TrueBull

I was going to say, in the 12 years since Bradford and London were relegated, SL sponsorship, central TV contracts, advertising, salary cap and money coming into the sport has at best, stagnated, at worst fallen, taking inflation into account. That's as much a cause/effect as much of the stuff written on here about Bradford and London. Reports would suggest DAZN are looking at the figures in that way anyway

Not really. City clubs like Bradford, London, Toulouse and York are who this system was aimed at.

Which means the journos will publish them by midday

Thank you. I knew someone would have a bit more detail/fill in the blanks

I didn't think it would take much £££ to get it back to 2012 size. Which was fine for the first part of SL. Unless they've decided that would be wasted money and just wanted to jump straight to the maximum works that are feasible, then seen the price, I don't know. The only thing that irritates me a little is criticism from clubs who have been given (or swapped) a ground by their council. Bradford's one chance of doing that was shut down by Stephen Byers (may his last biscuit always be soggy) and Morrisons. Who own their own grounds still? Bradford - 90 year lease? Vague plans for development. No actual help from the council in cash terms. (interestingly, Keighley have just had their £2m taken from them by the council - go figure) Cas - own their ground, plans for development, seems to be locked in some kind of development spiral, some promise of ££ from council. HullKR - own their own ground, cracking on with development. Leeds - own their own ground. Developed. Slight geographical/historical advantage of being able to sell off a county cricket ground, option not available to other clubs.... Saints - own their ground, developed. Wakey - own their own ground, cracking on with development. Wire - own their own ground, developed. Huddersfield - had a council ground, now bought a different ground and are developing. (see other thread for details) HullFC - council ground Leigh - council ground Wigan - don't own their ground directly, but they're all in the same ownership group. So probably. York - council ground. Honourable mention to Halifax, who did the supermarket/council swap but seem to have lost out, somehow.

I think the BoD are still operating under the directive of “cutting your cloth” which has been the friendly advice of the entire RL family over the past 15 years. An old fashioned concept in the era of multi million £ losses, I accept. They are emphasising the importance of living within your means and avoiding expenditures that exceed your financial capabilities. Financial Planning: It encourages individuals to budget wisely and prioritize essential needs over desires. Financial Planning: It encourages individuals to budget wisely and prioritize essential needs over desires.

Fortunately, and not your opinion specifically, but the opinions of everyone on this message board is irrelevant in the context of how the Bradford BoD respond to the changing landscape in RL. The other thing is, I get that York and Toulouse keep wanting to whinge about reduced funding, but I don't see the direct correlation between central funding and final table position. More accurately it is 1 step removed as there is a correlation between central funding (as 1 aspect of the income of a club, along with tickets, sponsorship, merch etc) and cap spend and then cap spend and table position. And nobody has any info on club cap spend that I've seen.

What’s changed? The NRL and London have likely killed off IMG. Bradford had followed IMG. Now, to minimise the risk of relegation with the changed environment, the board have decided to divert funds from pitch upgrades to squad depth. It’s a direct response to what has happened over the last few weeks with the NRL. Logically, it makes sense.

London aren’t in the comp yet

Essentially, for Dewsbury fans, they get to support their own team at home, then the week later, they can support Dewsbury away and/or (depending on where the fixtures fall) they have the option of watching an SL game in their historic ground. This will likely depend on ticketing offers but I would think some may do it. It is different to "support" though....

I'm never very sure whether this is Trump style statements - keep repeating a lie often enough until people stop pushing back. Or you just don't understand how companies/liquidation happens in this country. So, selling the lease seems to have benefited the directors at the time, Caisley, Hood et al. The current owners have not made any money from selling anything but have probably spent approx £500k so far on buying back the lease and the initial upgrades. The problem seems to be "concerned" RL fans of other clubs have spent 15 years telling us to cut our cloth, spend prudently, balance the books etc. But when we find an ownership group that does that, "concerned" fans now want lots of money spent on the ground immediately. Which is , on the face of it, hypocritical at best. The ownership group are embarking on a phased succession of stadium upgrades, over time, as funds allow to improve the ground overall. And the opinions on a message board are ultimately irrelevant to their plans.

The performance aspect of IMG illustrates the incumbency bias quite well. As of 2025, it was the average of previous 3 years - so they went with (SL then was 12 teams, so I'm using 1-12 in the ladder as SL positions then 13 onwards in the champ. TO, 14th, 14th, 14th (won final) LB 17th, 12th, 22nd BB 15th, 15th, 15th YK 18th, 16th, 13th Now for this year, it's only a 2 year average. TO will improve, obviously. LB are a bit stuffed with that 22nd on their record from 2024 YK really improve as they get rid of the 18th & 16th places. BB, even if they finish 14th, still improve slightly over the 15th place of last year. Which will not make pleasant reading for some. Incumbency bias. There it is. Gaining 0.15 points (is that right?) for winning the championship final will help slightly I suppose.

The pub?

Is my opinion on it.

No. You’re too narrow. It’s designed for city clubs like Toulouse, London, York, Bradford (so 75% success rate - not bad) and/or incumbent SL clubs.