[urlhttp://www.insidermedia.com/insider/yorkshire/74713-super-league-bid-buy-bradford-bulls[/url

My best guess, unless they can find a suitable independent buyer very quickly, is that they'll support them through to the end of the season while preparing them for the Championship. They won't have the stomach to kill the club, but running them as SL-owned in SL doesn't seem tenable to me, the more I think on it.
But then a 13-team SL has a weird look to it.

Is this a precedent or has it happened in other professional sports?

Does this mean Bradford come out of administration? If so the taxman will be back wanting his money.

Presumably the other 13 clubs have agreed to settle the debts of Bradford Bulls and to take on the enormous running costs which currently result in a loss of £1m per year.

All seems a bit crazy - I can only assume there will be further twists to come because this solution does seem untenable.

I'm guessing that SL have made an offer for the assets not the company. On the other hand the debts aren't horrorific, and annoying HMRC isn't desirable - but even so.
If they can't then find a buyer, it'll be the Championship until they can.

This announcement is shocking!!

Super League would carry on without the Bradford Bulls if they were unable to find a buyer. The only issue you would have is what you would do with the Bulls franchise. By taking the actions the RFL have, they have declared that Bradford Bulls are bigger than the sport of Rugby League.

Purchasing the Bulls makes our much loved game a laughing stock. Where was the help for all the other RL clubs in financial strife over the last 20 years? By taking these actions they will have to provide the same financial support to any other club who find themselves in financial trouble.

I applauded the RFL's stance when yesterday it was announced that they had rejected the latest bid from the ABC consortium. They stood firm and would not cave in to the conditions put in the bid. Today they have now proven that the RFL as an organisation has no backbone and will buckle under any pressure.

And before anyone says it's SL buying the Bulls and not the RFL, they are one in the same and run by the same people.

Rant over (and breathe)

What's the point of SLE buying the Bulls then sending them to The Championship? If they allowed them to go under they'd just reform in The Championship with no debts.

Buys time, gives the SL clubs control of the process and gets them (the Bulls) through this year without putting an ugly expunged fixtures-shaped hole in the season. Starting from scratch isn't [ithat[/i straight forward either.

The cost of buying the assets probably isn't much more than the administrators fee, and as this bidder seems to have an effective veto on other bids he probably can't milk it too much. Taking on the debts would be politic, but not sufficiently so to hand over £600k I suspect. Covering losses until November clearly isn't a deal-breaker either.
Then, whatever they have to do can be done in an orderly manner. In theory.
Bradford's chance to survive in SL in the immediate future may have passed already - the ongoing process of recruitment and retention has perhaps been suspended too long. Wakefield did okay-ish on similar notice though.

13 team Super League in 2013 - Bradford's cut of the TV money used to pay off the debts.

Bradford debt free can start again in the championship. Integrity of the sport intact with all creditors paid in full.

Of course if a buyer now comes along willing to take on the debts Bradford can stay in Super League.

This move prevents Bradford being liquidated and ensures they fulfil their fixtures this season. More I think about this I must say this could be a quite brilliant manouevre from the Super League clubs.

You're probably right MR. Thinking about it, I wonder what adverse effect the Bulls situation would have on SLEs attempts to find a new sponsor?

absolute joke, where was the offer for Crusaders or Wakefield? Can't help thinking if it had been us, we would be sailing straight down to division 2!

Massive bunch of idots!

Totally agree do u think this was planned all along not accepting the other 3 bids

I totally disagree, I see the point MR is making.

Are they going to buy Salford if they go under?
Where was the help for Blackpool?
Where was the help for Rovers?
One rule for everyone?

Does our sport have any principles whatsoever?

On a moral level to me it seems wrong for reasons already stated. Have to wait and see what happens but it sets a dangerous precedent. Wakefield are a traditional club with a long history, the RFL were happy to let them go to . Crusaders were manufactured into a SL club by the RFL despite some disagreeing. Despite this, there was no help given by the RFL when things went tits up. Sometimes I wonder how ridiculous our sport looks and how poor some of the decisions are, then people say how come we arent a big sport in this country.. We dont help ourselves at all

=#FF0000Don't swear, MR.

I don't really believe in conspiracies, but if I did, I'd think the RFL/ESL already had this in mind and rejected the other offers. If this all goes through, the Bulls will definately stay in SL, so why not give the same assurances to the other bidders?

OK, away from the Bulls themselves, this sets a worrying precedence. The ESL will now HAVE to help out other clubs in the same way.

But even worse than that, is this the first move in the ESL actually owning ALL the SL clubs? If that's the case, then they will have complete control over all the franchises and rears the ugly head of not having too many clubs in one area. Personally, I don't think the ESL has enough money to do this, and is (hopefully) unrealistic. I doubt the Leeds' and Wigans of this world fancy handing over the reins of there clubs.

Bradford are to big to lose.

Thankfully the clubs and league have realised that.

You don't get bigger than Rangers in the SPL.

It seems the clubs and the SPL did'nt realise that.

It's exactly the same, you're right.

The SPL will be moaning soon enough.

If Wakefield hadn't got a buyer, would they have been "to big to lose" or would they have been allowed to go to the wall?

Unfortunately to the wall, which would have been a real shame looking at their attendances this season.

They've also brought through some very good youngsters.

Not having a go here, but what your saying then is if you're a big club and you mis-manage your finances, we'll save you for the good of the game, if you're a small club and do the same....

Yep, the smaller clubs can be replaced with other sides.

Our game isn't big enough to lose the big sides.

This isn't football.

They are not a big side for christ sake. They are not too big to fail. Life and SL would go on happily. There crowd sizes have always been inflated due to cheap season tickets and freebies. Yes they've won SL a few times but SL wouldn't miss them.