In 1990, the NSWRL introduced a salary cap system in an attempt to even the playing field of teams in the Winfield Cup. The National Rugby League has adopted the salary cap system from its predecessor. A special team headed by former Australian representative Ian Schubert deals with salary cap issues and monitors teams on a yearly basis.
As of 2019 the salary cap is $9.6 million for the top thirty players at each club. The minimum wage for each of those players for 2019 is $105,000. Total funding in 2018 by the NRL to the 16 clubs was $222.8 million, equivalent to $13.9 million per club. In 2010, following the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal, the NRL introduced requirements for players and their agents to sign statutory declarations pledging their contracts comply with salary cap regulations, where previously only club chairmen and chief executives did so for biannual salary cap audits.
Salary cap by season National Rugby League Source: Season Salary cap Minimum wage Club grant 2023 $12.1M $120,000 $18M 2022 $10M $120,000 $13M 2021 $9.9M $115,000 $13M 2020 $9.8M $110,000 $13M 2019 $9.6M $105,000 $13M 2018 $9.4M $100,000 $13M 2017 $7M $80,000 $7.2M 2016 $6.8M $80,000 $7.1M 2015 $6.55M $80,000 $7.1M 2014 $6.3M $80,000 $7.1M 2013 $5.85M $80,000 $7.1M 2012 $4.4M $55,000 ? 2011 $4.3M $55,000 ? 2010 $4.1M $55,000 ? 2009 $4.1M $55,000 ? 2008 $4M $55,000 ? 2007 $3.9M $55,000 ? 2006 $3.6M $55,000 ? 2005 $3.366M $55,000 ? 2004 $3.3M $55,000 ? 2003 $3.55M $55,000 ? 2002 $3.45M $55,000 ? 2001 $3.347M $55,000 ? 2000 $3.325M $55,000 ? 1999 $3.25M $55,000 ? 1998 $3.25M $55,000 ?
NRL Women's Premiership Source:
The announcement also confirmed a rise in the salary cap from $350,000 in 2022 to $900,000 in 2023.
Discussion over the salary cap limit
The NRL is one of the few major leagues to implement a salary cap in a sport that has competing leagues in other countries where there is either no salary cap or a much higher cap per club. As a result, there has developed a tradition of players from Australia moving to Europe where salaries for the elite, and even for average players, were considerably higher. The NRL chooses to continue with the cap, believing that any reduction in quality of the sporting product due to the loss of these players is less than allowing richer clubs to dominate. In practice, the goal of parity has been quite successful, with twelve different clubs winning the premiership in the 16 seasons between 1998 and 2016.
In 2008, the departure of Mark Gasnier and Sonny Bill Williams, two elite stars, to play French rugby union prompted calls for the cap to be raised. Australian rugby league players had suffered a 27% decline in their wages since 1999, whereas other Australian sportsmen had experienced steady, and in some cases explosive growth. Some of the blame has been apportioned to the fact that the media company News Limited was a 50% owner of the NRL, and would normally be expected to be a bidder for rugby league rights in Australia. Being an owner of the game meant News Limited could apportion rights to itself at a discount, reducing the overall income the league could make for itself through the sale of media rights. This had a flow-on effect reducing available income for players. Following the 2009–10 northern rugby union season, global exchange rate changes meant that payments in European currencies were not as attractive, and Gasnier returned to the NRL. Williams returned to his homeland of New Zealand in what proved a successful attempt to play rugby union with the All Blacks, and in 2013 returned to the NRL to play for the Sydney Roosters.
The new Australian Rugby League Commission secured a billion dollar television rights deal in August 2012, and both clubs and players expected a significant increase in the salary cap. Announcements that the cap for 2013 would increase from $4.4 million to only $5 million resulted in the Rugby League Players Association agitating for an increase to $6.5 million. The RLPA also expected increased retirement funds, income protection and a boost for representative payments.
In July 2013, NRL CEO Dave Smith floated the proposal of a marquee player allowance which could be paid outside the traditional salary cap to help retain the game's biggest stars such as Sydney Roosters Sonny Bill Williams - and help lure back the likes of ex-league player and Wallabies star Israel Folau.The NRL is set to undergo a major salary cap review which chief executive Dave Smith hopes will keep the likes of Sonny Bill Williams in rugby league.
Breaches The breaches of the salary cap and salary floor regulations outlined by the NRL are exceeding the salary cap, falling below the salary floor, not informing the NRL of payments, late or incorrect lodgement or loss of documents relating to player financial and contract details or engaging in contract tampering. Trading cash for players is also prohibited to prevent wealthier clubs from evading the salary cap and salary floor regulations.
