Super League to increase salary cap in historic move

It is expected Super League clubs will back a notion to increase the division’s salary cap for top-flight teams.

Alongside a whole host of other proposals, which are to rumoured to be a wage bump and a raft of clever exemptions, such as players signed from rugby union, it is hoped that these measures will make the sport more attractive to players.

At the present moment, clubs that occupy the top division of the Super League can spend a restricting £1.85m on their squad, with a further £175,000 allowed for a marquee signing. This was first introduced to make the sport more competitive, but has seen more high profile players either switch to Australia’s premier club competition, the NRL, or even switch codes to rugby union in search of better wages. This is something the Super League is understandably taking measures to stop.

Super League executive director and Chief Commercial Officer Roger Draper, overtly claims player retention is a key priority and a topic that will no doubt occupy the agenda when league chiefs meet at their headquarters in Salford at MediaCityUK.

Draper hasn’t always been a Super League man, he is a former chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association and was largely praised for his stellar work in increasing grass roots participation in the sport – another area rugby league has to work on, competing with football and indeed rugby union. However, the major issue remains halting the flow of star talent to Australia where Dan Sarginson, St. Helens’ Joe Greenwood, and Jordan Turner moved to only this year and the code switch of Castleford Tigers winger Denny Solomona who now plays for Sale Sharks – scoring 228 points in just 41 games. You can read more and can check out his statistics at sites like Betway, that offered odds of 11/8 on his former side winning the Super League regular season on April 5th.

Introduced in 1999, the Super League wage cap had two objectives, competitiveness being one and financial stability was the other, preventing sides from spending beyond their means. However, this has failed to keep pace with inflation over the last 18 years, with the only modernising change to the cap a marquee player rule brought in two years ago.

In comparison with other leagues, the current Super League cap of £1.85m, is remarkably small. Australia’s NRL is proposing a salary ceiling of more than £5m for next season, while rugby union’s Aviva Premiership stands at £7m.

The proposed salary cap increase has received support from up and down the Super League. The latest to speak out on the topic has been Salford Red Devils owner Marwan Koukash, saying: “The cap is very, very restrictive. The fact that it is the same as it was five years ago tells you something and it is restricting you – you can’t even keep it with the rate of inflation.”

“I’m not saying every owner or club is going to be able to do it but the fact that you’re telling everybody to keep it below that level and the likes of [Leigh owner] Derek Beaumont, myself and [Warrington owner] Simon Moran – we’ve got the funds, we could go out and invest in trying to build stronger teams.”

As Koukash claims, the financial power is there for top-flight rugby league to see a major investment period take off soon. Owners are ready and willing to spend big on players to compete for English rugby league’s most sought after prize. However, as seen with Bradford Bulls’ recent financial difficulties, going through multiple spells of administration and ultimately liquidation, teams must watch out for irresponsible spending.

Central contracts have also been muted, Draper reportedly sees this as a way to retain the league’s elite talent, but is a matter for the governing body and is unlikely to change anytime in the near future.