CITY are braced to lose out on more than £500,000 if fans are not let back into Valley Parade this season.

That is the worst-case scenario facing the Bantams as football prepares for a lengthy spell without crowds.

The government yesterday ruled out the phased return of supporters that had been planned from October 1.

And there is no indication as to when that situation will be reviewed as the country once more fights rising rates of COVID infection.

City's director of communications and commercial Ryan Sparks spelled out the financial repercussions facing the club the longer that fans remain locked out of Valley Parade.

They had already divided the 9,000 season-ticket holders between ‘claret’ and ‘amber’ because of the limited capacity enforced by social-distancing regulations.

But there was still the potential for matchday revenue on top of that.

Sparks said: “We have probably budgeted to generate an additional £350,000-£400,000 in gate receipts.

“That’s through ‘clarets’ coming to ‘amber’ games and vice versa and then providing the potential for non-season ticket holders to purchase match tickets.

“We obviously stand to lose that now and there are some other concerns regarding our commercial revenue, which we’ve done very well on over the course of a difficult summer.

“We have to be mindful that there are certain elements of our commercial properties that are not viable or are null and void when we don’t have supporters in the ground.

“Therefore, as a result of that we’re probably looking at losing another £150,000-£200,000.”

City’s major remaining income stream while games are played behind closed doors is the coverage through iFollow.

That is currently provided free for season-ticket holders but brings in a weekly five-figure sum from other fans subscribing to match passes.

Viewing figures, though, have been lower than anticipated – 1,173 paid to watch the Forest Green game compared with Bolton selling 2,252 for their game at Colchester.

The EFL are also understood to be investigating claims that piracy is rife across the district with several venues in Bradford showing an illegal stream. The iFollow coverage cannot be broadcast commercially.

Sparks added: “We’re obviously extremely grateful for the commitment of the supporters who have bought season-tickets, knowing that from day one it would never guarantee them getting into the ground this year.

“The claret and amber split is all but done and, for what it’s worth, we will be releasing the fixture list in October for the rest of the season. So, if we do get supporters back in, we can immediately activate that.

“But we’ve been given absolutely no direction in terms of when this will be reviewed. This feels very open-ended.”

City’s game at Forest Green was one of the EFL’s test events played in front of fans ahead of the proposed push for crowds to return – and they were given no warning to expect a sudden change of heart from above.

Sparks said: “Having gone to Forest Green and seen the way it was handled, which they deserve credit for, albeit in a relatively small stadium and fanbase, this is quite a U-turn on that.

“This is control, alt, delete. Saturday felt like a peak into the potential future and it’s like that has been turned off now.

“It is a real shame but we’re not going to allow this to rock us. We had prepared for the worst-case scenario and we are about to live it.”