Menu
Finance

Premiership Confirms Relaxing Of Salary Cap After Club Chairmen Meeting

The purse strings at Premiership clubs "have been officially loosened after a meeting of club chairmen confirmed an increase in the annual salary cap," according to Josh Burrows of the LONDON TIMES. Starting next season, Premiership clubs "will be allowed to spend a maximum" of £5.5M ($9M) on player wages, an increase of £500,000 ($816,000). More "exciting for supporters," however, is the new rule allowing each club to sign two "excluded" players on inflated wages that do not count toward the salary cap. The current rules "allow only one." The revised legislation has been designed to ensure that the Premiership can compete on an entertainment basis with France's Top 14, which has lured talent away from Great Britain with the promise of unrestricted pay. Premiership Rugby CEO Mark McCafferty said, "This increase in central revenues [including sponsorship and TV deals] has allowed us to increase the salary cap and further help our clubs compete in both the new European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup" (LONDON TIMES, 9/17). The BBC reported the current basic salary limit stands at £4.76M ($7.7M) and will rise to £5.1M ($8M), with academy credits increasing from £240,000 ($392,000) to £400,000 ($652,000). The changes "were agreed by chairmen and shareholder groups of Premiership clubs, with the aim of increasing the number of homegrown players in the league." Wasps Dir of Rugby Dai Young said, "I see it all as a positive measure. The important thing for English rugby is we keep all our top stars playing in England. After the World Cup there will be a lot of hot property, so it helps us keep hold of the players" (BBC, 9/17). 

NEW RULES: REUTERS' Sam Holden wrote a second player "can be signed who is exempt from the salary cap as long as they are new to the league and have not played in it in the last 12 months." This opens the door for England's top clubs "to lure the game's biggest names from overseas, including English players who opted to play for French clubs because they had bigger budgets." Critics of the change point to France's Top 14 league "after a plethora of high-profile imports from overseas, including many English and Welsh players, coincided with a downturn in the performance of the French national team." The league, however, said that Home Grown Player Credits added to the salary cap "will encourage clubs to keep developing English players. " The credits "apply to players who joined a club's academy before their 18th birthday and have stayed for two years or more" (REUTERS, 9/17).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2014/09/18/Finance/Premiership.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2014/09/18/Finance/Premiership.aspx

CLOSE