Registration Time Arrives So We're Looking at College Dues
Registration Time Arrives So We're Looking at College Dues
As we have pointed out in previous articles on GRR, player and team dues in college rugby remains an issue.
Because National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) is not a member of USA Rugby, their members are also not members of USA Rugby, and as a result, USA Rugby does not support their members playing NCR teams.
So, according to USA Rugby, if an NCR team wants to play a USA Rugby team (and in some conferences, such as Big 10 and Rugby East, they have to), they need to pay dues to both organizations. NCR disagrees with this position, by the way.
Dues for both organizations are going up this year and we’re going to break down how right here.
NCR
NCR features two plans, and a team can opt for one or the other.
Plan 1 calls for a team fee of $2,100 and per-player fee of $45, along with a per-coach fee of $75.
Plan 2 calls for a team fee of $900, per-player of $90, and per-coach of $75.
What this does is allow for a team with a small roster (Plan 2) to get a bit of a break on fees. The break-even number is 35. A roster of 27 (assuming same number of coaches) would pay $3,315 in Plan 1 and $3,330 in Plan 2. Below that Plan 2 is cheaper, and above that Plan 1 is cheaper. According to NCR sources, most teams, even with small rosters, go with Plan 1 because it allows them flexibility if they get more recruits.
That dues level is 50-89% (***Correction - due to a spreadsheet error on our part, we got the dues levels wrong for the smaller teams. The percentage quoted is wrong**) ... the dues level for 2024-25 is mostly between 30% and 39% higher than the 2022-23 level for the small rosters and about 30% (or slightly more) for the larger rosters. However, it’s worth noting that NCR has introduced an Emerging Team Grant program that would provide a 50% dues discount for up to 50 “early-stage” clubs. So that could save these newish clubs that are trying to build their program about $1,500 $1,000 for the season.
USA Rugby / CRAA
USA Rugby-member college teams were, for several years, also members of different collegiate organizations (ACRA, ACR, CRAA) or could even be independent. All of those organizations had their own dues structures on top of USA Rugby’s dues.
But now CRAA is the only organization overseeing collegiate rugby within the USA Rugby structure. So we’re looking at CRAA.
USA Rugby Collegiate Dues are as follows:
College Player $45
College Coach $75
Club Registration Fee $100 (this includes some regional stuff but it’s a nice round number so we’ll use this).
In addition, each CRAA team now has to pay $20 per player. This is a new fee for some, and an increased fee (from $15 per player) for others. That fee covers CRAA work covering:
- Expenditures (general expenses)
- Development (referee, coach, player)
- Infrastructure (IT systems, subscriptions, accounting, eligibility, etc.)
This fee has drawn some ire from a few teams that are ostensibly NCR members who pay USA Rugby dues in order to be able to play other teams. The problem has been that CRAA officers have been doing some work for NCR—disciplinary officiating, helping NCR coaches get in good standing with World Rugby, and other paperwork that is USA Rugby or World Rugby related—for free.
That is a time and monetary cost to CRAA, so now they are instituting the fee to everyone.
Officially, the fees cover referee, coach, and player development, IT, accounting, eligibility work, as well as the disciplinary officiating mentioned above, and while some NCR-centered teams are saying they don’t use all of the services provided by CRAA, CRAA’s answer to that is that those services have to be there anyway. In addition, CRAA is likely legally obligated to charge the same fee structure to all members.
For those teams completely within the CRAA sphere, there is also a per-team fee based on division. The per-team fees are:
D1A Men - $2500
D1 Elite Women - $1500
D1AA Men - $400
D2 Men - $400
D1 Women - $100
D2 Women - $100
Those per-team fees go toward some championships, TV/streaming coverage, and other division-specific costs. D1A’s $2,500 also pays for four Advantage referee assignments.
Who Pays What
A Men’s NCR D1 team with a roster of 50 with four coaches should expect to pay about $4,650. If that team is, say, in Rugby East and has to pay USA Rugby dues (and many of the NCR D1 teams do), they would pay another $3,650 for USA Rugby dues and the CRAA admin add-on. That’s a total of $8,300.
A D1A team that only plays USA Rugby-member teams would pay $6,150 (including the D1A per-team fee). A D1A team that also played in the CRC 7s tournament, which therefore requires the team to become a member, would pay about $8,400 (registering a roster of 15 for the 7s tournament).
Total Income
According to ProPublica, NCR’s FY 2022-23 gross income was $1.76 million, up 23% from the previous year.
Also according to ProPublica, CRAA’s FY 2022-23 gross income was $304,000, up about 20% from the previous year.
We expect NCR’s revenue for 2024-25 to increase significantly thanks to the dues increase and also the addition of several women’s programs. Of course, with inflation a dollar doesn’t take you as far as it used to. CRAA’s revenue will increase as well.
Please note that we’re talking about gross revenue, not net income. In terms of net income, both organizations (both being non-profits) have been operating at a loss.
The loss is more deeply felt at CRAA, precisely because of the $20 expenses. Those services do cost money and the $20 per-player will likely go a long way to covering that loss.
Organization Comments
NCR CEO Jeremy Treece said this to GRR, and this is something NCR officers have said before:
“As always, 100% of member fees are invested back to support the student athlete experience and growth of college rugby.”
CRAA has repeatedly pointed out to GRR that they have no salaried workers, and is run by volunteers.
And Then …
As we have discussed before, if NCR became a member organization of USA Rugby, it would cost some money, but it would also likely require NCR to adopt USA Rugby’s insurance and ditch their own.
It is difficult to be specific on what that adjustment would mean for NCR. But if you look at the USA Rugby dues structure (not including any CRAA fees) you’d see that at any size, there would be a $2,000 per team surplus for NCR. That would translate into about $1.3 million using current numbers of teams provided by NCR. It might be a little less if some teams have to pay that $20 because they cross over with CRAA, but it might be sufficient for NCR to do the things they want to do.
On the team side, however, such a move would be felt heavily among the teams that have to double-up on dues. That number is perhaps as many as 30, but might be fewer. Each of those teams, however, could see their dues expenditures drop by about $3,500.
Videos:
Our Look at College Rugby Part 1
Our Look at College Rugby Part 2
Our Look at College Rugby Part 3
