: Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:19 pm  

Was there supposed to be some news of the odsal village in late March? Am I mistaken on this?

: Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:56 pm  

Terry Monster wrote:

Was there supposed to be some news of the odsal village in late March? Am I mistaken on this?

Apparently meeting behind by a couple of issues i would say late April or beginning of may is more likely now

: Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:59 am  

Hood Says some stuff in Friday nights program, i dont have it to hand to write it out verbatium but the gist was that the viablity report ran 2 weeks over and is ready to be published , and the cousil have pushed it to 2nd priority of all its projects behind only the school rebuilding. no further info on wether or not city would be joining us.

think that was about it , but if anyone has it to hand and doesnt mind typing it out , it might put right anything iv got wrong

[Bullseye]

: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:29 pm  

I caught an interesting interview with the chairman of City's supporters trust on the radio who is still keen to see us at VP sharing with City. They are for the OSV just minus the stadium with us sharing VP as the home of "professional" sport in the city.

: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:38 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

I caught an interesting interview with the chairman of City's supporters trust on the radio who is still keen to see us at VP sharing with City. They are for the OSV just minus the stadium with us sharing VP as the home of "professional" sport in the city.

Strange how all the talk from city fans of wanting us at VP only comes out in month or two prior to decision re OSV and has never been mentioned in preceding six years. ( and soundbites apart if you look on their forums there pretty universally against it).

Odsal : Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:35 pm  

What with Wakefield plans for a new community stadium in got me thinking in regards to current grounds that teams play at. With relation to the licensing system this may become more and more relevant and with some NL teams apparenlty having better facilities than some Super League teams it may be something that becomes relevant and we could face a current SL team losing a license. As I see it teams with current and modern facilities at the moment and therefore seem to have a certain future regarding their stadiums are:

Huddersfield Giants-
Harlequins RL
Hull FC
Wigan Warriors
Warrington Wolves

Now there are a group of teams which have recognised there need for a totally new ground and have proposed and set about accordingly. These Teams are in the process of Building/Planning Brand-New and state of the art Stadiums:

Salford City Reds
Castleford Tigers
Wakefield Wildcats
Saint Helens

This leaves a few teams left:

Leeds Rhinos
Hull KR
Bradford Bulls
Catalan Dragons
Celtic Crusaders

Now. Celtic and Catalans have reasonable grounds and if they plan accordingly and regenerate as they proposed when getting their licenses then they will have no issues in obtaining future licenses due to the state of their grounds in my opinion. The games wanting to be promoted in francce and Wales and I cannot see the RFL letting these teams licenses be lost due to the state of their grounds. my opinion of course.

Hull KR are similar to Bradford in the sense that their ground was used for speedway but Hull KR dont have the luxury of the natural slope (or bowl) that Odsal has. They have however (I think 2006) refurbed Craven park and are planning more extensions and a whole new stand (I think some time this year?)

Leeds's ground is an example of an old ground that has had significant improvements and has more plans of refurbishment. Although many clubs are moving to newer venues I think redevelopment of Headingley will only serve to make it a better stadium with a feel of history around it. For me the Carnegie Stand is pretty much one of the best in SL.

That leaves us with the Bulls and Odsal/Grattan Stadium. Bradfords "plans" for this are for it to link up with the surrounding land and the Richard Dunns leisure Centre and re-develop the whole area into a "Sporting Village." This sporting village concept has been thrown around for a long time now, as have groudshares with Bradford City etc etc. I'm hoping it does happen not just for the Club but for the whole of Rugby league. The last major developments to Odsal was the Coral Stand and whilst it is a brilliant addition to the stadium, in doesn't bring anything to your average fan. Im just wondering what people think will happen if a) Odsal Sporting Village doesnt happen and b) What other possible plans for improvements the Bulls do/Should have.

I appreciate this post is highly subjective and circumstancial, who knows what will happen. I also recognise that licenses aint handed out on grounds alone. But its an interesting topic in my opinion......Especially with the likes of Widnes Leigh et al wanting licenses come 2011. There Stadiums are top notch.

[Bullseye]

: Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:51 pm  

At present OSV looks more likely to go ahead than previous schemes but as we all know, plans for Odsal have a funny way of falling by the wayside.

