Saracens has been the worst kept secret in Rugby Union for years. They have used lawyers to pick apart the salary cap rules to pay players indirectly way more money than allowed by the cap - they actually admit this. They have taken a massive dump on the principle of the cap hoping they could take advantage of any perceived loopholes.
The fine is actually structured - it's 3 for 1 (3 quid for every 1 over the cap) and covers a 3 year period. The points deduction is not as drastic as it seems and I think it's designed to ensure they are not relegated. In neither of the last two seasons would they have been relegated if 35 points were deducted. The timing is also suspicious as there is a rumour that the premiership is going to be "ringfenced" and relegation/promotion severely limited. The fear of Leicester going down last year (and maybe this year) put the $h1ts up some people.
The bigger question is the impact on the Saracens brand (Allianz are f******g furious) and on the game in general. Few, if any, of the big clubs are financially viable without significant input from "benefactors". Sarries lose 2-3 million a year. Yet you have players on 1 million plus contracts. It's ridiculous, there isn't the money in the game to sustain club salaries of that magnitude and squad sizes of 30 plus.
There is also some rumblings about players looking to challenge the salary cap on a legal basis. Is it restriction of trade? If that happens and some well healed players and backers go after the legality of a salary cap and win the implications for all sports employing one are obvious. There could be massive fallout for RL if that happens.
