After the 1890–91 season, Bradford along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Batley, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Liversedge, Manningham and Wakefield decided that they wanted their own county league starting in 1891 along the lines of a similar competition that had been played in Lancashire.

In 1895, along with cross-town neighbours Manningham F.C., Bradford was among 22 clubs to secede from the Rugby Football Union after the historic meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield in response to a dispute over "broken time" payments to players who were thus part-time professionals.

In the 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season, the team finished level on points with Salford at the top of the league and then won the resulting play-off 5–0.

had run into financial difficulties and, despite a summer archery contest that generated enough money to ensure their survival, its members were persuaded to swap codes and play association football instead.

On Saturday 3 November 1945, Bradford Northern met Wakefield Trinity in the final of the Yorkshire Cup held at Thrum Hall, Halifax.

However, Bradford won 5–2 Frank Whitcombe scoring the try converted by George Carmichael and lifted the Yorkshire Cup for the fourth time in six seasons.

The 1947–48 Challenge Cup final was notable as it was the first rugby league match to be attended by the reigning monarch, King George VI, who presented the trophy.

Bradford lost 8–3 to Wigan and Frank Whitcombe became the first player to win the Lance Todd trophy on the losing side.

In 1951–52 Bradford were runners up in the league but beat New Zealand at Odsal in the first floodlit football match of any code in the North of England.

The club went out of business on 10 December 1963, having played just 13 matches; winning 1 and losing 12, scoring 109 points and conceding 284, the results were declared null and void, and expunged from the 1963–64 season's records.

During this season Keith Mumby made his début, becoming the Bradford's youngest player at only 16 years of age, kicking 12 goals and scoring a try in the match against Doncaster.

In 1985, Ellery Hanley left Northern to join Wigan for a then record transfer deal, worth £80,000 and a player exchange involving Steve Donlan and Phil Ford.

By November 1987, Bradford had cash-flow problems and the local council refused to help financially, but appointed a special committee to administer the clubs' finances.

As Super League VI champions, the Bulls played against 2001 NRL Premiers, the Newcastle Knights in the 2002 World Club Challenge.

Despite the club being placed in receivership in 2012, the team was on the verge of making the semi-finals of Super League as Potter remained as unpaid coach.

[7] A public appeal saw a lot of new funds pour in from supporters,[7] but following the issue of a winding up petition from HMRC for unpaid taxes the holding company for the club was forced to go into administration on 26 June 2012.

On 31 August 2012 a bid for the club from a local consortium, headed by Bradford businessman Omar Khan, was accepted by the administrator[11] and was ratified by the RFL in early September.

[12] Days later the RFL also granted the new owners a one-year probationary licence enabling the club to compete in Super League XVIII in 2013.

Bradford were deducted 6 points for entering administration early on in the season and the Bulls were relegated from the top division of rugby league in Britain for the first time in 40 years.

In the Qualifiers Bradford failed to make the top three for automatic entry to Super League for 2016, finishing 5th which meant a trip to Wakefield to play them in the first ever Million Pound Game.

In preparation for the 2016 season, Bradford completed the signings of several experienced players, such as Centre Kris Welham from Super League side Hull Kingston Rovers, as well as Oscar Thomas, Mitch Clark, Johnny Campbell, Jonathan Walker and Kurt Haggerty from London Broncos, Doncaster, Batley and Leigh.

[19] Following liquidation the RFL issued a statement saying: While a number of alternatives were considered the Board was most mindful of the planning already undertaken by all other clubs in the competition structure, the season tickets already purchased and the players and staff who will now be seeking employment in and around the sport in 2017.

[24] However, a delay in processing his paperwork left Toovey unable to fulfil his role and led to Leigh Beattie being appointed as interim coach.

[25] Before the start of the 2018 season, the Bulls appointed the highly experienced John Kear as coach, and under his guidance, gained promotion to the Championship.

[26] In August 2019, Bulls chairman Andrew Chalmers announced that the club could no longer afford to play at Odsal and were to relocate to Dewsbury for two years after the preferred alternatives, Valley Parade and Horsfall Stadium were deemed too expensive.

On 1 September 2019, Bradford Bulls played the last game at Odsal stadium for the next year and a half, and bade a temporary farewell to the 85-year-old home ground for the team.

Due to financial concerns amidst rising administration costs of using the single-use RFL-owned stadium, the rent reported to be £450,000 rent per year, the Bradford Bulls left Odsal in 2019, temporarily playing at Crown Flatt in Dewsbury[33] including home matches of the COVID-19 abandoned rugby league season of 2020 plus three league fixtures of the 2021 season, however they returned to Odsal during the 2021 season when stock car promotors YorStox [32] successfully returned professional stock car racing as co-tenants at the now multi-use venue, absorbing stadium hire costs, a flattened shale track laid to re-enable motorsports events.

[34] In September 2024 it was revealed that the Bradford Bulls had issued a warning surrounding the club's finances, calling for more financial support from the RFL.

Despite a £22,000 profit in their latest set of accounts, the chief executive Jason Hirst warned it will take the increasing backing of owners, benefactors, sponsors, supporters and volunteers to keep the Bulls in the black.

Introduced in 1946, the trophy was named in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed in a road accident during the Second World War.