Salford Red Devils have released a statement providing an update on the status of their stadium, with the tenancy set to have expired today.
It had been revealed previously that the club were in dangerous territory given that property developers Peel wanted to sell their shares in the stadium.
With Peel and the city council each owning 50% of the shares of the stadium it had created issues with members of the council unwilling to sell.
As such there was a key conflict of interest between the two sets of owners, with the Red Devils stuck in limbo in the middle.
Salford have now confirmed that they have arranged a short term resolution which means they aren’t in breach of minimum standards. Under the RFL minimum standards a team must have some form of tenancy in place, and today’s statement confirms a temporary deal has been secured.
They released the following update via their website.
“The Club would like to provide an update in relation to developments to the situation with the Salford Stadium.
“There remains confidence from the necessary parties that an agreement on the stadium could be reached in the first quarter of 2024.
“Discussions remain ongoing surrounding a short-term agreement between the Club and Salford City Council in the mean time which we expect to have further clarity come the end of this month.
“We’ll continue to provide updates on the full picture when appropriate to ensure supporters remain aware of the current state of play alongside the timelines that we are aware of.
“We’d also like to note our thanks to those who have showed their unwavering support of late.”
This is massively positive news for the Red Devils who had been in real danger of potential financial collapse, the club having previously stated that they were at risk of liquidated.
That was confirmed in a statement released three weeks ago by the club.
It read: “Our current tenancy arrangement expires on 1st December. A failure to resolve places the Club at risk of a compliance issue with the RFL in respect of minimum standards due to not having a minimum 5-year tenancy agreement in place. As a result, this would severely impact our IMG grading and potentially put our Super League status at risk, reducing our central distributions from £1.31m to circa £50k per annum and effectively liquidating the Club.
“We urge those involved to deliver on their word of recent years with urgency, and in doing so ensure that the future of Salford’s Club is safeguarded.”
