The Aviva Premiership salary cap will rise by £500,000 to £5.5 million ahead of the 2015/2016 season, and clubs will be allowed another ‘marquee player’, according to a report in The Times.
Premiership clubs are currently allowed one marquee player, whose salary is exempt from the cap. The limit at the moment is £5 million, but that is set to change according to the report, as a host of big name players become available after the Rugby World Cup.
The additional marquee player must be signed from overseas but could theoretically still be English – a certain Steffon Armitage springs to mind. Australia scrum-half Will Genia has already been linked with a move to Bath, and he will not be the last.
What do you think of the increased salary cap? Do you think it will be a good thing for rugby in England?
13 replies on “Premiership salary cap to increase after Rugby World Cup”
I think it allows English teams to compete for the marquee signings a bit more, but also (hopefully) keeps the player budget within a level that is sustainable to the whole league. The right move in my opinion
DOes the current marquee player have to be signed from overseas? I was under the impression that it could be any player, whose salary was outside the cap, also, I’m assuming overseas means from a different league? I’d be interested to know which players people think are currently the marquee signings.
Nick Evans must be for Quins, North for Saints (possibly Fotuali’i?), maybe John Smit was for Saracens.
I’d say that you right with Evans and North at Quins and Saints, think Bosch at Saracens. Possibly Brad Thorn or Goneva at Tigers. Sam Burgess at Bath, Hibbard or Afoa at Gloucester, Piri Weepu at Welsh (if they can afford to pay him that much!). Not sure the other clubs would actually have a marquee signing, there are no stand out names for me, maybe Dean Mumm at Exeter?
Currently it can be any player, regardless of where they are signed from. Only one I know for sure is Goneva at Tigers – but I’d imagine North at Saints, Weepu at Welsh and Hibbard at Glos are fairly safe bets. Sarries – I’d say Figallo is more likely to be their man than Bosch.
As for the other clubs, they may not have an obvious ‘marquee’ name but you can be sure there’s still somebody they don’t count in the salary cap – even if it’s just the top paid player who earns an extra tenner a week!
Hibbard above Afoa? I thought it was JJ at Sarries too.
I’ve heard it was Haskell at wasps & James Johnstone at Sarries. Flood’s departure freed up the room to re-sign Goneva and stop him leaving. Before Flood it was Castro
so it’s not necessarily the most obvious players.
I might be wrong, but once a player is made marquee, apparently they have to remain the marquee player until that contract is terminated or renewed, only then can a new marquee player be named.
If that is true Wasps might regret making Haskell marquee if they lose Launchbury to a bigger spender in the next off-season.
Pretty sure at Wasps it is Alapati Leiua. Before this year we could not afford to pay anyone over the salary cap anyway!
Jacob, Rodgers,
Isn’t the salary cap, a cap on the whole squad (except one player)?
Meaning that the marquee player will not necessarily remain the highest paid.
As an example, if the “marquee” player earns twice as much as everyone else. Then two players leave the squad, meaning that the Marquess player’s salary falls within the Cap.
Presumably the club could then replace the two cheaper players with one more player, being paid even more than the marquee player?
Perhaps I have too much time on my hands today.
To be honest I struggle a little with the concept of Marquee players. is one player in a rugby team worth that much more than the others.
I take Jamie’s point that they could be earning just a tiny bit more than anyone else, and I would hope that most clubs operate in this way – after all it is inevitable that some players earn more than others.
But to make someone a marquee player – and allow it to become well known – seems a little contrary to the team ethos.
Of all of the examples given above, are any of them head and shoulders above their team-mates? Actually Weepu perhaps, but that probably speaks more for the rest of the team than anything else.
Is Goneva so good for Leicester (yes I know he is good, but so much better than the others? Tuilagi? Burns? Mulipola etc). Is North more important to Northampton than, say, Hartley, or Corbisiero, or Wood or Lawes, or even Manoa?
If it is Johnston at Saracens, I am not overly sure that it is money well spent…
I see your point but I don’t think it is a massive issue. ‘Marque’ player simply means that their salary isn’t counted towards the cap so it will just be the highest paid player. Any company, organisation or sports team has to have a top earner – someone has to earn the most!
I think maybe it is just the use of the term ‘marque’, that makes that player sound all-important.
You’re probably right. I think that what makes me uncomfortable about it, is the fact that at some clubs this player is known.
Or at least, that appears to be the case…
I don’t think the fact that it is known is an issue. It’ll be fairly obvious within the dressing room. I can’t really see it being a massive issue with any club that has a cohesive dressing room. As I mentioned above, someone has to earn the most.
North isn’t worth it if he keeps getting them fined for playing for Wales!
Surely Ashton is the Saracens marquee player. I think he’s still under his initial contract there?