Castleford Tigers are in talks about redeveloping and modernising their Wheldon Road Stadium rather than relocating to a new stadium.
The club could be given up to £2million by Wakefield Council’s Rugby League Resilience Fund, alongside Featherstone Rovers and Wakefield Trinity, and they are in discussions about how the money could be used.
There have been talks in the past about potentially moving to a site close to Junction 32, but the Axiom scheme is now being refocused away from retail and leisure uses.
As such, the club plan to spend any funding granted to them to revamp Wheldon Road and have announced how they would bring the ground up to modern standards.
The club have plans to demolish and rebuild the main stand of the ground, while also improve their other stands, Princess Street, Railway End and Wheldon Road End.
Castleford are also keen to offer a better game day experience and should they receive the investment necessary, they would work to offer new facilities, food and drink outlets and hospitality suites.
“We welcome the Council’s announcement on making a contribution towards our plans to improve our home stadium on Wheldon Road,” Mark Grattan, the club’s managing director said.
“There is already an urgent need to invest significant sums to keep Wheldon Road functioning as a Super League ground.
“Being realistic about the timeframes to deliver the retail and leisure development with the new stadium following the COVID-19 pandemic, from the club’s perspective we believe that the time is right to explore the option of staying at our historic home.
“We believe that, although major new investment is needed to improve the existing stadium, this would now be in the best long-term interests of Castleford Tigers.”
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