Er from what I hear they only have a part share at Keighley and come on its probably peanuts compared to what must be millions to buy Odslum??
Its wrong on both counts. The game is struggling and most teams below SL cannot even afford an U23s, there are only 6 clubs running one this year!
But hey you live in your RFL is great bubble.

If you had a lease with a peppercorn rent, the council could not sell the stadium

Unless you agreed to let them,

But why do that and end up paying more rent than you previously had to?

Your logic doesnt stack up, if the stadium has been sold/purchased, your costs will rise, unless the buyer is willing to stand some of that extra, if so your club are being subsidised by other clubs and other clubs fans, simple as

Typical SL fan, you don't even respond with a meaningful debate you just insult.
This is bad news as the RFL are using money and must be millions from ALL clubs to do this and have shown a bias towards one club and in the world of franchises this is morally wrong but the RFL have no morals do they?

This is not a bit of help this is huge come on they must have paid a lot of dosh to get the ground off the Council plus are Council taxpayers in Bradford happy about this? If the ground was worth more as a private development they should have sold it off and cashed in their chips in the days of budget cuts and provided the Bulls a ground at another site surely?

Explain how the council tax payers have lost out in any way under this arrangement?

Explain how much of "your" money the RFL have paid out? If, as I suspect, the RFL have taken over the long leasehold from the Bulls, then that by itself is hardly likely to have cost the RFL anything, and the council's situation is little-changed. After all, what were they actually buying? The real interest has to be in the "underlease" and the terms of that. And that lease has been stated to be on commercial terms.

Explain why the Bulls giving the council a charge over assets is detrimental to council tax payers?

The "block at the end" - the Coral Stand - was built and paid for by the Bulls after they took on the long lease. It is in the balance sheet as a fixed asset. Explain how it was the council that paid for it?

The 1986 improvements were done by the council for the Speedway world cup. In exchange for benefiting from them, the Bulls were obliged to hand over the food and drinks concession rights - and the income from them - to the council.

Wigan and Saints (two you indicated) owned their grounds. Wigan sold out to Tesco to pay off debts and now rent a ground. Saints had McManus' largesse to thank. BOTH new stadia were heavily funded by Tesco developments - as was Warrington's. As was OURS going to be - except local politics and the plight of Bradford City put paid to OUR Tesco development.

Explain what the open market value of a hole in the ground with a big shed is, when it is let on a peppercorn for 150 years or whatever it was? Clue: fekk all, since there is no appreciable future income stream and no prospect of sale for development with the long leaseholder in situ.

And explain why you seem to have been taken in by all the spin about saving historic grounds?

Or would you rather get in a paddy about what you THINK has happened, instead of commenting objectively on what likely HAS happened? And that the agreements regarding the stadium are almost certainly NOT the central issue here.

If you look on the other thread you will realise that the RFL act as the lease guarantor for Keighley, between the Cougars and the stadium owners, the Co oP

They dont actually own the stadium

So are you are saying that the line being peddled by the rfl about protecting against predators is absolute poop, as even if someone else had bought Odsal they would have had to honour the Bulls lease. This being the case then the only deduction to make is that the Bulls are in the crapper and this is a bail out without directly providing the cash upfront.

We can safely assume, I think, that the Council wanted to sell Odsal. This situation would not have arisen if they had not wanted to sell, yes? The impression given by the RFL's own statement is that the club approached them (the RFL agreed) and that the purchasing interest was hostile ('predatory'). Therefore, I think it is safe to assume that whoever wanted to purchase Odsal did not have any interest in honouring any deals worked out between the Council and the club. Either that or the Council was seeking to sell the freehold and thus terminate any arrangements between themselves and the club. That can all be gleened from the RFL's statement.

So assuming the RFL has been accurate in its wording of the statement, the club sought the assistance of the RFL, which the RFL duly provided, thus securing the club's existence. The club must have perceived some kind of threat to its existence for it to approach the RFL at this point. Had it not felt threatened then either it would have come to an agreement with its new landlords or sought alternative accommodation. However, it has done neither of those things and the RFL has invested financially in the club by purchasing Odsal (either freehold or leasehold).

I doubt very much that the Bulls would opt to stay at Odsal for sentimental reasons. I'm quite sure the club would like new, safe, modern facilities. Therefore it is safe to assume that the threat was financial; that the club could not afford alternative accommodation or indeed a different rent deal with a new landlord.