Penalties for players, club officials and agents include fines of one and a half times the amount involved (until 2010, lesser of 10% of the amount involved or $100,000) and/or suspension. Penalties for clubs include fines of up to triple the amount involved (until 2010, the lesser of half the amount involved or $500,000), fines of $10,000 (until 2010, $2,500) for each document that is late or incorrectly lodged or lost, and/or deduction of premiership points. These penalties were increased after the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal in 2010.
The following breaches of the salary cap and salary floor have occurred:Salary cap breaches 2000-2010 In 1991 it was revealed that the Canberra Raiders had substantially breached their $1.5 million salary cap for the year. In 2000, the Newcastle Knights were fined $158,800 but did not have any points deducted after club officials revealed that they had exceeded the salary cap by a total of $454,100 and failed to disclose third-party payments during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. The New Zealand Warriors were fined $100,000 in 2000 for failing to disclose third-party payments made during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Six other clubs were fined in 2000: Penrith ($80,900), Canterbury ($50,000), Parramatta ($40,000), Melbourne ($24,300), the Sydney Roosters ($12,800) and Cronulla ($6,900). The Melbourne Storm were fined $89,900 in 2000 but did not have any points deducted after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $177,400 during the season. The Brisbane Broncos were fined $84,150 in 2000 but did not have any points deducted after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $118,300 and were late in lodging documents relating to financial and contract details of 10 players during the season. In 2001, the North Queensland Cowboys were fined $100,000 but did not have any points deducted after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $210,000 and failed to disclose third-party payments during the 2000 season. In 2002, the Canterbury Bulldogs were fined the maximum of $500,000 and deducted all 37 premiership points received during the season after it was found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap regulations described by NRL Chief Executive David Gallop as "exceptional in both its size and its deliberate and ongoing nature" totaling $2.13 million between 2000 and 2002, including $750,000 in 2001 and $920,000 in 2002. The points penalty meant that the club won the 2002 wooden spoon. The Sydney Roosters were fined $149,150 in 2002 for failing to disclose or incorrect disclosure of third-party payments made during the 2001 and 2002 seasons. The Newcastle Knights were fined $85,000 in 2002 but did not have any points deducted after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $170,000 during the season. Three other clubs were fined in 2002: Melbourne ($66,700), the Wests Tigers ($58,550) and Brisbane ($57,550). In 2003, the Melbourne Storm were fined $130,950 but did not have any points deducted it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $25,000 during the season. Seven other clubs were fined in 2003 after a crackdown in light of the Canterbury scandal the year before: Penrith ($60,000), Newcastle ($40,000), Brisbane ($20,000), South Sydney ($15,250), the New Zealand Warriors ($15,000), and Cronulla and Canterbury ($10,000 each). In 2004, the Melbourne Storm were fined $120,000 after club officials revealed that their former management had failed to disclose third-party payments made between 2001 and 2004. In 2004, the Canterbury Bulldogs were fined $82,300 but did not have any points deducted after club officials revealed that they had fallen below the salary floor by $159,600 and were late in lodging documents relating to financial and contract details of a player during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Four other clubs were fined in 2004: St George Illawarra ($32,300), Penrith and the Sydney Roosters ($25,000 each), and Canberra ($5,000). In 2005, the New Zealand Warriors were fined $430,000 and were ordered to start the 2006 season with a four premiership point deficit and cut their payroll by $450,000 after club officials revealed that their former management had exceeded the salary cap by a total of $1.1 million during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. The points penalty meant that the Warriors missed a finals berth in 2006. Four other clubs were fined for minor breaches in 2005: St George Illawarra ($20,000), Newcastle ($11,100), Canterbury ($8,500) and Canberra ($6,350). In 2006, the Canberra Raiders were fined $173,200 but did not have any points deducted after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $286,400 and incorrectly lodged documents relating to financial and contract details of 12 players during the 2005 season. Seven other clubs were fined in 2006: Melbourne ($63,250), St George Illawarra ($62,400), Brisbane ($30,000), South Sydney ($28,600), Wests Tigers ($21,250), Newcastle ($19,250), and Cronulla ($5,000). Six clubs were fined for minor breaches in 2007: South Sydney ($70,150), Wests Tigers ($46,800), Canberra ($45,800), Canterbury ($25,000), Melbourne ($13,900) and Brisbane ($10,000). Five clubs were fined for minor breaches in 2008: St George Illawarra ($15,200), South Sydney ($12,500), Gold Coast ($5,450), Canterbury ($4,650) and Wests Tigers ($3,650). Seven clubs were fined for minor breaches in 2009: Melbourne ($15,000), Brisbane ($5,000), Canterbury ($3,750), and the Wests Tigers, Penrith, Sydney and the Gold Coast ($2,500 each).