I refuse to accept that the RFL had the brains or vision to be that machiavellian when they bought the lease.

They have never demonstrated that kind of capacity for such innovative strategic thinking or foresight in the most important area of their existence i.e running the flippin game!

Seems our major sponsor and Stadium sponsor is having troubled times. Hope all who work for them are ok , but does not bode well for next season. Provident Financial shares dive on new profit warning www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41009302

Seems our major sponsor and Stadium sponsor is having troubled times. Hope all who work for them are ok , but does not bode well for next season. Provident Financial shares dive on new profit warning www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41009302

Ouch! They're absolutely awful figures. No wonder the Chief Exec has gone. Sounds like they need to get back to what they were doing before things went south.

Wonder how long our deal with them lasts?

Get ready for the new chief exec coming in and immediately cutting costs. Sponsorship? That can go etc etc

Hopefully contract is water tight so they can't just get out of it. Ironic given their business.

How much is the Provident contract worth? They don't even appear on our shirt anymore. Obviously there is the stadium sponsorship.

All I can find is a press release see below. Four years so ends this year.
"The sponsorship, worth over £1 million over a four-year period and effective from the 2013 season, will see the Provident Personal Credit brand feature on the Bradford Bulls shirts, and the stadium will be named the Provident Stadium. As part of the relationship, Provident will work with the Bradford Bulls Academy which works to develop the talent of local youngsters."

I'm sure there was some sort of agreement to carry on after our latest blowout.

That rings true with me too, Bullseye.

IIRC they had already paid up for this years sponsorship but to greens company pre-admin. So they did a deal with new company where they retained mainstand naming rights but allowed new co to sell main shirt sponsorship to utilitas. Think they also fund the highlights on youtube now as well. Also seem to remember that the entire provident deal was renegotiated for a presumably lesser amount which was never announced when we got relegated from SL.

I recall that Peter Crook (very unfortunate name) was the guy who fronted up the partnership between us and Provident.

Frankly now that he's no longer the main guy, and there are obviously going to be some pretty significant changes and cutbacks, then I wouldn't be confident that they'll continue with us.

Sponsorship of the Bulls or making people redundant? You'd like to think they'll have priorities that, sadly, won't help the Bulls...

Hard to say. Commercial sponsorship isn't just a 'gimme' for the clubs though, the sponsors will expect some 'bang for their buck' and I'd expect the sponsorship deal will be held up to the light and evaluated.

It puts them in a good light for one thing and brings publicity by getting the name bandied about quite a bit. They have been keen to maximise the effect and have bought into the idea with several 'hands on' initiatives with Bulls' supporters all of which have brought much publicity and presumably upped the number of loan enquiries so I wouldn't write it off yet.