Most liked posts in thread: Odsal Redevelopment, Council Finances, Council Services & The Private Sector

Absolutely agree. I have moved on in life, yet still it remains my home town. You don’t get rid of 45 years worth of history overnight. I can well imagine I wouldn’t know my way around the City Centre anymore yet as a kid and young adult I knew it backwards. It’s a real shame.

 

Who cares how easy the access would be for away supporters visiting the stadium once a year? What about those who visit it 25 times a year.

 

Agree totally.
Lived 2 streets away from the Craven Heifer on Manchester road for 30 years before I moved to Bailiff Bridge so I’ve travelled to VP from the Odsal side all my life.
I just don’t get the Odsal is very difficult to get to argument.
Why is it any different to get to Odsal for others than it is for me to get to VP from that side of the city.

I’ve watched everything at Odsal for the last 50 years and I agree it’s a complete sh!thole that should have been filled many years ago but I think the fact that the Bulls had a few years when they were regularly getting 15k every other week(admittedly 20 years ago)without the whole of that area coming to a complete standstill shows that the access issue is a bit of a red herring.

I hope we stay at VP as it will always have its history but if we were to move im sure people would accept it and just make different travel arrangements.

 

To give some balance I drove from Brighouse last Saturday for the game, it took me 20 minutes from there to being parked up in Broadway which cost £2 quid. I don't think either Odsal or VP are particularly hard to get to and from, certainly nowhere near as bad as some away grounds.

 

Thinking outside the box you have this, The site of the old Royal Mail, and the HMRC office earmarked for closure.



If you were to look at a stadium complex you would have space for a 25k open roof stadium here backing on to foster square train station and bang next door to Broadway with over 1,300 parking spaces, with another multistory a further 5 min walk at the Leisure exchange.

That would bring thousands of people into the City Centre rather than just to the outskirts of the City to disappear back on the motorway 5min after full time.

The cost could be generated by using Odsal either for housing, landfill or some other use.

There is already numerous hotels within walking distance so all these extra pipe dreams need not apply.

It would there actually act as a realistic option to Valley Parade. Most buses into the City end up a 5 min walk from this site.

Instead they as usual put all the eggs in a Wembley of the North fantasy.

 

Athletic Bilbao built a new stadium right next to their existing ground, the distance issue would be irrelevant if it was going to be a better option long term. Not simply redeveloping an existing stadium would also eliminate the issue of one club moving into another's ground, as I don't think anyone would suggest we could fund such a scheme ourselves.

If we had a council with any ambition or idea of how to revitalise the city centre this is the type of scheme they should be leading on. Of course neither us or the Bulls have anything in terms of assets to enable any financial contribution, and I don't see any big private investment coming anytime soon so it would never happen, but it would certainly make more sense than chucking public money at Odsal.

 

As a big rugby league fan i've had some great times at Odsal. But i'm realistic to understand those times will never come back. The only justification to have a stadium at Odsal would be a shared ownership and in reality none of the sports involved puts enough on the table to warrant a new development. Without Bradford being guaranteed super league there is no long term tenant to pay the bills. As Rod alludes to, fill the bloody thing in and have done with it. Odsal to me mirrors the city of Bradford, dying on its arse and run into the ground by idiots. And as such we should stop wasting tax payers on pie in the sky pipedreams. Same with the stupid City of culture bollocks, stop giving these people an excuse to waste your money.

 

And so they should. People don't pay their rates at record highs to support a rugby club who keep turning up cap in hand.

 

Well in the past the council have done more for the Bulls than Bradford City, but surely in these times they cant give council tax payers money to a privately owned business, can they, I'm not sure if Mr Khan paid the loan back the council loaned him, I don't think I've read anywhere he did even though different parties have questioned the council many times.

 

Good point Broncs. I asked the Council in writing if the money had been paid back and what was the provision for interest on the loan The answer I got was “commercial confidentiality “ from which you can only assume no repayment and no interest provision otherwise they would have said all repaid including interest. Joke of a Council

 

Better teams than us share grounds with better rugby teams than Bradford Bulls hence the Rugby team can contribute to upkeep. If the Bulls came here it would be them expecting yet another free ride. No thanks.

 

We are over a year on from this thread starting and absolutely nothing has changed in that time.

We all know nothing is going to happen in the foreseeable future(if ever) at Odsal.

Let the Bulls and their myopic fans sort themselves out and stop looking for handouts every time the shit hits the fan.

 

As a supporter of both clubs I'm not sure on the hate of either club from fans. I get that a number of fans don't want to groundshare for various reasons but ultimately both clubs doing well does a lot for the city itself in terms of revenue brought into the city and job creation. Especially in a city that is dying on its arse with two failing sporting clubs off the back of it.

 

You aren’t alone with those views. Seems bit petty to me but, nevertheless, each to their own.

Bulls are not direct competition to City and in their peak many City fans supported both.

The lowest of the low are the fans who support City but then Leeds Rhinos. What’s that about? Wrong in the head!

 

This CITY ain't got the vision that others have ..........Odsal should have Bern developed decades ago and in a different City but it's Bradford with no lack of vision going forward

 

I hope not for the integrity of the sport. You should earn your right to a place in super league. Getting it because you meet some criteria stinks.

 

So the council overlords have almost bankrupt the city, spending more on children's services alone, than they bring in from council tax.
Re develop Odsal, they cant even clean the drains around the city.

 

Funny, i've never forgotten that quote. How on earth would a free paddling pool bring in £80 miilion? As i remember it was funded by the windfall from Leeds Bradford airport and Leeds invested some of their windfall in the first direct arena. I wouldn't allow Bradford council to run me a bath.