Salary Cap raised by Premiership Rugby

Premiership Rugby today confirmed that the Salary Cap for Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs will rise to £5 million from the start of the 2014-15 season (plus an unlimited allowance for one player who is excluded from the cap per club).

The total Salary Cap comprises:

• £4.76 million – Salary Cap from 2014-15 season, up from £4.26 million
• £240,000 – Academy Credits * see definition below
• 1 Excluded Player (Salary is not included in Salary Cap)
• Injury Replacement *** see notes below

Clubs can also benefit from the £200,000 Academy Cap which supports the development and retention of home grown talent at each Club. ** see definition below

"The Premiership Rugby clubs have approved this increase following the financial boost given by the new contract with BT Sport and the renewal of the competition's title sponsorship, with Aviva," said Premiership Rugby Chief Executive Mark McCafferty (pictured).

"This reflects the policy agreed by the Clubs in 2011 to align the Salary Cap to the financial distributions Premiership Rugby makes to the clubs.”

"The objective of the Salary Cap is to control inflationary pressures on clubs' costs, and to provide a level playing field for clubs to ensure a competitive Aviva Premiership Rugby competition.

"These objectives are borne out in the financial success the league is now seeing with more clubs breaking even, and a healthy turnover of teams at the top of the league with three different winners in as many years. Aviva Premiership Rugby is the most competitive league in world rugby (highest number of games finishing in less than one score compared to any other rugby competition in the world).

The full Premiership Rugby Salary Cap regulations can be found at www.premiershiprugby.com/salarycap

In addition to the Salary Cap rise Premiership Rugby recently announced the Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs are now subject to a new, more transparent, Salary Cap monitoring and investigation system. Following a detailed consultation by the Salary Cap Manager with all of the Premiership Rugby Clubs on the operation and management of the Salary Cap, the Premiership Rugby Board has recently approved increased monitoring, investigation and transparency systems to support this important area of Premiership Rugby business.

Premiership Rugby may now undertake an Investigatory Audit in addition to the current annual Salary Cap audit which can involve using independent experts, to access relevant records held by a club who are suspected of breaching the regulations. There will also be clear sanctions to deal with any Club failing to co-operate.

Being open and transparent, both internally and externally, will support the management of the Salary Cap in many ways. In particular it will help promote the effective administration, management and governance of the Salary Cap to the Clubs and key stakeholders within Premiership Rugby.

The Premiership Rugby Salary Cap was set up to achieve the following objectives in an appropriate and proportionate manner:
(a) ensuring the financial viability of all Clubs and of the Aviva Premiership Rugby competition;
(b) controlling inflationary pressures on Clubs' costs;
(c) providing a level playing field for Clubs; and
(d) ensuring a competitive Aviva Premiership Rugby competition.

The new system also means that any clubs suspected of breaching the Salary Cap will be subject to a confidential disciplinary hearing with the sanction of both a points deduction and fine available. Any breach and the sanction will be made public.

Sport Resolutions, will run the disciplinary procedure, appointing an independent panel of legal experts and overseeing any appeal procedure.