I think that is quite possible. At the moment there are a couple of clubs struggling with their income. A 13 team SL would mean more money to go around. I don't know how Sky would view fewer games though, unless they restructured the playoffs to have more games.

We could have a nines competition ?

Nah when Salford follow them we'll be ok

Wouldn't have to. If its true, wouldn't surprise me if the RFL keep the top 8 structure in place and still two games a week prior to play-off time.

The RFL (or should I say Superleague Europe) has put an offer in to buy the Bulls; www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/25 ... -statement

The RFL (or should I say Superleague Europe) has put an offer in to buy the Bulls; www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/25 ... -statement

So it looks as though the RFL did indeed have a cunning Baldric type plan. But even if accepted, we still don't know what it would mean for the club; SL status or not ?

Can I recommend that you ignore Bilko in future

TBF what wirelegend didn't say is that Bilko said that he'd heard rumours but nothing was confirmed.

Would love to know the details of this bid, sounds like madness at first. I wait with baited breath.

Am i being a little cynical in thinking that the gate receipts may have something to do with this? As The RFL own Odsal, it would be in their interests to receive a portion of an 8,000 + super league crowd, rather than a 2,000 championship side.

Superleague(Europe)ltd ave just put a bid in to buy them. Is this not a conflict of interest????

Are SL Europer LTD and the RFL one in the same?

Bizarre twist

It would certainly seem so, unless they hand it over to somebody else to run and accept no interference.

Thinking about the situation, I wonder if their first priority is to ensure all remaining SL fixtures are completed and then to find a buyer who will come in with some ££. I would think it is still very likely that unless a big money backer comes in (£1-2 million) Bulls are likely to find themselves in the Championship next year simply because their income is insufficient to cover the cost of their players and ground.

SLE are a separate entity from the RFL and this deal was tabled with the approval of all SL clubs chairmen who held a meeting yesterday presumably to discuss this matter in full.

Sounds like all the clubs will own a little bit of the Bulls!?!?

Big step to save the Bulls. One that was absent for Wakey,Widnes and the Crusaders.

Perhaps like Northern Rock, it was 'too big to fail' ?

There were acceptable offers to buy Widnes and Wakefield and the Cru were beyond saving. In any case if you had the choice of Cru or Wakefield, I think Wakefield were the better option. SLE is trying to buy the Bulls to sell them on at a later date. It will be much easier for them to do it, as no doubt they won't want to buy the Odsal lease from the RFL. I see no problem with this so long as the Bulls are saved.

All those throw away comments when surprise result came out of "well maybe the RFL/SL told them to let xyz win this week for the good of the game" will now take on a whole new conspiracy theory level.

Sets a dangerous precedent.

Mark Lennon has a bit to say about it on twitter...

"lenno80: Can't believe superleague buying the bulls how about they pay my outstanding money from the crusaders 1st?? #englishsuperleaguerflajoke"

Completely different situation. The owners of the crusaders pulled the plug a year after going into administration.

They are different circumstances definitely. However when you strip everything away. SLE (Read RFL) have jumped in and saved a dying club. They didn't do the same for another dying club and probably will never do so again. For people involved personally, its going to be difficult to understand the reasons why.

This is wrong for me.

How can a competition buy a club that's competing in said competition.
This is like the Premier League buying let's say.................Liverpool/Arsenal or any other club in the Premier League, it just isn't right at all.

If this happens the integrity of Rugby League in this country will be non existent imo.

I wonder if the RFL hadn't bought Odsal would this be happening? I think the RFL are concerned that if Bradford went bust then they would be stuck with a ground with nobody to play in it and that would be embarrasing.

No, I think you are not looking at this in the wrong way

At the moment SL is getting very bad press as this whole issue drags on. Its embarrassing, its damaging to our image, it puts off potential sponsors (who want to be associated with a successful sport), it will make it more difficult to negotiate lucrative deals with Sky (' well we are interested in putting the money in guys, but how many clubs are you likely to have in 2014 '?).

