I thought the rent is a negligible 70k or so a year. The true cost is the upkeep which is a burden transferred from the leaseholder to the club. That's rumoured to be in the region of £300k to £500k per annum just to maintain it's rather tired current state, and that's what makes it unaffordable to stay.

I always wondered why the 1st administrator didn't look at that. He had the authority to. Basically the RFL took the only asset Bulls had left (the lease) and got rid of their unsecured loan at the same time and then 6months later the other creditors were left with nothing.

Ask yourself why we moved into the HJS, and it will make sense.

With maintenance costs of £00 to £500k per annum, that would suggest that Odsal is a total dead duck and it is now up to the RFL and Braford Council to decide what could/ should happen to the lease ??
However, does anyone know exactly what Bradford and The RFL committed themselves to in terms of who would pay what and for how long.
Was it a case of The RFL jumping in too quickly and not knowing how or who would pay them back or, were Bradford themselves too naïve in wanting to stay at Odsal.
Surely, when they signed back up to play at Odsal, they were aware of the costs involved and now, plying their trade in the lower leagues, they realise they are unable to afford to stay.
Walking away when they have signed a long term lease would be very poor form, unless the burden of maintaining the ground has changed, after the lease was agreed.

Well York’s is nearly done been delayed but York city will be playing in it this season and The RL next season now. But it’s nit our in the sky like the other clubs.

That’s the thing, Chalmers didn’t like the look of the terms of the lease so didn’t sign. Lease runs out end of September

The Rfl have the bulk of a 130yr lease with the council left.

Bradford don't have a loan from the RFL now. When the RFL bought the lease they subtracted the loan from the selling price of the lease so the loan was repaid years ago.

With respect to the administrator, the lease was sold about 2 months before admin 1, in fact selling the lease was the final straw that made admin 1 inevitable. The lease was an asset which helped secure a bank overdraft. When we didn't own the lease anymore, the bank called in the overdraft resulting in Our chairman making his public appeal for £500k, I guess to pay the bank and stop them putting us into administration. Fat lot of use that was, including my £400 for me and each of the 3 kids who'd followed the Bulls/Northern in my case

Andrew charmers was willing to spend money on it providing he has the lease back, the rfl didn’t want him to have the lease back, so I reckon the council and the rfl have had there heads together and come up with this idea in order to make it look like the bulls was leaving of there own choice, the the council buy back the lease off the rfl for a rather larger sum, the council then sell odsal for a very large sum, and the rfl give themselves a very large bonus

Don't really see why the council should pay a large sum for the lease. What can the RFL do with it?

The council want it back in order to sell it, it’s not rocket science

What are they going to use it for, land fill ??

The site will cost an utter fortune to develop, either as a RL ground or for commercial use.
It's only plus point is its location.

Can’t be used for traditional waste landfill due to nearby new housing estate. Perhaps rubble, even then I imagine plenty of objections from residents. Who knows. If it can be filled in I would expect the toxic land from the tip might prevent housing being built on it. However it could maybe be used as an industrial estate maybe. Lots of ifs buts and maybes.

Land around Bradford has very little value.

The cog why they uncil could do all sorts with it. I was just questioning why they should pay a large sum for it. They can impose enough limitations on what the RFL can do with it to make it worthless.

The limitations will already be in the lease. They can't add new ones. I would wager it is limited to RL but that will then be reflected in the price of the lease.

Point I’m trying to make is that the rfl will come out with more than they paid for it and that will go into there own big pockets guaranteed

What big pockets? The rfl is skint!

How so? They've lost their income. Why will they be better off when the head lease will no doubt limit what they can do with the facility?

Ok I’m wrong forget it end of

I'm more interested in what cost there will be to the RFL &, as a Bradford resident, to the City.

Few musings. Will there be clauses in the lease about maintaining the site to a standard? Is there a risk that the council could do a few surprise inspections and if the RFL hasn't maintained it (after the Bulls vacate on 30th Sept) then they could ultimately forfeit the lease? Politically the council wouldn't consider that option when it was the Bulls, they may be willing to take the risk when it's the RFL?

I've said it before, but the council is scrabbling for a coherent public health plan - mainly child (and adult) obesity. Lack of sports infrastructure is a hole in any plan for reducing childhood obesity.

The council is land rich and cash poor. For public health purposes, they need more sporting infrastructure, open to all. Outdoors, indoors, 4G. If the RFL can get out of the way, I'm sure the council could discuss their needs directly with a developer. A small community stadium at the heart of the plans, for RL, RU, Football, whoever needs it could work.

Can you explain how/why the RFL will come out of this with more than they paid, especially when their income WAS going to come for the rent paid by Bradford and this will disappear if/when Bradford move in with Dewsbury.
Bradford council aren't exactly going to be offering large sums of money to buy the lease back.

The RFL have already written DOWN the value of the lease in their books by hundreds of thousands of pounds a few years ago.

£750k IIRC