Rugby League team to move from historic stadium

Rugby league team the Bradford Bulls will undergo a temporary move from the historic Odsal ground to Dewsbury for a two year period because of the cost of rates, maintenance and rent at the “ageing” stadium.

Chairman Andrew Chalmers said the team would play its last game at Odsal on September 1. They will move to Dewsbury’s Tetley Stadium after securing “an extremely favourable deal signed with Dewsbury Rams owner Mark Sawyer.”

Chalmers said: “The reality is that Odsal Stadium, should have had a “sinking fund” set up to deal with the inevitable repair, redevelopment and replacement of the stadium. This is like an account allocating funds over a long period of time to deal with the inevitable issues and of course replacement at the end of its economic life.

“From my observation, this didn’t happen, and was one of the major concerns I flagged when I was being asked to sign a lease of Odsal Stadium.

“The other concerns were the unknown maintenance cost, the unknown burden associated with complying with future health and safety issues, the true cost of opening and running the stadium, and what is an uneconomic business rates and rent burden. For all these reasons I refused to sign a lease.”

Odsal Stadium has seen the Bradford Bulls journey from global world club champions, to League 1 participants.

Chalmers said that in 2002, when Bradford Bulls Holdings entered into a 150 year lease with the City of Bradford Council, the club entered a “future burden” of an ageing council-owned Odsal Stadium being “effectively transferred to the leaseholder.”

He added: “Whilst some will point to the fact that the lease transaction at the time allowed the construction of the Southbank Stand, as the then Bradford Bulls Holdings received a cheque worth around 4 million pounds, it also passed across from the Council the inevitable maintenance burden that accompanies  an infrastructure asset such as a large ageing stadium.”

The Rugby Football League stepped in to assume the lease-hold interest around 2012, to protect rugby league being played at Odsal. Chalmers added that “doing so enabled the club at that time tenure to play, but under challenging economic circumstances.”

He said that the club had failed to agree a deal with Bradford City Council and the Rugby Football League, but that wasn’t a reflection on the hard working efforts of the executive officers of both organisations. “But the fact remains as I clearly outlined – that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, wasn’t going to happen,” said Chalmers.

Valley Parade was unable to be considered due to the uneconomic cost associated with modifying their pitch, and their existing lease terms, and underlying expensive facility costs and existing commercial agreements.

Horsfall Stadium was ruled out on the basis that the ground was too small, and required the club to operate a ballot for those fans wishing to attend.

The Tetley Stadium in Dewsbury – described by the chairman as “boutique” is has a capacity of 5,100, and expandable to 8,000 if required. Chalmers added: “Having played there and undertaken significant due diligence, this stadium represents an affordable economic choice for the Bradford Bulls, whilst we work through the task of developing an equally affordable boutique stadium development in Bradford.”

The club will also include subsidised bus transport options from Odsal Stadium to Tetley Stadium on match days.

Bradford Bulls has begun the process of identifying potential alternative stadium development sites and one of these has been raised with the Bradford Council already.

Chalmers said: “We have also had discussion with an experienced stadium developer in the region, and have signed a memorandum of understanding with this large group to work to evaluate an affordable development option within the Bradford city boundaries. I emphasise affordable because it’s important that the club can meet the future cost of being based there.”

Of teh temporary move to Dewsbury until a permanent solution is found, he said: ” I believe this decision is firmly in the best long term interests of the club, provides financial sustainability, protects the history and legacy of the Bradford Bulls, and allows the Bulls to focus on developing young rugby talent through our Tong high performance academy, under the careful eye of our coaching and development staff. Young players whom we all want to see representing this club, its legion of fans, and all its stakeholders in years to come.”