Then there is the effect on the clubs players, family, academy sides who simply have no security and have to listen to a series of offers, rejections and endless speculation.

Then we have the problem of the remaining Bradford SL matches. If they are liquidated, what do you do about the points already won and lost ? and Leeds play them 3 times by the way. Plus all the additional bad publicity / embarrassment of the solution.

The consortium offering to buy the club wanted guarantees that the RFL were not able to give, plus it looks to me as though they were intending paying for the club and lease from their business cash-flow (rather than put money up front), plus this was a business taking on a rugby club as a commercial venture ( we want directors who want to run a rugby club, but to manage it in a financially sound way).

Finally, BG the administrator has the power to liquidate the club if the RFL rejects the consortium offers. If that happens, the Bulls disappear for good.

So by stepping in and OFFERING ( not accepted yet; I think Tues /Wed is the deadline) to buy the club, a lot of these problems are sidestepped. It will give time (until end Nov I am hearing) for SLE to find another buyer on their terms. It will provide some security for the players, it will allow the SL season to be completed, it will remove BG from the equation and allow the RFL to control the show. Even if no buyer is found, it will allow an orderly dismantling of the club rather than an immediate liquidation and for the players to look for alternative clubs.

Its all IMO, but I think this solution is by far the best, even though you can certainly argue that Bradford are getting far more support and preferential treatment than other clubs that got into financial difficulty in the past. Its also a solution that all the SL club chairman have agreed to - Moran included.

No, I think you are not looking at this in the wrong way

At the moment SL is getting very bad press as this whole issue drags on. Its embarrassing, its damaging to our image, it puts off potential sponsors (who want to be associated with a successful sport), it will make it more difficult to negotiate lucrative deals with Sky (' well we are interested in putting the money in guys, but how many clubs are you likely to have in 2014 '?).

Then there is the effect on the clubs players, family, academy sides who simply have no security and have to listen to a series of offers, rejections and endless speculation.

Then we have the problem of the remaining Bradford SL matches. If they are liquidated, what do you do about the points already won and lost ? and Leeds play them 3 times by the way. Plus all the additional bad publicity / embarrassment of the solution.

The consortium offering to buy the club wanted guarantees that the RFL were not able to give, plus it looks to me as though they were intending paying for the club and lease from their business cash-flow (rather than put money up front), plus this was a business taking on a rugby club as a commercial venture ( we want directors who want to run a rugby club, but to manage it in a financially sound way).

Finally, BG the administrator has the power to liquidate the club if the RFL rejects the consortium offers. If that happens, the Bulls disappear for good.

So by stepping in and OFFERING ( not accepted yet; I think Tues /Wed is the deadline) to buy the club, a lot of these problems are sidestepped. It will give time (until end Nov I am hearing) for SLE to find another buyer on their terms. It will provide some security for the players, it will allow the SL season to be completed, it will remove BG from the equation and allow the RFL to control the show. Even if no buyer is found, it will allow an orderly dismantling of the club rather than an immediate liquidation and for the players to look for alternative clubs.

Its all IMO, but I think this solution is by far the best, even though you can certainly argue that Bradford are getting far more support and preferential treatment than other clubs that got into financial difficulty in the past. Its also a solution that all the SL club chairman have agreed to - Moran included.

I think this is a good move by SLE.

Our sport is a relatively small sport and it would do it no good to see a team like Bulls disappear. It would send all the wrong messages to the wider sporting community, the media and sponsors.
Hopefully it's a short term measure and ownership can ''bought'' by an independant group when things become a little clearer.

However the thing that still irks me is (and on the same page as the detail of the Bulls bid on the SL website) that bulls aree given a grade B in 2011 and given a 3 year licence on the back of it.
I'm in favour of the licence system BUT how the ~~~# can they be grade B? The regulators have made a serious error of judgment on the state of the Bulls and it makes a mockery of the licence system.