Some Dues Comparisons Now That We Know The Numbers
Some Dues Comparisons Now That We Know The Numbers
USA Rugby’s new dues structure is markedly similar to the dues structure we at GRR outlined in July.
USA Rugby Provides New Dues Breakdown
High School, College, and Club players will be paying less than they did in the old system. Youth players and Rookie Rugby players will pay the same.
Including insurance here's how the dues have changed:
High School down $10 per player from $35 to $25
College down $13 per player from $45 to $32
Club down $15 per player from $50 to $35
The Supporter ($35), Referee ($65), Coach ($65), and Admin ($35) levels remain unchanged.
But USA Rugby is facing a problem, a problem other membership organizations are facing—no play, no need to become a member, so no membership income for the governing body.
This problem is one National Collegiate Rugby is also facing (and was addressed somewhat by NCR Director of Men's Rugby Steve Hiatt in a recent interview with GRR: Hiatt Navigates Choppy Waters As New NCR Head of Men's Rugby). NCR is now sending out emails asking member teams to pay their dues now. Certainly NCR is concerned with how it can bolster its budget and its payroll when member teams don't have an incentive to become members yet.
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USA Rugby's idea is to charge colleges and clubs a reduced per-member fee as a "training membership." That training membership doesn't cover inter-squad games, but it covers the players and coaches if they are doing any rugby activity. This move will likely generate some income as teams get back to working out, and of course the administrators and coaches will have to pay their regular membership.
Training membership for college is $25, and for club it's $26.50. There is no training membership for Youth or HS.
When the teams are ready to play games, then they just pay the difference to upgrade to a full membership. It's a way to provide some peace of mind for the players and coaches, and also get some much-needed cash in the door as USA Rugby claws out of bankruptcy.
If 30 clubs with 30 players each use this training membership plan, that's Only about $22,000-$24,000—not a lot, but it's $22,000 USA Rugby would not have gotten otherwise. There will be a few teams that purchase the fill membership as soon as possible. If 10 teams with 30 players do that, USA Rugby might get another $10,000. Every dollar counts when you're trying to keep the lights on.
NCR does not have an option other than their full membership option.
Other Dues Notes
The per-team fee of $160 appears to be dead and buried. This was a somewhat pointless fee (that probably SportLomo didn't want to deal with) that just seemed like a money grab for USA Rugby.
There was no mention of a per-team fee, but there now seems to be one of $50, down from $160.
How does this compare to NCR?
Putting aside the discussion about whose insurance coverage is better (that would take a long time to break down), we will just equate "insurance" as the same thing for both, for now. NCR has two fee options: one is $160 for the team and $65 for each player or coach, and the other is $1,300 per teams and $20 each player or coach.
So a small, 25-member college team would pay USA Rugby $800, while they would pay NCR $1,785, while a large, 50-member college team would pay USA Rugby $1,600 and NCR $2,300.
It's not apples to apples though, as USA Rugby makes no pretense anymore of running leagues, playoffs, or dealing with refs. NCR does run playoffs and does pay for refs in the playoffs.
