Agreed. There will need to be very clear reasons as to why the 12th club have been chosen above everybody else. And also clarification on how they proceed. If the 12th club is there for cannon fodder, there's a problem. If the 12th club is the last before SL 'closes shop' there's a problem.

I'd agree with you here. Although I'd argue at the moment Leigh have got the squad on paper to potentially survive which is why I can't see SL clubs letting them in.

Agree with the alienation of fans and agree on Elstone. The man has failed in everything he has done and if the rumors are true about a lower SKY deal then he has essentially killed the game off at Champ/League 1.'"

TBF that's what Lowes was saying and he was right too. No one in that ground enjoyed their day and no wakefield fan (i bumped into anyway) came out of the ground happy as if they'd won some sort of final. Everyone i spoke to was just relieved.

Not sure what that game has to do with this thread though. There was a vote instigated by the Superleague clubs, the behaviour and comments of some superleague chairman was (IMO) below the belt, a number of championship and league one clubs were bullied into voting for it (a lot voted of their own free will). The thinking behind it being that superleague was the jewel in the crown, that brings in the TV rights and should be protected at all costs from financial meltdown.

The upshot of it is that as of 2022 Championship and League one clubs are likely to forego central funding because of a reduced deal, All well and good if the Championship and League one clubs were aligned to a league format and governing body that promoted the lower leagues and helped them sell their own TV rights. Short of a split that's not possible.

I don't think that's fair. Would I be saying that if we were sat at the top table? Probably not, but that doesn't make it right.

Indeed forgive me. I thought this thread was to do with the new Sky deal! But by all means feel free to preach on about the Bulls. Now do you see the point?

Like I’ve always said, this is what happens when the haves are dumbed downed to the have nots.

Ah I see where I have gone wrong. I replied to claims that Bradford were ‘helped’ by the RFL and will be ‘helped’ again to try get a better SKY deal. Sorry I didn’t realise I couldn’t discuss how wrong those statements were and actually have conversation with folk on here.

If you paid any attention to the posts you’d notice he I pretty much always brought it back around to the SKY deal. How unfair it was, poison chalice etc. I expect you just read the Bulls part though so I’ll forgive you for that

Best team from a TV deal perspective is hands down Bradford. I don’t think we deserve it but that’s fact. As I said before Toulouse, Leigh and Featherstone are the three they should choose from.

Just where is the poison Chalice?

The ownership is fairly wide with Wood Sawyer and Swain holding most the shares, they look a dedicated team in for the long haul. If they go down they can come back up. They have the business plan to make good use of the ground to attract revenue, the ground is either passed for spectators as safe or it's not passed.

It passes......

It's who SKY want to see, its a club who can attract the fans and take them round the grounds accordingly to the the benefit of all. Any idea the club is not "ready for Superleague" is absurd, as for the team they are in good hands, and Kear is the kind of man who can get 11th. spot. Who knows? time may be up on Salford who are the ones heavily in debt, whose top coach has left them. Anyone really think Salford are a stronger bet than Bulls?

I can't think of anything worse that Mr. Wood who knows the game inside out and got a half £Million pay off when he left and Mr, Sawyer, Mr. Swain and others being told no you can't come in, when all the SL clubs and SKY clearly want them in on the half baked idea not that they will just go down again (if so they can just come back up again - other clubs did this like HKR

It's a no brainer, clearly a better choice than erm Toronto Wolfpack, how did they go? Clearly a better choice than Toulouse who won't bring any fans at all and who SKY don't need - totally absurd if we start rebuilding SL as an anglo french league.

If Superleague say they are the club they want in and Bradford say they are ready to be in whose to say it's a bad idea? Well anyone on here of course but please explain HOW it's a bad idea. If anyone wants a bad idea that's to reject the Bulls directors investment into the game, tell SKY they should show a French club instead and block thousands of fans returning to Superleague with their money in their pockets ready to spend around the league.........

Toronto reached,and were accepted into ,Super League by on-field performances.

It may surprise you,but it seems Sky and Super League don't agree about everything - even though you purport to know the machinations of a few M62 club owners - and the USA people in charge of Sky.

Edited for accuracy.

SKY and Super League have a lot of critics but I thought the pregame tonight was the best coverage I've seen from them in a long time. The lack of fans made them think out of the box. Should be similar for every playoff game and final.

Winning performances obtained by spending $$Millions on players against clubs who could not get anywhere near their "budgets"

I say "budgets" but they were in fact massive multi-$$Million losses that proved they had no business model that any other club in North America could follow

Your post is really silly, but it was worth relying to to remind sensible people on here TWP outspent their opponents by $$Millions to get where they got to, bottom of SL with no points.

As soon as they had to compete on an even playing field they collapsed.

I was referring the ‘poison chalice’ as the 12th spot. With the number of restrictions any of the clubs will have to go through to get that spot it just puts them at a huge disadvantage and that shouldn’t be the case. There is no reason whatsoever that Club 12 can’t take the same money as the other 11 clubs.

