End of the SF Bulls? Minor League Hockey Team May Fold

The Bulls appear through.

The San Francisco Bulls, the Cow Palace-based minor league affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, may fold, as in cease operations, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

It's that, or move, to -- ulp! -- Oakland, or possibly Fresno, pending the results of league meetings this week.

The end of the ice may not be much of a surprise: the team lost $2 million last year, the newspaper reported, and was on pace to lose a similar sum this year.

Coach Pat Curcio's last-ditch effort to save the team hinges on a switch to ownership that would predicate a move to one of those two cities.

If the move falls through, it's curtains for the Bulls, less than two years into their existence.

Curcio told the newspaper that the end could be "next week if we don't finalize this deal."

The Bulls' next-scheduled game isn't until next week, with the ECHL on its All-Star break.

The Cow Palace is part of the problem -- the state-operated arena did not pay for any of the Bulls' upgrades at the building, such as the ice and the scoreboard, and meanwhile takes a cut of all revenue there.

"We lost $2 million last year, the Cow Palace made probably $500,000 – we said, ‘Let’s renegotiate,’ but that’s not going to happen," he told the newspaper. "That’s the final nail in the coffin."