Super League 2026

Rita_Poon said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Should Widnes Vikings' stadium be sold by its council owners?

The stadium could potentially be sold by Halton Council as it looks to save money.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
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Sadly I think it will be sold. The council can’t afford to keep up with the up keep of it. The ground is like 30 years old and it feels run down, old and outdated. It’s far too big for how RL is in Widnes at the minute. They played Sheffield at home last week and got just over 2k fans.

The was a local business man who tried to buy it off the council a few years back. The council wanted £25m plus for it. It worked out cheaper to buy land and build a new stadium.

It isn’t gonna help with reform winning seats in our local. They’ll do there best to sell it off.
 
widnesblue said:
Sadly I think it will be sold. The council can’t afford to keep up with the up keep of it. The ground is like 30 years old and it feels run down, old and outdated. It’s far too big for how RL is in Widnes at the minute. They played Sheffield at home last week and got just over 2k fans.

The was a local business man who tried to buy it off the council a few years back. The council wanted £25m plus for it. It worked out cheaper to buy land and build a new stadium.

It isn’t gonna help with reform winning seats in our local. They’ll do there best to sell it off.
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Where would you put an 8-10k new stadium? Is there anything else in Widnes that could share it?
 
Rita_Poon said:
Where would you put an 8-10k new stadium? Is there anything else in Widnes that could share it?
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They was looking at a few sites but they never took it any further.

We had a football team that was doing well in the lower leagues. They had two millionaires backing them. There is a place called Leigh rec, there is an old corporation club there and Simms Cross ARLFC played there for years but haven’t got a team any longer. The football club was looking at building a 1000 seater stadium but the council rejected it. They rejected it because the was no where to park 10,000 cars. Yes, 10,000 cars for a 1000 seater stadium. When I was a kid, Leigh rec was full of rugby pitches and one football pitch. It had more cricket pitches than football. Now it’s got no cricket or rugby pitches but full of football pitches.

Apart from the die hards, there simply isn’t enough interest in the sport anymore. The likes of Widnes will end up becoming a feeder club for Warrington which is an absolute disgrace been associated with them.
 
widnesblue said:
They was looking at a few sites but they never took it any further.

We had a football team that was doing well in the lower leagues. They had two millionaires backing them. There is a place called Leigh rec, there is an old corporation club there and Simms Cross ARLFC played there for years but haven’t got a team any longer. The football club was looking at building a 1000 seater stadium but the council rejected it. They rejected it because the was no where to park 10,000 cars. Yes, 10,000 cars for a 1000 seater stadium. When I was a kid, Leigh rec was full of rugby pitches and one football pitch. It had more cricket pitches than football. Now it’s got no cricket or rugby pitches but full of football pitches.

Apart from the die hards, there simply isn’t enough interest in the sport anymore. The likes of Widnes will end up becoming a feeder club for Warrington which is an absolute disgrace been associated with them.
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Sounds like a joint Widnes rugby and football sides effort might be the way forward to keep a smaller ground going. I suspect with OT, the emptihad, KD and BMD to choose from, Elton John is unlikely back in town soon. Makes me wonder how the economics of old grounds used to allow them to survive. Standing vs seated, in for pennies and a few pints, semi-pro's on tiny contracts, local owners, provincial stuff.

Sign o'the times.
 
Rita_Poon said:
Sounds like a joint Widnes rugby and football sides effort might be the way forward to keep a smaller ground going. I suspect with OT, the emptihad, KD and BMD to choose from, Elton John is unlikely back in town soon. Makes me wonder how the economics of old grounds used to allow them to survive. Standing vs seated, in for pennies and a few pints, semi-pro's on tiny contracts, local owners, provincial stuff.

Sign o'the times.
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The football team ended up folding after just gaining promotion. The millionaire backers walked away and have no interest in putting money into a new club apparently. The only place I could think of where they’d build it is up near the 8 towers but they’ll lose more fans going up there. Literally nothing but industrial sites there.

God knows what’s gonna happen if they sell that ground and where Widnes will get the funds to build a new venue. Widnes play Dewsbury in the 1985 cup in June I think. It’s a home game but the is a wedding on at the ground that day, so Widnes have to play a home game in Wigan haha. Bad sign that a wedding is bringing in more revenue than the once cup kings, last club side to beat a touring Australian side, the first official world club champions. Previous owners and the RFL should be ashamed of how they’ve let the sport rot in a once proud rugby league town.

If any SL/RFL turn down the investment and takeover from the NRL then the sport will die within the next 20 years in this country.
 
widnesblue said:
The football team ended up folding after just gaining promotion. The millionaire backers walked away and have no interest in putting money into a new club apparently. The only place I could think of where they’d build it is up near the 8 towers but they’ll lose more fans going up there. Literally nothing but industrial sites there.

God knows what’s gonna happen if they sell that ground and where Widnes will get the funds to build a new venue. Widnes play Dewsbury in the 1985 cup in June I think. It’s a home game but the is a wedding on at the ground that day, so Widnes have to play a home game in Wigan haha. Bad sign that a wedding is bringing in more revenue than the once cup kings, last club side to beat a touring Australian side, the first official world club champions. Previous owners and the RFL should be ashamed of how they’ve let the sport rot in a once proud rugby league town.

If any SL/RFL turn down the investment and takeover from the NRL then the sport will die within the next 20 years in this country.
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If the big complex is all football pitches, then someone is scouring local talent. That means a need for grass roots stuff and the possibility of a start up side for football. If Widnes needs to scale back rugby to survive, so be it. The north has been left to rot, these are the costs. Granted hs2 wouldn't have made much difference but it's all symptomatic. How much of Widnes and Runcorn does sir jim'll brexit own?
 
Rita_Poon said:
If the big complex is all football pitches, then someone is scouring local talent. That means a need for grass roots stuff and the possibility of a start up side for football. If Widnes needs to scale back rugby to survive, so be it. The north has been left to rot, these are the costs. Granted hs2 wouldn't have made much difference but it's all symptomatic. How much of Widnes and Runcorn does sir jim'll brexit own?
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The thing is, there is more rugby talent in this town than footballers. Warrington, Wigan and saints academies are full of kids from Widnes. Two kids I know of from Widnes are at Leeds, one is at Bradford.

Rugby league towns have been took over by kids playing football and it’s going to continue.

I don’t know what you mean regarding Jim’ll brexit owns Widnes and Runcorn
 

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