If you want to read regulation 3.28.2, it’s long, wordy and not very sexy.
The summary is that over three years the average pay of the excluded player is key to what ends up in and outside the cap.
If a player earns £100,000, £150,000 then £200,000 across three years, the average is £150,000.
Then as the excluded player, if you then want to pay them £1m, the extra £850,000 would actually be included in the cap as it is above the average.
These rules mean it’s actually quite hard for players to move around the league and command the excluded player spots.
To conclude the excluded player regs, it’s also worth knowing that we’re not allowed to know the identity of any excluded players.
You can guess, assume, even ask them, but technically “a club is not entitled to know the identity of the excluded players of other clubs”.
This means that if Northampton already have a player nominated for the excluded player spot they would probably have to unpick a huge amount of spreadsheet calculations to move it over to Pollock.
To those outside the sport much of this will seem like madness and an unfair market. However, the salary cap is basically designed to stop clubs making poor financial decisions or over-stretch themselves. The demise of Wasps, Worcester and London Irish being the forefront of this.
Prem Rugby told BBC Sport: “The salary cap is designed to prevent clubs from over-spending. It helps control inflationary pressures from club costs and ensures the viability and competitiveness of clubs.
“This year the Prem is forecast to post record revenues of more than £200m for the first time, with that number forecast to grow again year-on-year.”
With six different Prem winners in seven seasons, you can’t argue that the league isn’t competitive.
Clubs like Saracens have long championed salary cap increases and now that the league’s stability has been assured following the removal of promotion and relegation, this is likely the next chapter in the salary cap debate.
Prem Rugby said: “Any change to the wider cap structure would always go through a full club consultation and be up for discussion amongst the men’s professional Rugby Board before any decision is made.
“The removal of promotion and relegation is a separate strategic decision aimed at giving clubs long-term investment certainty, as is evident with the new ownership of Red Bull at Newcastle and Black Knight Rugby at Exeter Chiefs – as well as the new investment from Sir James Dyson at Bath.”
Some players can command big commercial deals outside rugby, and these deals will eclipse their club earnings multiple times over.
The big examples away from Pollock right now are the USA’s Ilona Maher, South Africa’s Siya Kolisi and England’s Ellie Kildunne.
A Pollock £1m pay-day in club rugby is possible, but highly unlikely at Northampton, for now.