The RFL Board have approved a number of changes to the Salary Cap Regulations for 2024.

The changes were agreed after consultation with the RL Commercial Board in Newcastle on Friday, and while the regulations cover Betfred Super League, Championship and League One, the changes mostly affect the Super League clubs.

The finite cap for the Betfred Super League will stay at two point one million pounds for a fifth consecutive season, reflecting a recognition from the Boards and the clubs of the importance of financial sustainability, especially given the additional consideration of repaying the Sport Survival Fund loans.

However, the Board have listened to stakeholders including the RL Commercial Board and supported IMG, the sport’s long-term strategic partner, in their view that clubs should be permitted to invest when affordable.

Therefore, there will be a significant extension of the Marquee Player regulations which were introduced in 2015 – with a fresh emphasis on clubs being rewarded for developing outstanding British players, and on giving clubs additional spending power to keep those players in the Super League.

Clubs will now be permitted up to three Marquee Players (up from two), but only if at least one of them is Federation Trained.

Whereas previously all Marquee Players were counted as £150,000 on a club’s salary cap, with the exception of Club-Trained players who counted as £75,000, now Club-Trained Marquee Players will count as £50,000; Federation-Trained Marquee Players will count as £100,000; and Non-Federation Trained Marquee Players will remain valued at £150,000 in salary cap calculations.

Other changes see a substantial increase in the Player Welfare Allowance from £15,000 to £50,000 per annum reflecting the sport’s commitment to ensuring clubs are placing player welfare at the heart of decision making; and the value up to which Under-21 Players will be exempt from a club’s cap will rise from £25,000 to £30,000.

The final change will see each club in all three competitions set a Financial Sustainability Cap for 2024, set against the Financial Sustainability Regulations – with a working group to be set up to review the Regulations for 2025.

The working group will include three representatives of Super League clubs, two from Championship/League One Clubs, one from RL Commercial, one from IMG and two from the RFL - the Director of Finance, Facilities & Central Services, and Robert Hicks, the Director of Operations and Legal, who will chair the group.

It will be tasked with reviewing the finite cap, implementing the IMG recommendations around a Salary Cap Floor and looking at all ways of ensuring sustainable investment and protecting the overall financial sustainability of the professional game.

Robert Hicks said:

“In making these recommendations, which have now been approved by the RFL Board and reviewed by the RL Commercial Board, we had to balance a number of differing considerations, and also differing views among Super League clubs.

“Financial sustainability remains imperative, for the credibility of the Super League competition and of Rugby League as a sport – and also now to ensure our clubs meet their obligations to Government under the Sport Survival Fund, as we continue to rebuild after the pandemic.

“We must also recognise the need for Super League to remain an elite and attractive competition, nationally and internationally. That is challenging, as while we welcome the growing strength of the NRL – and the NRLW – as good news for the sport of Rugby League, it can only increase the lure of a move to the southern hemisphere for our leading players.

“We therefore agreed with IMG, our strategic partners, that we should amend the cap regulations to allow clubs to spend more on keeping our outstanding homegrown players in the Super League competition – and also to increase the salary cap rewards for those clubs who develop those players.

“We have also increased the reward for clubs who invest significantly in player welfare, taking account of the strong views of clubs that we needed to reward investment in the Player Pathway and Welfare provisions.

“The introduction of a Financial Sustainability Cap for each club is also significant, allowing closer real-time monitoring of the off-field health of our clubs – and the new working group will allow a range of views, including from clubs and IMG, to contribute to our discussions about further amends to the cap from 2025.”