Salary Cap must stay

[Ant]

Just a quick look at comps around the world tells you the salary cap must stay in place.

The english premier league in the last 13 years 3 clubs have won every title, and only 6 clubs have made the top 3 in that time.

The serie A 5 clubs have won in the last 16 years and 3 of those clubs have won 14 of the titles.

It gets worse the german league only 5 clubs have won in the last 24 years.

Salary caps are used around the world.
NHL
NFL
NBA
ESL
English club rugby
NRL
AFL
a-league

On the cap in general there is no point raising it if clubs can't afford it. I believe the only measure able to be taken is the marque player situation in the a-league. I'd propose 2 marque players per club with unlimited income from3rd parties including club sponsers. That means the top 36 players can earn market value.

Gallop cops a lot of grief, but many people bag him about things that can't be changed. The TV rights while undervalued are not going to change. The salary cap can't be dissolved.

I think if you are going to bag someone you'd best have an idea of your own first that is feasible. I am yet to hear Phil Gould's.

 

[stuke]

how about abolishing the salary cap but introducing a points system for players, with teams only able to field teams under a certain allocation of points. it allows clubs to pay what they are able to but limits the clubs ability to buy a certain amount of quality players.

you could also factor in local junior players as a 0 or negative points value, making junior development and retention more important for all teams.

 

[Eels Dude]

Everyone who understands the financials of rugby league, understands the salary cap has to stay. Incentives are needed though in regards to long serving players and third party sponsorship

Clubs can't afford an increase, but for those clubs that can if they're able to keep long serving players under a discount I'd love that.

And if club sponsors are willing to pay players to for advertisements etc that'd be great. Sponsors put a lof of money into clubs, and the fact they're willing to put extra cash into supporting an individual player should be commended rather than rejected.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

Gallop cops a lot of grief, but many people bag him about things that can't be changed. The TV rights while undervalued are not going to change. The salary cap can't be dissolved

I think if you are going to bag someone you'd best have an idea of your own first that is feasible. I am yet to hear Phil Gould's.

Did you realise David Gallop was the NRL CEO when these TV rights were signed? Of course he must take some responsibility.

 

[OVP]

If you want a proper working salary cap, you need a draft as well to make it perfect imo.
Thats what our game needs. Plus if you make it more attractive for businesses to invest in league and its players, you need to scrap the 3rd party payments rules too. Let every team and every player have greater investment from the corporate sector. Not all are marketable though.

 

[badav]

how about abolishing the salary cap but introducing a points system for players, with teams only able to field teams under a certain allocation of points. it allows clubs to pay what they are able to but limits the clubs ability to buy a certain amount of quality players.

Then you will have players of the same or similar quality receiving a vast range of salaries depending on what club they were at. A system like that would see contracts alot more often than now.

 

[DangerMouse_007]

The other clubs you mention do not face direct competition from a rival sport. They are successful because they are not going to lose there players to other leagues like we are.

The salary cap is a restraint of trade and is on its way out. Rugby League is part of a capitalist society. Market forces will bring the salary cap down.

 

[newyboy]

SBW like andrew johns etc could have put himslef out in the market and done very well with 3rd party sponsors even to the level of doubling his current wage. But his past history and verbal skills made that difficult.

 

[eels81236]

how about abolishing the salary cap but introducing a points system for players, with teams only able to field teams under a certain allocation of points. it allows clubs to pay what they are able to but limits the clubs ability to buy a certain amount of quality players.

you could also factor in local junior players as a 0 or negative points value, making junior development and retention more important for all teams.

or...

The 4.2 cap is the limit of player salaries that can take the field that regular season. Each player’s contract is divided up by the number of rounds in a season. Only the 17 players that actually played each game would count towards the season salary cap.
This would allow clubs to pay extra to "marquee" players or players in general but perhaps they can only budget for them to play 22 of the 26 games and remain under the cap. It retains parity of competition which is the main objective of the cap.
Cash will still not reach staggering heights but the extra 2-300g or so may just have been enough to keep a few of our stars. If clubs can’t manage finances/gain revenue then they will perish whether we try something with the cap or not. Its natural attrition. The market determines the economy.

 

[Ant]

The other clubs you mention do not face direct competition from a rival sport. They are successful because they are not going to lose there players to other leagues like we are.

The salary cap is a restraint of trade and is on its way out. Rugby League is part of a capitalist society. Market forces will bring the salary cap down.

I'm sorry thats just not true, the ESL, english rugby, NRL would be viewed as direct competitors. The super 14 also has a salary cap as does the NPC rugby comp in NZ.

You'd have to say the afl competes for able bodied young men in australia as well.

All the major european soccer leagues are looking at the introduction of salary caps in order to allow a more equitable situation in their leagues and to stop many clubs going broke. A majority of european soccer clubs don't make profits.

Leagues without salary caps are fine if you don't care about your team actually winning. Only 4 epl clubs have a shot at winning year in and year out, and its even debateable if liverpool should be included in that 4.

