THE Bulls will have to bite the bullet with a lower attendance for Sunday’s tea-time clash with Sheffield.

A crowd of 3,640 watched their last Championship game at the Tetley’s Stadium against Featherstone – 1,000 up on the opening-day loss to London.

But the 6.15pm kick-off to coincide with a streaming slot on the RFL’s “Our League” App will inevitably have a knock-on effect on the turnstiles - and hit the club in the pocket.

“The crowd’s going to be down,” admitted Bulls part-owner Mark Sawyer. “But it’s essential at a time when TV contracts are being dealt with, that we show what we can offer.

“From a virtual standing start with Championship matches, we’re up to over 8,000 viewers.

“We just accept that attendances are hit and the Bradford match will probably lose a few as well.”

Landlords Dewsbury’s crowd of 1,048 to see them beat Widnes 20-8 in that slot last weekend was 39 per cent down on their previous home clash with Leigh.

But clubs do not receive anything as part of the deal to show Championship matches online.

Sawyer added: “The clubs themselves are funding these broadcasts as well as taking on the chin the 6.15 kick-off.

“The problem is that we’ve got to raise the profile and it was a unanimous decision. The RFL have the power to choose which fixtures are on.

“But otherwise you’ve just got to lay down and die. All of us involved in clubs are doing what we can to keep the show on the road.”

The Bulls board have been encouraged by the level of support in the opening month at their temporary home.

“We hoped it would be over 3,000 (against Fev) and we were over the moon with that figure,” said Sawyer. “But it is one of Bradford’s better crowds.

“We were happy enough with the previous one because obviously London aren’t the best supported so it was virtually all Bulls fans.

“There are a lot of areas where we’ve met targets we are setting.

“We know we’ve got to get back into Bradford and that is our intention. But there’s a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes.”

Meanwhile, Bradford Bulls Women captain Amy Hardcastle has been selected among a 39-strong National Performance Squad, which will form the teams for the 2020 Women’s Origin Series before an England Women Performance Squad and a new Knights squad are selected as preparations toward the 2021 Rugby League World Cup continue.

Head coach Craig Richards will continue to be assisted by Leeds Rhinos forward Adam Cuthbertson and former England international Shaun Briscoe.