In detail: Super League salary cap changes
Here is the detail, as provided by the RFL, on the changes to the Super League salary cap.
The full proposals voted for by Super League clubs today were as follows –
Increase finite Salary Cap for Super League
• The finite Salary Cap would rise over the course of the next three years from £1.825m in 2017 to £1.9m in 2018, £2m in 2019 and £2.1m in 2020.
Increase in number of Marquee Players
• Each Super League club would be entitled to dispensation for two Marquee Players whose Salary Cap value would be (but for the Regulation) £175k or more.
• The Regulation would distinguish between Marquee Players as follows: (i) Club Trained Marquee Players be deemed to have a Salary Cap Value of £75k; and (ii) all other Marquee Players be deemed to have a Salary Cap Value of £150k.
New and Returning Players to the Sport
• Each club would be entitled to dispensation for two New Talent Pool Players and/or Returning Talent Pool Players. To qualify a player must be 19+ on 31/08 prior to the start of the season.
• A New Talent Pool Player will continue to have the current definition (i.e. broadly a player who has not played Rugby League at first team, Academy or Scholarship level) and the current allowance (of that player’s Salary Cap Value being reduced: (i) to £0 in his first full season; and (ii) by 50% in his second full season) will continue to apply.
• A Returning Talent Pool Player would be a player who has not played Rugby League in the preceding five years (for reasons other than as a result of a disciplinary sanction or criminal conviction). In relation to such players, a club would be given an allowance such that the Salary Cap Value of that player is: (i) reduced by 50% in his first full season; and (ii) by 25% in his second full season.
Exemption of Junior Players on Salary Cap
• All Players (outside a Club’s Top 25 paid players) who: (i) are age eligible to play at U21 level in the relevant Season; and (ii) are paid £20k or less would be excluded from a Club’s Salary Cap.