BRADFORD Bulls CEO Jason Hirst insists the building of a bar behind the main stand at Odsal, along with extending the broadcast gantry and adding a big screen, will take their IMG score beyond 13.
Theoretically, that shoots them right up into Super League contention, given the initial gradings only had nine sides above that lucky 13.
But as general manager Tracey Erby conceded at Monday night’s fans’ forum, Bradford have no idea how much the scores of their rivals have improved over last nine months, meaning their jump could be dwarfed by others.
Both Wakefield and Castleford received an indicative grading slightly higher than
Bulls last October, but both have already made significant upgrades to their stadiums.
Regardless, Hirst still believes Bradford will be in Super League “sooner rather than later” with the improvements they are making at the club.
And that could be as the leaseholders of Odsal, with
the CEO confirming Bulls remain “an optimistic live runner” in the bidding process.
Giving an update on the leasehold, he said: “It’s an ongoing process and we’re in regular dialogue with Knight Frank (the property consultancy firm who have been hired to sell Odsal).
“We remain a live runner and we’re optimistic we’ve got a good chance of getting the lease, but we can’t say It’s definitely going to happen.
“I’m told the process is coming to a close, and I expect we’ll have a decision in the next month or two.”
Hirst was also asked what Bulls’ next steps would be if the leasehold was sold to another buyer.
He said: “If we weren’t to get it, we are protected, because there’s a stipulation in the document that rugby league in Bradford must be protected by whoever gets the lease, so I fully expect us to still play here at Odsal regardless.
“We’d have to see how any new landlord interacted and communicated with us, but it should be
business as usual when it comes to playing here.
“If we were to get the lease, it puts us in a better place, as we’ve have more control over our own destiny and what we can do with the stadium.
“But we would have to get into dialogue with the council, as we’re not millionaires, and can’t get a £50million stadium just like that.
“We’d need help from the public and private sector, if we were to do what we want with Odsal.
“Whether we get the lease or not, there’ll be an announcement about it, but we want to deal in facts, so please just trust us to be patient.”
Bulls’ stadium score in the indicative grading last October was less than one out of the three points on offer, badly hampering their overall ranking.
But a positive Hirst said: “We’re expecting planning permission through imminently for the pavilion bar we’re building behind the main stand, so that’d be an extra point for us on IMG.
“We’re also keen to extend the TV gantry, which would boost our score.
“There’s also the obvious one of the LED scoreboard, which we had for the Wakefield 1895 Cup game.
“That will return for the next Wakefield game on July 14, and while it’s on a hire basis for now, we hope to purchase one of our own soon.”
Bradford Bulls are awaiting a decision on the Odsal lease, but after improvements at the ground, they expect to be in Super League "sooner…
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