Another bit of great work by the games administrators (and the clubs ?).
All clubs need to know this way before the end of the season

I would guess it is between the three teams mentioned.

It would make little sense for another club to make a push until 2020 when they would hope Toronto will be promoted and Widnes will be back to part time.

So I will guess Toronto 2019, Toulouse 2020. This is assuming the system doesn't change before then.

Toronto

Go on then, I will have a go ....

1. Toronto
2. Widnes
3. Bradford
4. Toulouse
5. York/Halifax

There's your top 5

6. York/Halifax to narrowly miss out
7. Fev

10 to 14 Leigh *dependant on any potential points deduction*

Fair comment, but won't whoever gets relegated from Super League get the parachute payment that Widnes will have next year, meaning there will always be one team with a bit more to spend regardless of who it is? I do think one or two clubs might look at how much Toronto look to be spending before deciding whether to take them on next year or as you say, just leave them to get promotion and keep their own powder dry until Toronto are safely promoted and out the way.

Toronto choked when it mattered. Licensing ain't coming back any time soon (or that's where we'd have gone now) and it's down to the clubs to embrace the new system. There's nothing to stop TWP or TO getting promoted for 2020, so long as they can deliver the goods on the pitch. If they can't, then they don't deserve promotion.

Basic arithmetic means that there'll not be a 14 team SL unless the TV money increases at the same time (turkeys voting for Xmas and all that), and there's no indication of that happening.

SL games are pretty boring affairs in the main for the neutral (I don't watch many games at all nowadays) and we need to address that and get the on-field spectacle sorted so that more folk actually want to watch a game not involving their own team. Great marketing will get folk to one-off games, but what they see has to be good enough to make them want to return (or tune in next time if they're watching on TV).

In short, TWP and/or TO in SL or not has very little to do with the ultimate success or demise of RL.

We can solve the problem by introducing licensing for the 2022 season when the new TV contract will start, and announce it at the beginning of 2021 or late 2020. That way, if the licensing set up involves at least London, Toronto and Toulouse in Super League, and perhaps New York and Montreal (depending on the money backer being available for those clubs), then the RFL and Super League will be in a strong position to get more money from Sky or other channels for the new TV contract.

A Super League that includes the above mentioned clubs will be far more attractive financially -- to both TV channels and corporate sponsors --- than if we persist with the current moribund P & R arrangement. That is central to the success or demise of rugby league.

I can't see Bradford finishing as high as that. I would hope we'll not be part of the relegation fight but I'd be happy with stability and be in the scrap for 5th.

For me, and Toronto, we really need to see more Canadians in that side especially when they have another year in the Championship otherwise its just a big city name only and nothing else. Would be nice to see Bradford back and the travelling fans that goes along with it.

Single big money backers are the nemesis that eventually results in the downfall of clubs. All clubs need backing of some sort, but when it's down to one individual it's a recipe for disaster unless there's sustainability in other parts of the club, along with a plan B should said individual walk away.

It's potentially true that licensing could come back as part of a future TV deal (albeit Sky have demonstrated that they like the jeopardy of P&R), but given it will be the incumbent SL clubs at that time that effectively make the decisions, any licensing agreement will only include current SL teams. IF TWP, TO or anyone else wants to be at the table in 2021, then they need to get their act together on the field and win promotion over the next couple of years.

I think next season will be establishing ourselves as a championship club, then the season after mounting a serious pormotion challenge. Like other Bulls fans, i think we'll be mid-table, outside chance of getting in the play-offs.

Finally the penny seems to have dropped with the latest custiodian of the club, to build long-term. We're a young squad, with some good juniors coming through that can grow together.

Absolutely. Lets fill a team full of people who have never played the game before. That makes perfect sense.

Regards

King james

I completely agree. Rugby League has been particularly vulnerable to fickle white knight sods because we are a relatively small sport where even modestly wealthy people can have a dabble. But we collectively never seem to learn the lessons and time after time a club is left in a perilous position after falling for the promises.

Just off the top of my head, there's been the chap at Feath who promised the world, going back a few years the one at Wakey, Leyton Samuel in Bridgend, the man who walked away from Donny after getting them to a good point. They all want to play at being owners but will simply sod off when they get bored or their tiny pot of cash is mysteriously not enough to achieve their Superleague aspirations. Bad enough to have these characters come on the scene when you have a CHOICE in the matter. At Bradford, the last two tinpot owners, who had the collective wealth of my daughter's piggybank, were foisted on us by the RFL who then act perplexed when we go bust again as a consequence.

I feel for the fans who endure the rollercoaster caused by becoming the playthings of these moderately wealthy people, but it will only keep happening.

I've been to quite a few interviews of late where the finance directors have been sacked for leaving big gaps in the accounting and amounts of monies have gone missing. I've seen it again this week in regards to Patisserie Valerie and the world is full of them, it seems there are no systems of vetting or simple uses of references. These shysters are hitting all businesses so by the law of percentages Rugby clubs are going to be targets.

That's a rather bold and unquantifiable statement isn't it?

Us northern flatcappers that created RL in the first place are still doing fine over 100 years later. Its not perfect and needs continued financial support, but the product itself is fine.

Considering we're always accused of it being a regional game in the UK, it is actually just a regional sport in France and the success of Catalans in the past 10 years hasn't really changed that. It seems to me that France needs SL more than SL needs France.

Don't get me wrong. Catalans deserve their place, and if Toulouse earn promotion then they will equally deserve it, but to say SL needs them in order to fulfill its potential is a bit of a stretch.