Hence it is my belief that the RFL has bailed out the Bulls and in doing so has made a mockery of the licensing system in a major way.

I'm a York fan.

If you hate the RFL so much, go and watch another sport. You won't be missed.

Where do you get 'millions' from? Land prices ain't what they used to be and in this case it comes with a sitting tenant with a very long lease. It's also, as has been pointed out at some length, not the most commercially attractive plot to be turned into anything else. The RFL could easily have got a very good deal from BCC. And they have income from the rent.

Er yer the sport I have supported since 1966, once again sticks and stones from a plastic fan. Get back to Bootham Crescent.

You are confusing the sport with the RFL, they dont own the sport , they are not THE sport, they are just running it, into a fractured split sport at the moment, so what do you expect?

Plastic fan ey? Lovely stuff.

Just because I don't subscribe to the bat looney tunes conspiracies that the RFL is as corrupt as the Italian mafia, doesn't make me a plastic fan.

Sorry for being just a little bit rational. I know that must seem completely alien to you.

Er a good deal really?
How about it being a HUGE liability, you been to Odslum recently its not in that great a state. Who is going to pay for its upkeep now and just what will the Bulls be paying for their rent???
Like I say this is a dangerous precedent, really what are the RFL going to do with a stadium this big when its needs millions to make it as some say the Wembley of the North, its been tried before and has never come off, this with much bigger fish than the RFL note!

Maybe they aren't corrupt; maybe they are. How would we know? One thing is for certain, though, they did not go into this agreement to save Odsal. That's just spin and bollox. Had the sporting village idea come off, Odsal wouldn't exist today and the RFL wouldn't be remotely bothered by its lack of existence.

So while the RFL might not be corrupt, they do manage a naff line in spin.

Please explain your feelings then Mr Rational?
Come on, all you have done is 'mock me' get off your 'ooh its a fan that has opposite views to mine so lets just write some small insults shall we'??? What you got to say to justify this then?

Please explain your feelings then Mr Rational?
Come on, all you have done is 'mock me' get off your 'ooh its a fan that has opposite views to mine so lets just write some small insults shall we'??? What you got to say to justify this then?

Lets say they are about as open and honest as the North Korean regime eh.
They just do what they want they have total control and for many have got far too much control and are corrupt.

As I see it, The RFL bought Odsal, to stop developers from buying it and turfing out the Bulls. Nothing has actually changed for Bradford, apart from who they make the cheque for the rent to.

They might have a more secure future and a more understanding landlord, but they haven't been bailed out of anything.

No corruption, no secret agendas. Just a decent bit of business for the RFL.

Bless.

Who said the council has sold the stadium?

I do not for one minute believe they have.

I believe the Bulls have probably sold - or transferred - the long leasehold to the RFL. So it is now the RFL that has the long lease with the council. With the council's blessing.

What then follows, regarding the new underlease and its terms, is - I suspect - all a matter of cashflow timing, to stop a club with no sugar daddy from going out of business and buy it some time to get the long term on a more sound footing.

I suppose the RFL COULD see the club go into Administration, which could mean - like Wakey and London and Crusaders and Widnes various non-SL clubs - a big loss to the taxpayer and to other suppliers. You know, the route that allows a phoenix to rise, free of its obligations and liabilities? The way the RFL has allowed numerous clubs to do? Something that, as a taxpayer, I could consider a disgrace. Or maybe all the parties regard that as the last thing the game needs right now, and if it can be avoided then all well and good?

I also don't expect the RFL to be more than a temporary landlord. Same as at some other clubs.

Incidentally, I must have missed somewhere the mechanism by which "other clubs' fans" pay some sort of a levy to the RFL for them to use (or abuse)?

Have the RFL used cash ( that would be earning interest ) ?

Have the RFL borrowed ( that will incur interest ) ?

Who will stand this cost?

3 simple questions

I don't know.

The RFL

Nobody. But the RFL has clearly stated that it has bought the stadium. It hasn't said that it has bought the leasehold to the stadium; but that it has bought the stadium. Who owned the stadium to sell it? The Council? If the Council owned the stadium then they must have sold it in order for it to have been bought by the RFL.


Now you're being silly. We all pay into the pot. If we buy a ticket for the CC final or for an international, for example, we pay into the pot.