If the OSV doesn't happen the club will have to decide whether it has a future at Odsal. Given the running costs I'd say not as the club has no wealthy backer and non have ever come forward. That will mean a new home is necessary. That would need to be in the Bradford area so leaves VP as the only real option.

On the issue of getting a SL license I don't think any club would lose their license based on ground facilities alone. We got a grade B at the last assessment, which suggests we're not in any danger. If the club were still at Odsal in 3 years but still pulling in 10k fans and maintaining the work to develop itself in the community and relatively successful on the field there's no way the Bulls would not remain in SL.

Re: Odsal : Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:03 pm  

SDB wrote:

Im just wondering what people think will happen if a) Odsal Sporting Village doesnt happen and b) What other possible plans for improvements the Bulls do/Should have.

Stadium-related issues account for four of the ten licensing criteria points:

1. Capacity of 12k+
2. Average crowd 10k+
3. Ground over 40% full
4. Premier standard ground.

Bulls obviously lose a point for 4, but pass the rest. And will continue to do so provided fans continue to turn up (we need about 10.5k-11k average to be safe under point 3).

I raise this because a lot of fekkwits across the MBS talk a load of garbage about how licensing seems to be all about the grounds, under the present criteria. You clearly appreciate otherwise, and are referring more to what might happen in the future if the criteria become more stadium-weighted.

To be honest, regardless of licensing - if we don't get the OSV, or something very similar, then I cannot see the Bulls still being around - at least at SL level. Nothing to do with licensing; everything to do with money.

We have been prevented from developing the ground with a commercial partner (don't even go there...trust me!) and lack the resources to do more than basic care and maintenance on the ground as it is. We cannot move anyway without having to pay a 7-figure penalty to the Council that is far beyond our means. Unless a Whelan or Lenaghan or Moran or Caddick or Davy or McManus or Wilkinson or whatever comes knocking, we'll not be able to compete. IMO its the OSV or a very uncertain future, unless the Council (in a re-run of 2002) forces us down to Valley Parade and waives the penalty to engineer it.

Re: Odsal : Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:26 pm  

Adeybull wrote:

To be honest, regardless of licensing - if we don't get the OSV, or something very similar, then I cannot see the Bulls still being around - at least at SL level. Nothing to do with licensing; everything to do with money.

The problem here is that I suspect it is all or nothing. If we struggle to make it at SL level, with Sky money and (relatively) high crowds I can't see any way that we could survive at Odsal at all in any lower league.

Adeybull wrote:

We cannot move anyway without having to pay a 7-figure penalty to the Council that is far beyond our means. Unless a Whelan or Lenaghan or Moran or Caddick or Davy or McManus or Wilkinson or whatever comes knocking, we'll not be able to compete. IMO its the OSV or a very uncertain future, unless the Council (in a re-run of 2002) forces us down to Valley Parade and waives the penalty to engineer it.

See above. Though it may not go down well in Keighley, it seems to me (under those circumstances) that there would be a strong possibility that the Council wouldn't be able to enforce the penalty (i.e. if the club were to be bankrupt). Indeed, if caught between the Scylla of unsustainable costs at Odsal and the Charybdis of the penalty clause, it might be politically and even financially preferable for the Council to waive some or all of the penalty to allow us to continue in existence - at VP.

Though, of course, we are talking about Bradford Council...

[Bullseye]

Re: Odsal : Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:43 pm  

MDF wrote:

The problem here is that I suspect it is all or nothing. If we struggle to make it at SL level, with Sky money and (relatively) high crowds I can't see any way that we could survive at Odsal at all in any lower league.

Quite. If we're still at an undeveloped Odsal then the club wouldn't survive in the NLs.

MDF wrote:

See above. Though it may not go down well in Keighley, it seems to me (under those circumstances) that there would be a strong possibility that the Council wouldn't be able to enforce the penalty (i.e. if the club were to be bankrupt). Indeed, if caught between the Scylla of unsustainable costs at Odsal and the Charybdis of the penalty clause, it might be politically and even financially preferable for the Council to waive some or all of the penalty to allow us to continue in existence - at VP.

If the OSV fails to come off I expect this outcome.

MDF wrote:

Though, of course, we are talking about Bradford Council...

Good point, anything could happen!

MDF wrote:

Charybdis

Great word! Never heard that before.