New Championship salary cap confirmed as well as radical quota ruling

The amount Championship clubs can spend on players from next season will depend on the income they generate as a club, after plans for a new salary cap were confirmed by the RFL.

The governing body and second-tier clubs have agreed a structure that means clubs will be constrained on what they spend – with no salary cap previously in place for the Championship.

Several clubs outside of Super League have encountered financial difficulties as recently as this year, with Halifax Panthers and North Wales Crusaders receiving heavy penalties from the RFL as a result. Featherstone Rovers were unable to take part in this year’s Championship due to years of mounting financial issues.

And the RFL believe they have introduced a system which will curb reckless spending and bring a level of sustainability to the Championship.

The limits

Clubs have agreed that when their revenue is a certain amount, their salary cap limit will be fixed at a set sum. Those limits are:

• Revenue up to £600,000 – Cap Limit £250,000
• Revenue £601,000 –750,000 – Limit £300,000
• Revenue £751,000 – £999,000 – Limit £400,000
• Revenue £1m plus – Limit £500,000

Furthermore, the governing body has confirmed new quota limitations will be in place for all second tier clubs. As with the salary cap, there was previously no limit on how many overseas players a team could have – evidenced by London this year, who signed a large number of players from Papua New Guinea for their squad.

But next year, a proposal has been tabled to reduce that number to seven, with the figure going down again to five by the 2028 season – leading to a radical overhaul of how the competition could look in future years.

‘Spending has been unsustainable’

RFL chair Nigel Wood said: “Bringing a tighter Salary Cap into the Championship was a key component of the Strategic Review. It is surely beyond dispute that spending by some poorly run clubs has been unsustainable for a number of years and in many cases the inevitable then happens.

“Club financial failure is a contagious stain on the sport and causes considerable upheaval for all the other clubs in the competition some of whom have competed for decades without financial trauma.

“We want the rule book to protect and support the well-run clubs as far as possible. Linking spend to income does not hamper progressive clubs looking to build but it should act as something of a hand brake on spending that is unsustainable. 

“It also encourages clubs to maximise their revenue streams as, the more they generate, they more they are allowed to utilise on their squad and I am delighted that the Championship clubs have unanimously supported our proposals.

“I want to be clear that the responsibility for club financial performance lays solely on the club boards and management that are legally responsible. 

“However, the RFL concluded that the regulatory framework needs to be stronger to assist some clubs in making better spending decisions, to avoid the numerous historical issues that have surfaced over the past few months.”

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