Bradford Bulls set to reacquire Odsal leasehold after more than a decade

Rugby league team Bradford Bulls is on course to reacquire the leasehold interest in Odsal Stadium more than a decade after it was sold.

Odsal’s lease is currently held by the Rugby Football League Ltd (RFL), which put it out to market last year. Bulls said in a statement that the RFL Board will present the club’s offer as the preferred bid to members when the RFL Council meets on July 24. The members will then make a final decision.

The 26,000-capacity Odsal has been the second-tier Championship club’s home stadium since the 1930s. However, Bulls chose to sell the leasehold to the RFL in 2012 due to financial problems at the time.

Bulls chief executive Jason Hirst said: “It is well documented that the running costs of Odsal are very, very substantial so once the RFL decided to sell the lease we had to think hard about whether we could afford to take it on.

“The club’s board concluded that Odsal was our spiritual home and we should do all we can to bring the stadium back into the ownership of the club, to protect rugby league in the city.”

The venue was officially renamed Bartercard Odsal Stadium through a naming rights deal signed earlier this year.

Why is the RFL selling the leasehold?

It is reported that Bulls would pay an initial £100,000 to the RFL for the leasehold. Bulls sold the leasehold for more than £1m in 2012. While the leasehold is believed to have diminished value over the last 12 years, the RFL is also believed to want to jettison the stadium’s upkeep costs.

The RFL currently leases Odsal on a 150-year term from Bradford Metropolitan District Council on a peppercorn rent.

Odsal is also used for stock car racing, and a motorsport company is listed as another potential suitor for the stadium’s leasehold as well as an unnamed third party.

The Bulls returned to Odsal in May 2021 after agreeing an initial 18-month occupancy deal to play at the venue. Bradford left Odsal in 2019 to groundshare with the Dewsbury Rams amid plans to develop a new home in the Yorkshire city.

In January last year, the Bulls pledged to drive forward with plans to redevelop Odsal after failing to gain support from the Government’s Levelling Up scheme. Bradford Council had earlier spelled out plans to transform Odsal into the largest covered stadium in England as part of ongoing efforts to revitalise the venue.