Leaving Odsal and future in general : Sat Jul 20, 2019 8:07 am  

So Mr Chalmers has raised the possibility of the Bulls leaving Odsal before next season if discussions between the RFL and Bradford Council don’t go as planned.. Bluffing or a serious move? So where would be the most likely destination if it were to happen? Given the RFL seem happy enough for some other clubs to play out of facilities barely resembling a stadium I would guess Horsfall would satisfy requirements with some minor adjustments? Google suggests it current capacity at 3.5k which is already close to our average crowds, is there space to increase that to closer to 5k without too much in the way of work to be done. Other options would likely be Dewsbury groundshare given our good relations with their board or perhaps the least popular with many fans a return to VP... https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... xt-season/

So Mr Chalmers has raised the possibility of the Bulls leaving Odsal before next season if discussions between the RFL and Bradford Council don’t go as planned.. Bluffing or a serious move? So where would be the most likely destination if it were to happen? Given the RFL seem happy enough for some other clubs to play out of facilities barely resembling a stadium I would guess Horsfall would satisfy requirements with some minor adjustments? Google suggests it current capacity at 3.5k which is already close to our average crowds, is there space to increase that to closer to 5k without too much in the way of work to be done. Other options would likely be Dewsbury groundshare given our good relations with their board or perhaps the least popular with many fans a return to VP... https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... xt-season/

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sat Jul 20, 2019 8:39 am  

Best get it sorted out before the season ticket offer is released. Best make sure its in Bradford as well if they want to sell more than 2000.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sat Jul 20, 2019 8:52 am  

Wonder if they’ll consult with the supporter base? I’m not against leaving Odsal if it needs to happen but I must admit I am in the anti VP camp. Although it was a long time ago, I didn’t enjoy our stint there last time. And that was in the days when we at least had a decent crowd to give it some atmosphere. Personally speaking it’s quite a bit further to travel and the location isn’t somewhere I choose to venture to if I can avoid it.
I know Odsal is a big mostly empty old stadium but it’s our home so it’s easier to overlook it’s obvious shortcomings.

I’m also not overly familiar with the layout of Horsfall, is there enough space to erect some semi temporary seating, similar to what they had at Hull KR a few years back?

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sat Jul 20, 2019 9:01 am  

I have no problem playing at VP. Simply because it's an improvement over Odsal in terms of the actual state of the facilities. And IF franchising comes back into play, the only negatives that Bradford would face would be the financial issues in our recent past and the state of Odsal.
But I think this is more a case of Chalmers doing what the City board have done a few times with regards to VP. He's gambling that he can get a better deal.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:27 am  

Horsfall is as good as Toronto’s ground.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:49 am  

roofaldo2 wrote:

I have no problem playing at VP. Simply because it's an improvement over Odsal in terms of the actual state of the facilities. And IF franchising comes back into play, the only negatives that Bradford would face would be the financial issues in our recent past and the state of Odsal.
But I think this is more a case of Chalmers doing what the City board have done a few times with regards to VP. He's gambling that he can get a better deal.

suspect theres a bit more to it than trying to get a better deal this time. There was a report came out of RFL a few weeks back with a list of their objectives for the year. one of them was selling red hall and odsal. Was discussed a bit on totalrl forum but never picked up on here. That combined with statement from RFL about talks with bradford council and Bulls re odsal a few months back suggest there's likely to be some movement. Don't think its a coincidence that Richard Dunn site becomes available in the autumn and all the talk about putting another retail park on their has gone silent. 10-12k expandable stadium on their funded by sale of odsal site would be best outcome for us I feel.

[Bulliac]

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sat Jul 20, 2019 1:42 pm  

Beyond the fact that, if true, this idea must have had a far longer gestation period than appears to be the case. I've heard nothing. It is very late in the day to suggest moving for next season, given the logistics of it. It's not come from Boris Johnson, has it??

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sat Jul 20, 2019 4:09 pm  

I’ve heard it’s a lot further along than suspected. RFL are the holdup, possibly under pressure from membership to chisel more out of the deal for themselves. Council have signed off on it

[Bulliac]

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Sun Jul 21, 2019 8:41 am  

If that's correct then let's hope the RFL continue to be a road block. Not that I'm against a new ground but it seems our considerations won't have been considered in the rush to push this through. Have we made any contingency plans? Has the club even been given timely information on all this in order to make such plans?

Again, I'm not going against any plans, as such, but we're likely to get stuffed in all this if we're not careful.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 9:45 am  

Horsfall isnt big enough with a capacity of 3000/ 3500
VP is far too big.
Dewsbury has been muted but id hate to see us move out of the city boundaries

How about moving 10 miles or so to the north west of the city for a season sharing with our friends at Cougar Park?