This season was the first of several significant changes to the Premiership's
salary cap regulations: • The base salary cap, which was £4.76 million in 2014–15, rose to £5.1 million. • The amount of "academy credits" available to each club—credits against the cap for younger players on the senior squad who were developed at the club—rose from £240,000 to £400,000. The number of "academy credits" remained at eight, as in past seasons, but the credit per player rose from £30,000 to £50,000. A club that could use all of its available credits in both 2014–15 and 2015–16 saw its effective cap rise from £5 million to £5.5 million. • Each club is now allowed to exclude two players from the salary cap calculations, up from one in 2014–15. However, the two slots for what the Premiership calls "excluded players" differ in how they can be used. The first slot can be used on a player on the club's current roster. The new slot can only be used for a player who had not been in the Premiership during the 12 months preceding the start of his contract. In a change from the rules that prevailed from 2011 to 2012 through to 2014–15, a player's presence on or absence from a
Rugby World Cup roster is no longer relevant to his status as an excluded player. In addition to the above, a standard cap provision applicable only in Rugby World Cup years, gave each club a £35,000 cap credit (up from £30,000 in the last World Cup season of 2011–12) for each member of the senior squad who participated in the tournament. ==Teams==