Leeds: more cause for celebration

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Teams

• Leeds Rhinos

With clubs being asked to put their bids in for a permit to take part in the competition from 2009, every week Angela Powers will be out and about seeing how the candidates meet the necessary criteria.

League leaders Leeds Rhinos were put under the microscope this week and according to our calculations, there is little doubt that they will be awarded a Super League licence for next season.

Leeds not only set the standards on the pitch, but are almost a template for good practice from a business point of view as well. They should pick up points for the size of their turnover and the fact they are solvent because they have exploited marketing and merchandising possibilities very well.

Furthermore, despite having a team of superstars, they have never broken the salary cap and they also tick the box for junior development and contributing to the competition, having never failed to make it to the play-offs.

The Rhinos are also the best supported rugby team in the country - in either code - and with a capacity of 22,000 and an average crowd of 17,000 they should pick up two more points.

With state of the art electronic ticketing, top matchday facilities the stadium appears to meet the standards of premier competition, despite the age of the ground.

In fact, the only area where Leeds do not meet the RFL's criteria is their geography because there are so many other teams nearby.

Boots 'n' All predicts Leeds will be awarded an A Licence and the Rhinos' Chief Executive Gary Hetherington admits he is excited by the licensing process.

He said: "The whole concept of licensing just shows you how far rugby league has come in a short space of time.

"It's good that we've got so much competition. There's 19 clubs striving to be part of an ever-developing engage Super League and it's going to be a real tough choice for whoever is making the decision.

"But I think it's a fair process, everybody plays by the same rules and at the end of the day it's going to be an interesting outcome."