Premiership Rugby Salary Cap Report 2020-21

HISTORY OF THE PREMIERSHIP
RUGBY SALARY CAP
As a collective, Premiership Rugby and its Clubs led the way in England
when they introduced a Salary Cap in 1999 with the aim of achieving the
following objectives in a proportionate manner:
• ensuring the financial viability of all Clubs and of the Gallagher Premiership
Rugby competition;
• controlling inflationary pressures on Clubs’ costs;
• providing a level playing field for Clubs;
• ensuring a competitive Gallagher Premiership competition; and
• enabling Clubs to compete in European competitions.
The Salary Cap has been kept under continuous review each year but in 2019 the
Salary Cap was subject to a challenge on competition law grounds to the validity
of the Regulations. The Independent Panel, chaired by Lord Dyson, rejected the
challenge and in setting out its conclusions, the Panel noted that the Salary Cap
operates in a pro-competitive manner by promoting the system’s objectives.
The fact that the Salary Cap was kept under continuous review by Premiership
Rugby and the Clubs was a notable factor in the successful competition law
defence.
This decision and the Panel’s strong endorsement for the Salary Cap, presented the
perfect springboard to undertake an extensive review of the Salary Regulations.
As stated above Lord Myners led a comprehensive review of the Salary Cap,
which was published in May 2020 and had the purpose of further strengthening
the Regulations to ensure they provide a world-leading system with extensive
investigatory powers and appropriately robust sanctions. Lord Myners’ review
included a public consultation and meetings with every Premiership Club, the RPA
and the RFU.
His report made a number of recommendations which have been incorporated into
the new system which started during the 2020-21 Salary Cap Year.
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