What’s the issue with the RFL selling the lease and the land being used for housing then?

If Bradford can’t afford to stay there that’s fine. They just shouldn’t expect other people to fund their stadium/redevelopment for them which has been the tone of Chalmers press statements for a while now.

The only thing odsal has going is its size. Some great memories but unless someone with mega millions came in it would never be developed into a decent modern stadium.

If it's costing £300k per annum, plus "wear & tear" to continue playing at Odsal, it's easy to understand Braford's position in wanting something cheaper.
The difficulty comes in finding any decent alternatives.
Moving in with Dewsbury seems ok in the short term but, getting a new facility up and running in 2 years, especially on the back of walking away from their current lease, which will give both the RFL and the local council some headaches, is likely to be very problematic.

The deal for the RFL to take over the "iconic" Odsal stadium is going to leave a further hole in their finances and they are already, financially, blowing their brains out.

A bad day all round, although one does suspect that, this is still being discussed and there will be a different end to the story.

Well part of me did wonder (and I'm not being snide here) that this COULD be carter-esque brinkmanship. Sometimes it's a productive tactic in focusing minds. That said, this looks more firm than any of the Wakefield wranglings to date.

Well, for your sakes and those of the wider game, I hope it is more of a threat than reality.
Although, £300k per annum etc, is a huge rent on the Odsal facility and seems a long way from the supposed "peppercorn" rent that the old Braford Bulls were allegedly paying to play there.
It would be interesting to know whether Bradford can just walk away from their obligations at Odsal as there must be some fairly stringent agreement in place to cover such a situation or, at least you would expect so

Not exactly sure what happens now (if this all goes through) in terms of the leasehold (held by the RFL) and the freehold (held by the council). I guess the RFL and Bradford council would come to some agreement for the leasehold ownership to go back to the council who would then presumably try and sell the site off - although I've seen talk on here that building on the Odsal site isn't as straightforward as it appears.

In terms of Bradford's expectations in terms of help with the stadium, you could point to any number of RL teams currently playing out of stadiums and facilities built for them either wholly or in part by their respective councils. Bradford council stopped giving a stuff about Odsal, the Bulls and professional RL in the city as soon as they signed the deal with the Bulls back in the early 2000s.

I was under the impression there is a load of unpleasant, toxic stuff below the surface, & I don't mean the R.F.L.'s involvement in the whole sorry tale.

Be interesting to see if the RFL give any special treatment when it comes to scheduling of fixtures being that there will be 2 teams in the same league ground sharing.

Probably should post as I don't think anyone else has the RFL's response to Chalmers' announcement
[i"Bradford’s request to use the Tetley’s Stadium in Dewsbury as a home ground remains subject to the approval of the RFL Board, who are charged with making a decision in the best interests of the sport. We have not received an application, and it would be inappropriate to comment until we do."[/i

Why should the council buy it back. The RFL can keep it 'til the lease runs out.

Yeah, the wording of that does come across as shocked that someone would call their bluff.
Chalmers has already come out and set a deadline for a response regarding the future of Odsal from the RFL and Bradford Council and that the club would be looking to leave Odsal if there was nothing positive forthcoming.

All it really says is that the Bulls haven't put in the official paperwork to change locations.

If I were Chalmers with no long term connection to the club and it cost me a fortune to run I would hope that the RFL do not sanction the move, I would put the club into admin and buy the first AirNZ ticket I could.

Exactly which land does the Odsal site encompass? Is the open land to the South East included (behind the hospitality units)? Is the car park and sports centre over the road included?

Have the RFL explored turning Odsal into an elite RL development centre - potentially combined with a modern RL stadium (think mini-Twickenham)?

If the site is big enough, could run (a) international setup (b) major fixtures (30-35k dedicated RL stadium) and (c) Bradford to meet some of the ongoing costs out of one site. Perhaps even more Red Hall over there. I appreciate that this is not an insignificant project or undertaking, but to me it seems like there may be an opportunity that benefits both the sport and the club here?

I think this one has been done to death on so many occasions.
Before we even contemplate a huge development, which MAY offer some benefit to the game as a whole, why would anyone want to throw £million and millions into the Odsal hole.
IF there was a need for a national RL stadium etc, Odsal is not the answer
Even if RL was awash with cash, like the Union game, this would still be wrong but, our sport is losing brass year on year already, with Odsal already emptying the bath.

Just no.

It would be mighty interesting what The RFL tried to do with the site and lease IF Bradford were to leave