The bid by Salford city council to become the sole owner of the home stadium of its rugby league team goes in front of the authority’s cabinet next week. Under the proposals the current AJ Bell Stadium - home to Salford Red Devils RLFC - would become the City of Salford Community Stadium (CoSCos).
Ownership is currently shared equally between the city council and Peel Land and Property Ltd and includes the adjoining land at Barton. According to documents on the authority’s website, outstanding debt on the stadium currently stands at £37million.
This is comprised of city council and Peel debt. A report to the cabinet which meets on Tuesday (March 14) from the city mayor Paul Dennett says: “Whilst the operational costs are broadly covered by income, operation activity has not generated the capacity to repay the outstanding debt.” It says that if all the development land is sold it is ‘not currently clear’ if all the debt that both Peel and the city council have accrued would be repaid.
