Salary cap cuts? Sadly they’re just an illusion
Remember the temporary cut in the salary cap that was announced just a few weeks ago? It wasn’t quite a Neville Chamberlain ‘peace in our time’ moment, but it was hailed as being some sort of a triumph for common sense, and great play was made of the fact that it was unanimous. This was painted as a positive move for the Premiership, but in reality it looks to me as though it’s a bit of a joke.
First, it doesn’t come in until the start of the 2021-22 season, so it does nothing to address the clubs’ immediate financial problems, and will then be reversed before the 2024-25 season ‘at the latest’, by which time goodness knows how many of the 13 will still be in business.
However, if that wasn’t bad enough, as always the devil is in the detail. If a player is on a current contract that runs until the 2021-22 season or beyond, then only 75 per cent of his salary will count towards the cap… in other words, the real cost won’t be reduced, just what goes through the salary cap books!
It is hardly surprising that the wealthier clubs were rumoured to be resigning their players on long-term contracts that will prevent them actually having to make cuts!
Then there’s the ‘marquee’ player problem. In a blaze of glory we were told that from 2022-23, clubs will only be allowed one instead of two… unless the two were on contract in that season, in which case the status quo will continue until the contracts expire. So, instead of two players at £1m per year, you can now have one player on a £2m salary – can anyone explain how that reduces the overall Premiership salary bill, which is what actually needs to happen?
Here’s the reality of the situation: as usual, the clubs managed to agree to virtually nothing of any substance, and the inequities that currently exist will still be there in the future.
Straight after the announcement, Bristol Bears, bankrolled by the league’s wealthiest owner, issued a statement, congratulating themselves on the ‘compromise position’ that was unanimously agreed, but stating their support for the fact that nothing changes until 2021-22, the retention of two marquee players for the next two seasons, and for the automatic increase in the cap should central funding increase.
Of course, there have been 25 per cent emergency pay cuts put in place, but what was needed was a radical overhaul of the salary cap, to ensure that every club could break even or be profitable, irrespective of the wealth of its owner. The opportunity to do that has been thrown away, and the gap between the haves and the have nots is likely to get even wider.
Success on the field depends on there being enough credible competitors out there to make a league viable – beating them on the pitch is one thing, but if they go under then the champions are simply the last team standing!
The changes to the salary cap are essentially cosmetic, and won’t do much to change the under lying financial problems the Premiership faces. In essence the wealthier clubs won the day, and the strugglers will continue to struggle.
It’s hard to see where we go from here. The clubs aren’t, and probably won’t ever be, united in a meaningful way to collectively tackle their biggest cost line.
You have to wonder whether some of the richer owners are really committed to having a Premiership where 12 or 13 clubs compete on a broadly-level playing field? Might they not be happier if the 13 clubs were reduced in number by ditching the ‘poorer’ ones, and those remaining then formed a British and Irish league, where the gloves came off and spending went through the roof ?
Best wishes must go to the Harlequins prop, Mark Lambert, who has announced his retirement. Lambert, who is also chairman of the Rugby Players’ Association, is that rare beast in the modern game, a one-club man. To have notched up more than 250 appearances for his club over a 16-year period is a fantastic achievement, and at a time when some have taken advantage of the 25 per cent Covid-19 pay cuts to walk away from their clubs, his is an example of loyalty that should be applauded.