C
Coxy
International Captain
- Mar 4, 2008
- 31,212
- 1,886
Cameron Smith has mentioned the possibility of a player strike because of dissatisfaction with salaries and bigger offers overseas etc, particularly amongst rep players
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,865 ... 14,00.html
The NRL/League is heading for another major battle because of the following conundrum:
1. Salary cap prevents players from being paid competitive salaries with ARU, ESL and Europen Rugby Union
2. Some NRL clubs are already financially stressed trying to meet the requirements of playing in the NRL, including playing players up to the current salary cap
3. The NRL have undersold - again - TV rights for our game and that deal isn't going to change for at least another 2 years
4. Due to club saturation, particularly in Sydney, there are not enough sponsorship dollars to realistically enable our best players to get 3rd party arrangemetns...there aren't many 3rd parties left that aren't used up either by the NRL, or AFL, ARU, cricket etc.
5. Money raised by State of Origin is in the coffers of the ARL, not the NRL, and is (quite rightly) distributed primarily to game development, not back to the elite players themselves.
What's the solution?
Therein lies the problem. There's no simple solution.
Possible Solution: You raise the salary cap. Result: some clubs will go bankrupt because they'll HAVE To spend up to the cap to be competitive but can't afford it.
Possible Solution: You keep the salary cap the same, but make concessions for long serving players and 3rd party sponsorship a bit more relaxed. Result: You let the rich maintain/gain more players more easily, and they will pillage the poorer clubs who will continue to struggle on the field and then...go bankrupt.
Possible Solution: You give the rep players a bigger slice of the Origin revenue. Result: Less money for grassroots development, country football continues to decline, junior football declines and they play other codes, less players come through, less quality game...spiral spiral spiral. Plus, it will motivate players to go to clubs who "get representative players picked"...so your Roosters, Broncos, Cowboys, Storm, Sharks (Aussie coach there) will find it easy to get players, and promising young players at strugglers like Penrith, Souths, Cowboys, Tigers will leave...spiral again.
There isn't a quick fix for this.
If it was up to me, it'd be at least a 5-year plan, but:
Step 1: Organisation Consolidation
Disband the NRL, ARL, QRL, NSWRL, WARL etc etc organisations. Establish a single entity, still call it the NRL if you wish, doesn't matter, it's a name. Its responsibilities are then:
1. Maintain and develop the national elite competition
2. Maintain and develop Australian representative football at all levels
3. Manage all financial income from the above
4. Maintain and manage grassroots rugby league throughout Australia
5. Ensure adequate local pathways exist from all grassroots regions through to the national competition
Gus talked about this a few weeks ago. All of the above can not happen voluntarily. There are too many dinosaurs and ex-players who have cushy board positions on the QRL, NSWRL, ARL boards etc who won't give up the power. It has to be dictated to them. The ARL and News Limited, who are partners in the NRL, need to show some balls and commit to this. The ARL have power over the other groups and can do this.
With this established, the game is actually capable of making some policy decisions to assist with the game's development and protect it for posterity.
Timeframe: ASAP!!!
Step 2: Renegotiate TV Rights
It's time to get serious. The NRL needs to talk tough with Nine and Foxtel about the arrangements, and quit with the whole "we own X% of Y so therefore we will pay you Z which is worth $$$$".
Look at whatever the ARU and AFL are being paid, equate it with whatever the sums add up to when considering State of Origin, NRL, Tests, NYC, the works and say here's the offer. Set a minimum in mind and don't bend over and take less.
At the moment I believe there are separate deals in place for Pay TV, Free to air TV, and even for State of Origin (Because that is through the ARL I think).
Timeframe: within 12 months.
Step 3: Rationalise the Elite competition
Get an independant auditor to review the financial status and do due diligence on all the NRL clubs, and look at other areas of the country and how they stack up in terms of junior numbers, families, corporate support, population growth etc to highlight target areas for expansion.
Look at existing areas in terms of salaries paid for other professional sports in the region, so as to determine an appropriate pay scale for players.
From this determine what the salary cap should be and identify how many clubs each region can realistically support.
Once that's done, set a date for the competition to be set at that number, and invite clubs, interested consortiums or even lower division clubs that are keen to move up (eg Redcliffe) to apply for licenses.
NRL then to decide which applications fit and invite those clubs to compete in the national competition.
