USA Rugby has presented the various community groups with a breakdown of dues and insurance costs for when everyone gets back to playing rugby.

The breakdown hasn’t been received with balloons and confetti by everyone, but hasn’t outraged the masses, either. The upshot is this:

1. Finally we can all acknowledge that Youth & HS players were paying more than they had to for insurance, and that extra was used to offset adult players’ costs.

1b. However, since USA Rugby charged adult players more than Youth players and HS players, the cost-shift was offset.

2. Almost everyone will see their dues drop.

Lay Down Your Jackson And You Will See*

The USA Rugby breakdown is that per-player dues (before you factor in insurance) will be $20. This number was arrived at by, according to sources, outgoing boardmember Paul Santinelli, and others, going through the expenses and expected employees and adding all of that up before dividing it by the expected number of USA Rugby members.

The projection calls for about 14 employees, including a CEO, CFO, HP Director, IT Director, Membership Director, and various other staff. 

It also tracks office expenses (remember that the City of Glendale is giving USA Rugby their offices for free for a year), office equipment, costs of the membership service (SportLomo), and travel. There were two other costs folded in: background checks and Safesport services, which are additional costs to USA Rugby, and a small surplus (about $2 per person) to create a reserve fund.

Costs for the national office, then, are projected to be about $18 per member. Using 2019 membership numbers, that would turn out to be about $2.16 million for the National Office operations. It’s very difficult to compare that number to previous years because USA Rugby’s accounting was always reported in such a way as to not be able to separate Member-funded activity from activity funded through other sources.

However, a reasonable estimate is $3.7 million (overall dues income minus insurance premiums).

See All Our USA Rugby Reorganization Coverage Here>>

Other Dues

Remember, this is just about USA Rugby dues. Conferences, regional leagues, State Governing Bodies, and competitive umbrella organizations all charge dues. Most of them charge more than what USA Rugby charges. That’s because they need to fund employees and projects from a much smaller membership base. 

Still the debate has been over USA Rugby’s dues because it is USA Rugby that is in bankruptcy, and it is USA Rugby that overspent and under-funded in such a way that a long list of people, including dues-paying players and dues-paying organizations, ended up being owed money.

How does this compare to dues from other sports? Have a look:

National Sport Dues Around the USA
Volleyball	$25-$45 based on age.
Handball	$10-$70 based on age. (U21 is $50)
Curling	$24 for youth, $30 for adult
Tennis	$45
Rowing	$45 for 26 or under. Otherwise $65
Wrestling	$40
Diving	$75 for competitive diving, $20 just to participate.
Gymnastics	Intro athlete: $29 Regular athlete: $61
Fencing	$10 intro; $45 College; $75 Competition
Water Polo	Tiered system starts at $45 and goes up to $130.
Hockey	$46 if you're over 6 years old
Lacrosse	Youth $25; College $35; Adult $50
Archery	Trial Members: Free; Recreational: $15; Youth: $15; Full Membership: $45

Will It Really Be That Over $2 Million?

The National Office will probably have to work with a lot less than $2.16 million. If (as seems likely) NCR remains separated from USA Rugby, then the expected membership will drop by about 12%. In addition, most observers believe USA Rugby’s membership as a whole will take a hit thanks to the COVID-19 shutdown, which will continue in some form through the fall.

It’s not unreasonable to assume a 10%-20% drop in membership. If that’s the case, USA Rugby would be looking at a membership for 2020-2021 of maybe 75,000-80,000. The National Office, then, would have to work with no more than $1.6 million.

Insurance ... Again

Three companies provided quotes to USI, the insurance broker working with USA Rugby. USI has close ties to USA Rugby with several rugby people working there, including USA Rugby Boardmember Kevin Swiryn, who ran the brokerage team for the USA Rugby account.

The companies interested were asked to break out their quotes based on age group, and members will be charged for their insurance based on those quotes. It appears, according to sources, that the Youth & HS insurance (accident, liability, and whatever else needs to be in there) will cost about $7 per person, college about $12 per person, and senior club in the $15-$16 range. (Addendum: Please note that the club numbers may not include all the factors, so the totals are likely a bit off.)

We don’t have details on the coverage, as yet, but another source did tell us that the plan was to have coverage no worse than previous years. 

So add that all together and club players end up paying $14 or $15 ($35 instead of $50) less than they used to; college players end up paying about $13 less than they used to ($32 instead of $45), and high school players end up paying about $8 less ($27 vsesus $35). Youth players would end up paying more, by about $2.

We have not established whether the $160 per-club registration fee will be reinstated or not.

(Addendum: Please note that the club numbers may not include all the factors, so the totals are likely a bit off.)

Not Everyone Happy?

The US Youth & HS Council did voice some dissatisfaction with those numbers and didn’t immediately embrace the new plan. Interim Council President David Pool said the organization was having a look at what might be out there as a membership and an insurance option, and said “we are open to all options.”

He stressed that the Council was working together in unison on a variety of plans, but added that “we have always envisioned being part of USA Rugby. We have a [Youth & HS Council] Board seated that answers to the Youth and High School members, and isn't just there to rubberstamp USA Rugby decisions, and that's an important distinction."

Is It Enough Of A Cut?

A new, leaner USA Rugby was the promise when the reorganization started, and it appears that the organization will be somewhat leaner. The High Performance positions, as far as we can tell, are fully separated from the membership-funded part of USA Rugby, and, according to sources, have separate bank accounts.

All of these numbers, of course, are based on speculation as to when everyone can play rugby again, and what the membership size will be when the game returns. It’s possible that in a couple of years it will be clear that $20 isn’t enough, and USA Rugby will have to cut back or raise dues (and cutting back will be a lot easier to get approved). It’s also possible that the membership will start to grow and if it reached 175,000 in a few years, maybe dues would have to be cut, or (one would hope) that reserve fund could increase.

As it is, $20 may well be just the right amount to keep a struggling USA Rugby afloat and not turn off too many people. Repaying trust will take a little bit more time.

 

(*That's a line from Steely Dan's song Here at the Western World. Lay down your Jackson refers to paying $20.)