CALDERDALE COUNCIL AGREES TO SELL THE SHAY STADIUM TO HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS OWNER KEN DAVY
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 10:01 am
Calderdale Council has agreed to sell The Shay stadium to Huddersfield Giants owner Ken Davy for a “nominal” sum.
Mr Davy wants to move the Giants out of the John Smith’s Stadium in time for the 2026 Super League season.
Calderdale Council decided over a year ago that it could no longer afford the £350,000 to £500,000 annual running costs of the stadium, and had no money to invest in much-needed improvements.
A meeting of Calderdale Council’s Cabinet on Monday was told that the council wanted to sell the stadium to one or both of the two clubs which play there – Halifax Town and Halifax Panthers – but after 10 months no progress had been made.
Mr Davy stepped in with an offer to buy the stadium last November, with a pledge to invest millions of pounds in a new hybrid pitch and other improvements including floodlights and LED screens.
As part of the deal to buy the stadium, Mr Davy will loan the two Halifax clubs money for their share of matched grant funding from the Football Foundation to pay for the new pitch, estimated to cost £792,000. Calderdale Council has also agreed to pay a third share
The meeting at Halifax Town Hall was told that Mr Davy wanted to move the Giants to The Shay for the start of the 2026 Super League season but that his long-term intention was to build a new “more intimate” stadium for the Giants in Huddersfield.
Mr Davy hasn’t yet been able to identify a site for a new 8,000-capacity stadium and the meeting was told the Giants could remain at The Shay for five or six years.
Clr Silvia Dacre, Cabinet member for resources, said a group of supporters wanted to take on the stadium and form a Community Trust, however this would still require funding from the council.
She said she understood fans’ concerns but added: “Ken Davy is not a man who has appeared from nowhere with obscure sources of funding which often happens on these occasions.
“His past actions show he understands professional sports clubs and he has a track record of buying and maintaining sports clubs when they would otherwise have gone out of existence.”
Clr Dacre said The Shay stadium was on land designated for sport and recreation in the Local Plan and as a sports stadium had “no commercial value.” She described it as a “liability” the council could no longer afford.
Mr Davy will buy the freehold and, when the Giants come to move out, he will offer the ground to either or both clubs. If they can’t afford to take it on, he will continue to run it with the clubs as tenants.
The council’s Cabinet also agreed to add a restrictive covenant to ensure that The Shay always remained a sports stadium.
Even though the council has agreed to sell, the sale cannot proceed immediately.
The Shay has been designated an Asset of Community Value which means the council must give community groups the chance to make a bid to buy the stadium.
Community groups will be given six weeks to express an interest and if there is an interest then the sale will be frozen for six months to allow the group to submit a bid.
Even then the council is under no obligation to sell to the community group and can still go ahead with the sale to Mr Davy.
https://huddersfieldhub.co.uk/calderdal ... -ken-davy/
Mr Davy wants to move the Giants out of the John Smith’s Stadium in time for the 2026 Super League season.
Calderdale Council decided over a year ago that it could no longer afford the £350,000 to £500,000 annual running costs of the stadium, and had no money to invest in much-needed improvements.
A meeting of Calderdale Council’s Cabinet on Monday was told that the council wanted to sell the stadium to one or both of the two clubs which play there – Halifax Town and Halifax Panthers – but after 10 months no progress had been made.
Mr Davy stepped in with an offer to buy the stadium last November, with a pledge to invest millions of pounds in a new hybrid pitch and other improvements including floodlights and LED screens.
As part of the deal to buy the stadium, Mr Davy will loan the two Halifax clubs money for their share of matched grant funding from the Football Foundation to pay for the new pitch, estimated to cost £792,000. Calderdale Council has also agreed to pay a third share
The meeting at Halifax Town Hall was told that Mr Davy wanted to move the Giants to The Shay for the start of the 2026 Super League season but that his long-term intention was to build a new “more intimate” stadium for the Giants in Huddersfield.
Mr Davy hasn’t yet been able to identify a site for a new 8,000-capacity stadium and the meeting was told the Giants could remain at The Shay for five or six years.
Clr Silvia Dacre, Cabinet member for resources, said a group of supporters wanted to take on the stadium and form a Community Trust, however this would still require funding from the council.
She said she understood fans’ concerns but added: “Ken Davy is not a man who has appeared from nowhere with obscure sources of funding which often happens on these occasions.
“His past actions show he understands professional sports clubs and he has a track record of buying and maintaining sports clubs when they would otherwise have gone out of existence.”
Clr Dacre said The Shay stadium was on land designated for sport and recreation in the Local Plan and as a sports stadium had “no commercial value.” She described it as a “liability” the council could no longer afford.
Mr Davy will buy the freehold and, when the Giants come to move out, he will offer the ground to either or both clubs. If they can’t afford to take it on, he will continue to run it with the clubs as tenants.
The council’s Cabinet also agreed to add a restrictive covenant to ensure that The Shay always remained a sports stadium.
Even though the council has agreed to sell, the sale cannot proceed immediately.
The Shay has been designated an Asset of Community Value which means the council must give community groups the chance to make a bid to buy the stadium.
Community groups will be given six weeks to express an interest and if there is an interest then the sale will be frozen for six months to allow the group to submit a bid.
Even then the council is under no obligation to sell to the community group and can still go ahead with the sale to Mr Davy.
https://huddersfieldhub.co.uk/calderdal ... -ken-davy/