While there needs to be some modification to the salary cap, removing it altogether is crazy.

 

[humpy]

Everyone who understands the financials of rugby league, understands the salary cap has to stay. Incentives are needed though in regards to long serving players and third party sponsorship

Clubs can't afford an increase, but for those clubs that can if they're able to keep long serving players under a discount I'd love that.

And if club sponsors are willing to pay players to for advertisements etc that'd be great. Sponsors put a lof of money into clubs, and the fact they're willing to put extra cash into supporting an individual player should be commended rather than rejected.

Why do we always have to limit ourselves to the lowest common denominator?? If clubs can't afford to meet the market demands, then maybe they should not be playing in the premier competition and head back to NSW cup like Newtown.

If the salary cap was lifted to $6m, you would be surprised where the clubs that are crying poor will come up with money, or they will finally realise they are unsustainable and either relocate or fold.

While I don't want to see the same teams win every year, I hate it even more when we lose 10 - 15 players each year and end up watching teams half full of under 20's. While some are instant successes, most take 1 - 2 years to get up to 1st grade level, and in the mean time we end up with substandard games.

Salary cap also kills off depth, and you just have to look at North QLD to see that. No Bowen or Thurston and they are gone, as they have to rely on kids in these positions instead of seasoned professionals.

In my opinion 3rd party agreements should be open to all as long as they can show they are working for that money. If Coke want to sponsor a team, and also have the star of that team appear in every coke ad, why shouldn't they be able to pay them whatever they want and be able to show them in their club colours. This is the exposure that every other code gets but we miss out due to salary cap constraints.

 

[j0nesy]

I think the salary cap should be raised to ~5 million. It is not compulsory to spend the salary cap, atleast I don't think it is. Clubs that spend more than they can afford probably deserve to fall by the wayside.

 

[VictoryFC]

I'm sorry thats just not true, the ESL, english rugby, NRL would be viewed as direct competitors. The super 14 also has a salary cap as does the NPC rugby comp in NZ.

You'd have to say the afl competes for able bodied young men in australia as well.

All the major european soccer leagues are looking at the introduction of salary caps in order to allow a more equitable situation in their leagues and to stop many clubs going broke. A majority of european soccer clubs don't make profits.

Leagues without salary caps are fine if you don't care about your team actually winning. Only 4 epl clubs have a shot at winning year in and year out, and its even debateable if liverpool should be included in that 4.

While there needs to be some modification to the salary cap, removing it altogether is crazy.

The funny thing is that while we think salary caps are good, Europeans, believe it or not, like their salary cap-free system :sarcasm:

And no...they arent looking to introduce salary cap systems...is the Bundesliga? No? Is the EPL? No? Is La Liga? No. Is Serie A? No. Is Eredivise? No. Is Ligue 1? No.

So please refrain from making comments on things you clearly have no idea about. UEFA are looking at the 5+6 rule, but that has nothing to do with the salary cap.

 

[Ewan McGrady's Lovechild]

Look I was so much against scrapping the cap but now I'm not so sure. I'd at least wait until the TV rights come up again in a few years and see how much money the game can get out of them. If it doesn't increase dramatically then I think we would possibly need to cull/merge a few teams. Again we could dangle the financial carrot for the clubs but most, if not all, won't want to merge or be culled. We could either get rid of the cap or lower the grants given out to clubs and see which clubs could survive. I know its a big ask but maybe we could sort the clubs out through natural attrition. This would alienate a lot of fans which is the biggest downside but at least the clubs would have had a chance.

I think the NRL needs to get a lot more money from Channel 9 and I would probably negotiate the State of Origin series as a separate entity as I'm sure other stations would champ at the bit to have the Origin series on their station given its always in the top dozen shows of the year in regards to ratings.

 

[Ewan McGrady's Lovechild]

In my opinion 3rd party agreements should be open to all as long as they can show they are working for that money. If Coke want to sponsor a team, and also have the star of that team appear in every coke ad, why shouldn't they be able to pay them whatever they want and be able to show them in their club colours. This is the exposure that every other code gets but we miss out due to salary cap constraints.

Sponsors aren't beating down the doors to throw money at the clubs though. Some people have this perception that big companies like Coke etc are waiting to throw money at NRL players. A lot of clubs don't even use all their allocated third party sponsorship quotas.

 

[humpy]

Sponsors aren't beating down the doors to throw money at the clubs though. Some people have this perception that big companies like Coke etc are waiting to throw money at NRL players. A lot of clubs don't even use all their allocated third party sponsorship quotas.

Well then why not open it up to everyone??

This leaves it up to the player and their agent to come up with the deals, and would take away an excuse for heading overseas.

If these deals are so hard to find, then why do we bother having them under the cap at all.

As I said the more exposure our elite players can get whether it is a TV ad for a big company, or a local ad for the local car dealer the more the game itself will be worth come the next naming rights deal or TV deal.