Pure speculation but are we to take it that the Bulls are in trouble, the local council know of this and want rid of the ground and the good old rfl steps in to save the day?

Nothing against Bradford what so ever and I am grateful that the RFL want to save clubs but it has to be fair. Hunslet and Keighley have been shafted let alone Gateshead and Crusaders as soon as the going got tough!

This is without even touching on the struggles we have had and the time it has taken us to get where we are through sheer hard work.

On the flip side Odsal in a few years time could be worth a bob or two and the RFL could make a tidy sum selling it allowing more money in to the game.

Seems strange, I'd like to know an awful lot more about this before I was pass judgement.

As far as I understand, Bradford City Council own Odsal, they are the most hopeless council ever (Item 1. Raze the city centre to the ground and then realise you've got no money to rebuild it) and it could be argued have been holding The Bulls back. The RFL coming in and buying the ground and then renting it Bradford at market rate doesn't seem that disimilar to our own arrangement, just a different sort of landlord.

However, as I say, it will be interesting if we we ever get to see any of the finer points of this.

The difference being, the RFL own Odsal, giving them a vested interest in whoever plays there. Whats the chances of Bradford getting a licence next time round? I will bet my mortgage they get one. If they had money problems (and rumours were rife towards the end of last season that they did), surely the RFL would have had a sniff a while back. If thats the case, why did they get a licence?

Bit like the banks, some are too big to fail.

I really lost faith in the rfl over Chase playing for England.Then they accept Stobarts instead of betfair,Gleesongate it just rolls on and on........

Lost faith in them many years ago TBH, just enjoy watching the action.

Not got a real problem with this, suppose it depends on teh Ts & Cs and what they would do for other clubs in a similar position. It does definitely throw up a lot of questions around franchising and vested interests. Still I would rather see this than watch a team go to the wall.

I suppose one 'gripe' I do have is that if the Bulls are in financial trouble, which is a valid thought and the RFL are assisting them by this action then surely they can't virtually give away season passes like they have last season. If they do are the RFL subsidising the fans to go and watch.

Good point, especially when they happily watch lower league clubs struggle and go under (Bramley). They did sweet FA to help us when we were close to going out of business, which is ridiculous considering they had just ben given millions by Sky and allowed the top clubs to carve it up for themselves (ironically, led by Chris Casely of Bradford)

you missed out the registering and deregistering of players on certain conditions i.e. the "flexing" of the rules for some

silly boy what about gateshead or does that not count if you are black and white

I know I started the ball rolling on this topic, and I would like to comment on it in depth, but what I have to say is speculative at the moment, which would compromise RLFans and the moderators, and possible lead to a ban.

Therefore, I will just say on the eve of another SL season the RFL have acted in a way to protect the competition, and not as they are saying, a simple case of it being a business arrangement.

I will pick you up on the Stobart Vs Betfair one.
How much would it cost to advertise on 300 mobile billboards for a full year?
Billboards that travel all over the country?
More than £100k?......Try adding at least one more Zero to that figure.

Then who offered the better deal again?
Yep that would be Stobarts.

Ooh the intrigue!

From a business point of view it's a perfectly reasonable but when part of the SL criteria involves the maintainence, up-keep and development of a clubs stadium it's a strange one...