Quote: Schunter "Guaranteeing anything in the next round of franchises makes a complete mockery of the whole principle of licensing. To guarantee a championship club a place when it is possible that all the teams in SL in 2014/15 have a better bid is ridiculous and sums up the ineptness of the RFL'"
They have already done that. Widnes have got their licence on the basis of their application being better than Halifax's. It is possible* that a club with a better application will not get a licence as a result.
* Admittedly this seems unlikely but it would be silly to prejudge applications that might not have even been submitted yet.