Billionaire Top 14 club owner calls for ‘drastic’ change to salary cap as meeting looms

Racing 92 fly-half Owen Farrell and an insert of club president Jacky Lorenzetti.
Racing 92 owner Jacky Lorenzetti has called for ‘drastic’ change to the Top 14 salary cap ahead of a scheduled meeting later this month.
Lorenzetti is a polarising figure in the game, particularly after his comments on Siya Kolisi’s fitness and performance during his time at Racing.
However, he is held in high regard amongst the Top 14 owners and has pressed for the salary cap to be put on the agenda at the next meeting of the presidents in Lyon on December 17.
Calls to slash Top 14 salary cap
Lorenzetti is pressing for a drastic reduction in the current cap according to a report by Midi Olympique, who has seen a copy of the letter issued by the Racing 92 owner to his fellow Top 14 club presidents.
The report states that Lorenzetti had carried out a survey before sending out the letter in which 10 of the other 14 owners declared that they would be in favour of reducing the current cap of 10.7 million euros, with three unnamed club owners expressing their reservations but did agree to open discussions once again.
Since the global pandemic in 2020, the Top 14 salary cap has slowly been falling. It was 11.3 million euros in 2020 and was expected to drop to an even 10 million in 2024 before a steering committee decided to maintain the salary cap amount at 10.7 million euros until the end of the 2026/27 season.
However, Lorenzetti’s survey and letter proves that there is an appetite from the owners of the French Top 14 clubs to further reduce the budget and it has been added to the agenda for the meeting later this month.
The reasoning for many of the owners to agree to the potential reduction in the salary cap is the deficit many of the clubs are currently in, with the 2024 report from the CCCP (Professional Championships Control Commission) covering the 2022/23 season stating that the cumulative operating deficit of the clubs was in the region of 60 million euros.
While the current cap of 10.7 million euros is set to be in place until 2027, Lorenzetti’s letter and request to add the discussion to the agenda means that things could change before then. It’s unlikely that things will change for next season as many clubs have already started their recruitment ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.
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