The construction of new stadiums and a successful application to new franchises are intrinsically linked and this is serving to fog the issue slightly.
IMO, St Helen's will complete their new stadium within the next 18 months with this coming season being the last at Knowsley Road having already announced that they will play at Halton Stadium in Widnes for one season.
There has been a lot of speculation about Salford's new stadium for a number of years but you only have to look at the ground works and then compare that with their stadium plans to see that they are well underway with construction.
Then we come to Wakefield and Castleford where the issues become far more complicated,
Wakefield in particular has had many false starts to building or relocating and as a result there is little or no sympathy for them in their current plight. It's a sad irony that Wakefield are very close to securing a fantastic new stadium yet may lose their super league place before they get it.
With funding in place Wakefield need to obtain full planning permission and this is where the problem lies, despite an almost overwhelming number of positive aspects to the development their plans have been called in for a public inquiry which will most likely delay a planning decision for at least 12 months. That delay could be the thing that rings the bell on Wakefield Trinity's franchise bid, super league place and perhaps even puts a rugby club with 131 years of history in jeopardy.
I am very close to the Wakefield club and have been involved in many negotiations over stadium builds in and around the district, I can confirm that had the decision not been referred to a public inquiry Wakefield Trinity would have been building by mid June 2011. That would have necessitated Wakefield Trinity playing from Barnsley FCs Oakwell stadium (much like St Helen's decision to play at Widnes) which while not ideal would have brought many positives.
As for Castleford, there is a strong suspicion that Richard Wright (chairman) is carefully managing Castleford’s progression towards a new stadium in order to appear, through careful PR, to be ahead of Wakefield Trinity in the franchise race. However it is widely thought that while Castleford are further down the planning road than Wakefield they have a much higher and more difficult hurdle to get over, that hurdle being the huge funding gap. Richard Wright's tactics may well prove to be successful in winning a super league franchise he will then have a further three years in which to secure the finance required to get the stadium build off the ground, only time will tell.
My prediction for what will actually happen over the next 3 to 4 years is that Wakefield will lose their super league franchise but will then go on to build their stadium which will probably be ready by mid to late 2013. Unfortunately the geographical location of the club will mean that they will almost definitely fail to win back a super league franchise as the bigger Super League clubs and the Rugby Football League seem set on expanding the game.
Castleford will retain their Super League franchise but despite having full planning permission will not begin construction of the superstructure to their stadium due to lack of funding. They will hope that the former Hickson chemical site blast zone restrictions are lifted allowing Ben Bailey Homes to complete the purchase of Wheldon Road which will be sold for much less than the originally agreed price thus leaving Castleford with further financing problems. In this scenario to Castleford club will opt to build their stadium in sections in the hope that this will be enough to retain their place in the Super League when the 2015 franchise applications are adjudged.
Widnes will be promoted, and rightfully so!