The NRL can not invite more than the X number of clubs that can be sustained by the region. So if, say, 5 spaces were deemed available for Sydney, and 10 clubs applied, the BEST PLACED 5 would be invited. Whereas if a region like Brisbane was ruled to be able to support 2 teams, and only the Broncos applied, then only the Broncos get in.
Result could be anything from 10 to 18 clubs being involved, but at least it'd be known the areas can sustain them and the club has proven it has the necessary measures in place to participate.
Timeframe: Start this process by 2012
Step 4: Create elite NRL Contracted players
NRL then nominate 2 marquee players per club, and pay them 5% of the club salary cap each. So if it's a $5 million cap, they get $250K extra on top of what the club pays. The NRL decide who they are.
Clubs who have a host of rep players may find it harder to retain some of their players who want to go and be a marquee, and so say join Souths whose marquee players aren't as good. Another way to even up the playing pool, as well as try and keep players in the Australian game.
Step 5: NRL to offer performance incentives to clubs
By way of cash grants, NRL gives its clubs an annual "christmas bonus" based on their performance the previous year. This isn't about on field performance, but off field:
- sponsorship dollars brought in
- new registered junior players in their region
- crowd figures, home and away
- TV ratings, pay and free to air
- involvement in community work, particularly within rugby league development and expansion
Step 6: NRL to audit clubs annually
Not just salary cap, but the top down. Audit how their financials match against the business plan presented with their license application etc. Do risk analysis on whether the club's financials are largely dependant on a single benefactor or revenue stream (eg poker machines or leagues club grants).
Where necessary, put club on notice to turn things around and be reaudited in 6 or 12 months. If not up to scratch within X months, license becomes available for tender.
Step 7: National lower division competition
Combine the QLD Cup and NSW Cup. Not completely, keep the competitions run separately for 12 rounds or however many teams there are that they can play eachother once. Then pick the top 4 from each and have a "Super 8" competition, and then the top 4 from that play the semis.
Teams not in the Super 8 continue in the QLD Cup or NSW Cup for the rest of that season.
That's my solution anyway. No idea if it'd work, but it'd at least shake everything up logically, evaluate our game in business terms against the other sports and ensure our players are getting a fair deal.
Ah to dream!
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,865 ... 14,00.html
The NRL/League is heading for another major battle because of the following conundrum:
1. Salary cap prevents players from being paid competitive salaries with ARU, ESL and Europen Rugby Union
2. Some NRL clubs are already financially stressed trying to meet the requirements of playing in the NRL, including playing players up to the current salary cap
3. The NRL have undersold - again - TV rights for our game and that deal isn't going to change for at least another 2 years
4. Due to club saturation, particularly in Sydney, there are not enough sponsorship dollars to realistically enable our best players to get 3rd party arrangemetns...there aren't many 3rd parties left that aren't used up either by the NRL, or AFL, ARU, cricket etc.
5. Money raised by State of Origin is in the coffers of the ARL, not the NRL, and is (quite rightly) distributed primarily to game development, not back to the elite players themselves.
What's the solution?
Therein lies the problem. There's no simple solution.
Possible Solution: You raise the salary cap. Result: some clubs will go bankrupt because they'll HAVE To spend up to the cap to be competitive but can't afford it.
Possible Solution: You keep the salary cap the same, but make concessions for long serving players and 3rd party sponsorship a bit more relaxed. Result: You let the rich maintain/gain more players more easily, and they will pillage the poorer clubs who will continue to struggle on the field and then...go bankrupt.
Possible Solution: You give the rep players a bigger slice of the Origin revenue. Result: Less money for grassroots development, country football continues to decline, junior football declines and they play other codes, less players come through, less quality game...spiral spiral spiral. Plus, it will motivate players to go to clubs who "get representative players picked"...so your Roosters, Broncos, Cowboys, Storm, Sharks (Aussie coach there) will find it easy to get players, and promising young players at strugglers like Penrith, Souths, Cowboys, Tigers will leave...spiral again.
There isn't a quick fix for this.