The key point in your Bradford analysis is ‘looks like a dedicated team’. Sawyer is the one that looks to be steadying the ship in terms of operation. Wood has done nothing as of yet. If I am wrong correct me please. Neither have cash, not enough to run the Bulls at Odsal anyway. They aren’t money men. Previous owners have ‘looked’ the part too. But every single one has been a failure or a con man. Forgive me for not being too optimistic about Wood (who has a track record of failure). However I’ll judge him properly at the end of his reign and hopefully I can say I was wrong about him.

The use of the ground to gain revenue started ages ago when they had the 80’s concert (Belinda Carlisle etc). The drive in movie theatre is a good idea and won’t cost a lot I don’t think. But the stock car return has been on the table since before Sawyer and Wood came in, and it’s been driven mainly by the stock car side of things?



Of course SKY would benefit from having Bradford in there but only in terms of RL viewers. But SKY aren’t really bothered because this would be pocket change to them. Having an extra few thousand watch Bulls vs Leeds doesn’t affect SKY’s pockets one bit and won’t boost subscriptions it would just boost RL viewing figures which might come in handy when SL negotiate a new deal? It’s purely the SL chairmen who set to gain. The team itself is in good hands. And if any coach can then Kear can, but the squad is a Championship playoff squad at best. We are a hybrid system and would lose some of our better players as the FT contracts we could offer wouldn’t cover their PT contracts and work wages. Leigh’s team are much better suited to be parachuted in. Featherstone deserve it based on last years results too. In terms of crowds, academies and potential, Bradford are miles ahead of Salford even now. But on the field Salford would beat us comfortably at the moment. Grand Finalists, CC Finalists. A lot down to Watson but they have a good 17.



Again I agree to some extent. A person like Wood should know what’s going to happen. He may have been told about the future plans (no relegation, franchising etc), but as far as us fans know, we know nothing. We can guess but as far as fans are concerned Elstone said there is relegation next year. Any team that goes up will be a shoe in to go down. No we can’t ‘just come back up again’ it doesn’t work like that. Hull KR had a great season that year but had they failed to return to SL they may have stayed down here like we did. London came down, had to rebuild and manage to overcome Toronto 5 years after they were relegated. Leigh didn’t go straight back up?



The 11 other SL chairmen all shared Toronto’s central funding. They never paid for travel (season never got that far). Now they have to sacrifice that share of the central monies and you can see how important that was to two of the clubs as they voted to only give Club 12 £800,000 rather than a million. So really Toronto would have been a good choice for them especially considering the financial implications of COVID this season. Only thing a 12th team does is bring away fans. Does the money earned from the away fans outweigh the central funding they all shared of Toronto? I guess that depends on the team?



The Pros

1. Bradford are obviously going to say they are ready because £1million central funding is better than the £600,000 they get (maybe less, not sure how it works on Championship standings).

2. The crowds would see an increase as people would return to see SL rugby against better opposition. The away fans Wigan, Leeds, Saints would bring would be a good boost to money.

3. If we actually managed to survive we’d have a great platform to build for the future.

4. SL could negotiate a better SKY deal as they would have the Bradford/Leeds derby and another big club in the SL with a good fanbase.

The Cons

1. The squad is not SL standard and we would finish bottom. We’d lose some of our ‘better’ players as FT contracts wouldn’t be as much as PT and work wage. This system works for us at the moment.

2. The owners haven’t got money to invest. Unless they have a secret backer (unlikely). Otherwise why hasn’t Sawyer invested heavily at Dewsbury to make them a top tier Champ club like Featherstone has?

3. A return to Odsal would mean the Bulls picking up the maintenance again. Plus the repairs that need doing total to £500,000 in order to get it’s safety certificate for the return of fans. It’s been a financial burden on us for years, how would that change? See point 2. Apparently it costs £30,000 just just host a game at Odsal as well. Hence why we moved to Dewsbury where it cost £2,000 a game.

4. Crowds would initially increase then decrease due to regular beatings. Bradford fans have been alienated with the previous mis-managements of the club and I fear one more could see our support just collapse. Many on here have said the same. One more and I can see the Bradford fanbase give up, no matter how loyal you are, when you’ve been sh*t on enough times it will affect you.

5. After certain relegation the FT players will pick up contracts elsewhere. Odsal becomes a financial burden again as we won’t have the income of SL. Roll on another administration/liquidation. If the off chance we keep a good squad it will be hard to come straight back up. We don’t have a Beaumont who can fund a quality team like that.

For me, at this present moment the cons outweigh the pros. Unless the 12th club has been assured of no relegation then it’s going to be a tough old year. I look forward to the Championship as we have some great games here and it’s competitive. However if we were chosen for SL I would obviously be excited and go to all the games, lap it up but I’d always have these thoughts.

Im surprised we haven't seen a move to ban other games taking place when SKY have a game on, such as Friday nights.

Some Fridays there can be about 40k fans in other grounds and that hits the viewing figures. The clubs used to claim that Friday was the best spot for getting corporate fans but this days are sadly gone, companies don't have the budget and until everyone is vaccinated they won't want to risk all their staff being shoved in a small box.

Standardising kickoff times on a Sunday is also badly needed its mad that when checking the scores you have to check whether it was a 3 or 3:30 kickoff. SKY may show a results show when no football on if they had more games to checkin on also.

Never thought about that before but that’s a really good idea to maximise viewing figures.