BACK in October 2024, all 36 professional rugby league clubs were given their scores by new stakeholders IMG after countless months of totalling up tiny percentages under five pillars of fandom, finance, performance, facilities and catchment.
Bradford Bulls were ranked 16th out of those 36 clubs with a score of 12.15 – 1.82 points off Salford Red Devils who occupied the final Super League spot on 13.97 points.
Since then, the Bulls have worked incredibly hard to bump up those points in correlation with the IMG scores – and now Bradford chief executive Jason Hirst believes the club has a “realistic” chance of being in the top flight in 2026.
“How realistic is it that we will return to Super League in 2026? I think it’s realistic,” Hirst said West Yorkshire Radio Rugby League.
“I think there are some unknowns, the biggest one being we don’t find out our score until October and we don’t know how other clubs would be scored.
“What I do know based on last year and where we finished 16th, we have got more scope than the clubs around us to improve our score.
“So it’s bee well versed that we have extended our TV gantry. We have a directors’ facility on the halfway line that doubles up as a community box which sums up this club.
“We needed a facility on the halfway line for the directors, but more importantly for us, we want to use the facility for the local community like Andy’s Man Club.
“We have a big screen which we have taken some stick for because we had a fault with it and it had to go back to the manufacturers which is frustrating.
“We confidently predicted our score would begin with 14. I think we’ve got a great case to be in Super League with 14 points.”