

Indeed. Whilst £750k probably isn’t a huge amount for a property developer, it’s difficult to imagine any of them paying that price and then “protecting professional rugby in Bradford “. It just doesn’t stack up. They will be more interested in filling the hole in and building a retail park, I would imagine.
Tbf it’s time the Odsal nettle was grasped as it can’t be left to decay indefinitely, but where it will leave the Bulls is a cause for concern as things stand.

Richard Dunn built using RAAC concrete perhaps

If Dunn's does eventually and mysteriously burn down then I'm afraid I can only see that site being used for housing. I'm not even sure it's big enough for a new stadium.

The Bulls need a nice new out of town stadium a bit like what Warrington got. Absolutely no chance of local authority funding for it in Bradford though. The council are utterly skint.

We need to think outside the box. There's an athletics stadium opposite the shay. We could develop that and rebrand as Calderdale Bulls. The area is crying out for a competitive RL club to support. I'm no expert but I've designed something really quite special I reckon.

rlrl

I'm liking the goal posts being on the main road. That will make things really interesting for drivers.

I was watching the grand final and thinking those narrow in-goal areas are nice but we can go even further. Why not have the in-goal areas as carpark.

I like the name of the ground. Another calderdaler that played well for Bradford you could consider is Karl Fairbank. You hear that surname and you immediate think of Bradford Norther/Bulls.

It would be good for kids playing the game round there to have a big local club to look up to.

All joking aside I don't think there is a lot needed to make Odsal a more pleasant experience as a summer sports ground but the pitch and that dirt track stop it from being acceptable IMO.

If you had the concrete on the away end removed. You could grass tier that end (witht he slope shallowedout down to the dead ball line. Like at Australian grounds/cricket grounds and open it as a family stand/picnic area when the weather's good. New crash barriers and cleaned concrete on the pop side.

Replace the portakabins with brick built sheds, same with the bar on the corner (or replace the rotten wood). Plant some flowers on the grass bankings behind the concourse.

But the pitch and the dirt track are an eye sore.

Depends if Sport England have the field documented within its existing pitch strategy work. If it is, then in realty no developers can build there unless it provides an alternative venue for the use of sport, hence the low valuation of the land. I tried to purchase two unprotected sports pitches, for sports use, but was priced out as the land was valued with development in mind (it was eventually sold to a property developer in 2015 for £1.5m). The footprint of Odsal is around 4 times this.

Admittedly, this SE framework is usually reserved for smaller community clubs and playing fields (i.e. amateur) but if someone genuinely had the ambition of saving the site for RL, then they would have lobbied to include it back when the leasehold was sold.

Based on my professional experience, the best we can possibly hope for is the council secures the leasehold and sells the land plus RD site for property development (something that is very much needed). In return, some of the funds would be placed towards a community stadium which would provide a lasting legacy for the community, plus a venue for the two professional sports clubs on that side of the city (Bulls & BPA).

I really hope that we as a club are talking to the university as they could be potentially a huge partner to have involved in anything going forwards. The current Director of Infrastructure was involved in improving sports facilities at Uni of Leeds in the past few years, so will understand the value of sport and activity within a developing university strategy. I really don't know if the university have any plans to expand or develop their campus but it would be silly not to have that discussion to see if there is a joint partnership that could be formed should it be of interest.

I'd argue that there could be the foundations of a city-led project that develops affordable property, community facilities, a new academic campus and community sports village. Pop some cultural aspects in there and you have a transformational legacy project that could possibly receive significant investment... if only we had something like a cultural legacy project due to happen in the next year or two???

The only problem with this is that there seems a serious lack of vision and ambition from the various parties that would need to come together, so whether or not this ever comes to fruition is another matter.

From what I hear from people I know at Bradford University the institution is seriously strapped for cash and has put all it's playing fields at Woodhall Pudsey up for sale.

Don’t know who you’re talking to but you hear wrong. The university is doing ok these days, it’s increased student numbers year on year and has increased staff numbers in recent times. Bradford being one of the cheaper places in the area to live has also helped it during the cost of living crisis. Now they aren’t going to be buying up swathes of land in the area and are subject to the same energy increases we all are but they are going ok. Regarding its sporting links they recently upgraded its partnership with Bradford City, becoming their principle back of shirt sponsor for the next 3 seasons. The Bulls have been approached previously to discuss link ups but there hasn’t been much appetite to take it further from the clubs point of view.

And if Woodhall fields are up for sale it isn’t the uni selling them, they sold them to Leeds city council about 6 years ago. Now they are an organisation that is skint so it wouldn’t shock me of they are trying to offload them again.

Didn't know Woodhall had been sold to Leeds.

My info from Bradford Uni comes from a variety of staff there who are very demoralised.

Working in Bradford can do that to a person.