To my understanding the lease already exists.

ABC would want to own it so that having invested £Xmillion pound they can't be simply thrown off the site at a future date.

In the hypothetical situation that the Bulls went to VP the millions the council would make would be radically reduced if the site contained a massive Akbars in the middle of it, who also held the lease on the rest of the site.

ABC need the lease. Council need clause, or series of clauses, which mean if Bulls go, Akbars go too. This why Reeves and Green are involved.

Whether the council is skint is irrelevant. At the top level the council is a group of highly risk averse employees who would fear being called to the ombudsman to explain why they had entered into an exclusive deal with ABC to develop a piece of land wholly owned by BMDC. Any senior auditor would immediately suspect kickbacks and an investigation would ensue. In short, it can't happen.

I think the first part of your post looks increasingly likely. Add in that at the time of the deal no mention was made of the club having borrowed 700k from the RFL, something also kept secret from the other clubs.

The second part is more or less impossible as BMDC own the site and could easily block transfer of the lease.

Pick up any copy of Private Eye and you can see this sort of thing does happen, albeit usually uncovered in the end.

I remain hopeful that we remain at Odsal but only if we have a sustainable future there. I don't think we can run a SL operation and pick up the tab for maintaining the ground. Having said that VP may cost even more in terms of rent and a move there would see us lose some support as per 2001/2.

I guess it depends how much ABC are prepared to lose.

I hope you're right.

Dont think it was either / or. More likely both. Nigel Wood nailed his colours to the mast re saving the stadium blah blah blah. Selling to some property developers and moving the Bulls to valley parade would weaken his already weak position.

It can happen, but possibly not quickly enough to meet the deadline they're working to.

micky g tweeting that someone other than ABC consortium has made a bid.

Sky sports news ticker: sources reporting that consortiums bid in danger of collaspe as they've not given RFL assurances about plans for odsal.

If they do anything other than sell the lease for what they paid for it, it is the worst piece of business in a very long time. Sounds like the RFL are doing the right thing. Look at what they are not being told rather than what they are. The consortium wants to do something to the Odsal other than play rugby there, that is clear from the administrators spiel.

There is nothing the RFL and other clubs agreeing to a new company starting up and playing at the Odsal, and in Super League, re-employing the old players.

A Bradford team will be playing out of Odsal in Super League next year, I am confident of it.

Don't see why. Wigan survive quite well without it?

this is what should happen - a clean slate withot developers looking to make a quick (or even sloe) buck.

Someone e mailed this to me

Its 16/1 the field ... and there off!

Its Caisley taking an early lead with ABC coming up on the inside
rails... Bradford Council jumping up and down,with No Money making up
the rear. They're now taking the canal road turn and the next fence is
the 'Wastefield' ditch ... oh and Caisley is a faller ... ABC now in the
lead, but some stray Bulls in the field next to the racecourse causing
concern to both runners and riders ... Eric Pickles is still near the
back, but remember he's carrying a few stone overweight and unlikely to
make the chase. They're now going through broadway and the bookies are
having a field day with Retail Competition having unseated his rider and
Charity Shops taking over the lead. Its looking like No Jobs is going to
stay the course though and Benefit Lad is looking good. Guilfoyle is
into the final furlong now, but it seems the rest of the field can't
quite see through the fog at the moment and its not clear if all the
field are heading for the same winning post.

Its neck and neck but the winner is Guilfoyle, who had nothing to lose
and picks up a big winners cheque."

quite simple really, the lease is sold to them with a specific condition that the ground has to remain a fit venue to host rugby at a super league level for a certain lebgth of time ( say at least 10 years or more..??). Failure to comply with it and the lease reverts back to Bradford Council. So they can develope it how they wish as long as Rugby league at top level can still be played there. If they can't agree to this then they obviously want Odsal for some other purpose than playing Rugby

That would be the ideal solution. But it might come down to a choice between the developers making a buck or no club at all.