Castleford Tigers looking to improve further after securing Grade A licence

After substantially raising their grading from the guideline figure published at the end of last season the Tigers moved from their initial Grade B to a Grade A that guaranteed their place in the top flight for 2025.

The club identified areas where they could make improvements and have worked hard to increase the rankings in each of the five category areas.

They successfully secured 15.02 points, with at least 15 needed for the Grade A licence, and are now aiming to make the points total even bigger for next year.

Tigers owner Martin Jepson said: “I am thrilled that we will be a Grade A Super League club for the 2025 season.

"The whole team have worked hard on securing the grading, but I would like to give a special mention to Mark Grattan who has made it his mission this season to ensure the club’s future in Super League is assured.

"We are all truly grateful for his diligence and attention to detail throughout the grading process.

“This is very positive news for Castleford Tigers and I look forward to working with the team to continue improvements across all areas of the club.

"I can’t wait to work with investors, sponsors, fans and all the staff, as we build towards the excitement of the Betfred Super League 2025 season.”

Significant works have taken place during the 2024 season to ensure maximum points were achieved. This includes new seating in the Princess Street stand, a big screen TV in the stadium and improvements to the TV compound and media facilities.

In addition to the stadium facilities, the team have secured high fan engagement across digital media and packed as many fans as possible into the Jungle at each home game to keep average attendance figures high.

The new grading is a set of criteria governed by IMG, the new strategic partner of the RFL. A maximum of 20 points are available, with five different areas of assessment – community (12.5%), performance (25%), finance (22.5%), fandom (25%) and stadium (15%).

The clubs will be re-assessed each year and those who retain their Grade A status will stay in the top tier of Super League with the highest of the Grade B clubs making up the rest of the teams in the competition.