If it was up to me, it'd be at least a 5-year plan, but:
Step 1: Organisation Consolidation
Disband the NRL, ARL, QRL, NSWRL, WARL etc etc organisations. Establish a single entity, still call it the NRL if you wish, doesn't matter, it's a name. Its responsibilities are then:
1. Maintain and develop the national elite competition
2. Maintain and develop Australian representative football at all levels
3. Manage all financial income from the above
4. Maintain and manage grassroots rugby league throughout Australia
5. Ensure adequate local pathways exist from all grassroots regions through to the national competition
Gus talked about this a few weeks ago. All of the above can not happen voluntarily. There are too many dinosaurs and ex-players who have cushy board positions on the QRL, NSWRL, ARL boards etc who won't give up the power. It has to be dictated to them. The ARL and News Limited, who are partners in the NRL, need to show some balls and commit to this. The ARL have power over the other groups and can do this.
With this established, the game is actually capable of making some policy decisions to assist with the game's development and protect it for posterity.
Timeframe: ASAP!!!
Step 2: Renegotiate TV Rights
It's time to get serious. The NRL needs to talk tough with Nine and Foxtel about the arrangements, and quit with the whole "we own X% of Y so therefore we will pay you Z which is worth $$$$".
Look at whatever the ARU and AFL are being paid, equate it with whatever the sums add up to when considering State of Origin, NRL, Tests, NYC, the works and say here's the offer. Set a minimum in mind and don't bend over and take less.
At the moment I believe there are separate deals in place for Pay TV, Free to air TV, and even for State of Origin (Because that is through the ARL I think).
Timeframe: within 12 months.
Step 3: Rationalise the Elite competition
Get an independant auditor to review the financial status and do due diligence on all the NRL clubs, and look at other areas of the country and how they stack up in terms of junior numbers, families, corporate support, population growth etc to highlight target areas for expansion.
Look at existing areas in terms of salaries paid for other professional sports in the region, so as to determine an appropriate pay scale for players.
From this determine what the salary cap should be and identify how many clubs each region can realistically support.
Once that's done, set a date for the competition to be set at that number, and invite clubs, interested consortiums or even lower division clubs that are keen to move up (eg Redcliffe) to apply for licenses.
NRL then to decide which applications fit and invite those clubs to compete in the national competition.
The NRL can not invite more than the X number of clubs that can be sustained by the region. So if, say, 5 spaces were deemed available for Sydney, and 10 clubs applied, the BEST PLACED 5 would be invited. Whereas if a region like Brisbane was ruled to be able to support 2 teams, and only the Broncos applied, then only the Broncos get in.
Result could be anything from 10 to 18 clubs being involved, but at least it'd be known the areas can sustain them and the club has proven it has the necessary measures in place to participate.
Timeframe: Start this process by 2012
Step 4: Create elite NRL Contracted players
NRL then nominate 2 marquee players per club, and pay them 5% of the club salary cap each. So if it's a $5 million cap, they get $250K extra on top of what the club pays. The NRL decide who they are.
Clubs who have a host of rep players may find it harder to retain some of their players who want to go and be a marquee, and so say join Souths whose marquee players aren't as good. Another way to even up the playing pool, as well as try and keep players in the Australian game.
Step 5: NRL to offer performance incentives to clubs
By way of cash grants, NRL gives its clubs an annual "christmas bonus" based on their performance the previous year. This isn't about on field performance, but off field:
- sponsorship dollars brought in
- new registered junior players in their region
- crowd figures, home and away
- TV ratings, pay and free to air
- involvement in community work, particularly within rugby league development and expansion
Step 6: NRL to audit clubs annually
Not just salary cap, but the top down. Audit how their financials match against the business plan presented with their license application etc. Do risk analysis on whether the club's financials are largely dependant on a single benefactor or revenue stream (eg poker machines or leagues club grants).
Where necessary, put club on notice to turn things around and be reaudited in 6 or 12 months. If not up to scratch within X months, license becomes available for tender.
Step 7: National lower division competition
Combine the QLD Cup and NSW Cup. Not completely, keep the competitions run separately for 12 rounds or however many teams there are that they can play eachother once. Then pick the top 4 from each and have a "Super 8" competition, and then the top 4 from that play the semis.
Teams not in the Super 8 continue in the QLD Cup or NSW Cup for the rest of that season.
That's my solution anyway. No idea if it'd work, but it'd at least shake everything up logically, evaluate our game in business terms against the other sports and ensure our players are getting a fair deal.
Ah to dream!
