Logistics of NRL if teams fold?

[theshed]

What happens to player contracts if teams don’t survive? Let’s say 4 teams go under and we have a 12 team comp, what happens to all those players? Are they just free agents? What if other teams can’t afford most of them, do they sit out until cap space frees up?

What happens to players if the whole league goes under? Shuffle the deck and start again?

 

[Mister Wright]

How good would a draft be?

 

[Nashy]

What did they do when the SL ended, or those teams left too?

 

[theshed]

What did they do when the SL ended, or those teams left too?

Is this an answer I’m meant to know or are you genuinely asking? Cause I have no idea.

 

[Nashy]

Is this an answer I’m meant to know or are you genuinely asking? Cause I have no idea.

Genuine question, it's probably the closest thing to compare it to I guess.

 

[john1420]

Not sure if this is answering the question or not......but when SL ended, the SL and AR had 10 teams each, and they just merged into a 20 team comp so there were no contracts void or anything like that.
But I don't think I have ever known something about the league that you haven't Nashy, so I'm guessing I'm missing the point :)

 

[Nashy]

Not sure if this is answering the question or not......but when SL ended, the SL and AR had 10 teams each, and they just merged into a 20 team comp so there were no contracts void or anything like that.
But I don't think I have ever known something about the league that you haven't Nashy, so I'm guessing I'm missing the point :)

Nah no point being made, genuine question, I wasn't a RL fan in those days, I was just the kid that followed his old man to Warriors games in Kiwi from time to time.

 

[BroncsFan]

How good would a draft be?

A draft wouldn't be possible as the players need to agree with where they end up.
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What happens to player contracts if teams don’t survive? Let’s say 4 teams go under and we have a 12 team comp, what happens to all those players? Are they just free agents? What if other teams can’t afford most of them, do they sit out until cap space frees up?

What happens to players if the whole league goes under? Shuffle the deck and start again?

I would suspect in the first instance they would field offers should a private investor want to take over the license (ie. North Sydney Bears, 2nd Brisbane team, etc.) and therefore they would take over the player contracts.

If there were no offers or not enough offers for 4 teams I'd say they just become free agents (contract voided) and would be free to join whichever club they wanted, including super league, union, etc.

If this were to happen I'd think the NRL would raise the salary cap and probably raise the cap on squad limits above 30 based on how many teams fall out, which would give clubs the ability to sign players.

In the end I think the NRL will do whatever it can to get the existing clubs through though... it becomes a very expensive task to setup new clubs or lose games from the current deal (breach of contract).

 

[Morkel]

The NRL has allowed the poorly run clubs to continue to exist, and therefore holds at least some responsibility for the players and staff that have been employed by them.

I would suggest the NRL themselves continue to pay the players and the staff for the remaining duration of their contracts, only those signed before the season was put on hold. But if any of those players sign another contract with a new NRL (or Super League) club, regardless of whether it's less than what they were on before, the NRL pays them nothing. The discarded players, and likely coaching staff, will want to work for a surviving NRL team, but this will prevent certain teams from poaching the best on minimum $ deals while the NRL chips in the rest. Conversely, if a gun player is happy to ply his trade in the Qld or NSW cup, while being paid big dollars by the NRL, at least every NRL club will have an equal chance of signing them when their contract eventually expires.

I think keep it to the same 30-player squads. It does mean that some fringe players will lose their spots over the next few years as the off-contract players pick up spots, but this way the talent that is retained, and play in the NRL, are the highest quality.

And from here on in, the NRL need to get tough. The teams that pay overs for players, and then field sub-standard teams, knowing the NRL is footing the bill, will receive a huge wake-up call, if they even survive in the first place. There needs to be something in place like minimum crowd numbers. If your club can't attract fans, then they don't deserve to exist. Will some rich clubs give away free tickets to the public in order to pump up their numbers? Probably, but they will need to be able to afford to give away the tickets, and at least it means exposing more people to the game (who may go on to become members, or at least pay), and also brings exposure to sponsors and sales to the vendors at the grounds. Better still, any free tickets given away by clubs need to be a certain proportion of kids, or at least families, and let's go further and include a $10 per person food & drink voucher in case the families can't afford the extortionist prices. Again, the club will be paying for it - if they can't afford it, they don't deserve to survive.

 

[Mister Wright]

A draft wouldn't be possible as the players need to agree with where they end up.
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I'm sure that would be quickly arranged if they were told it is either be part of a draft or play in Q-Cup/NSWRL until your contract runs out.

 

[Nashy]

I'm sure that would be quickly arranged if they were told it is either be part of a draft or play in Q-Cup/NSWRL until your contract runs out.

I'd say Q-Cup won't be an option, so we could jump straight to draft or lay bricks.

 

[Foordy]

the problem with a draft is that it has previously been tested in court, and i believe found to be a restraint of trade, which is why it was scrapped ...

anyone who wants a draft can thank Terry Hill for that

 

[john1420]

Nah no point being made, genuine question, I wasn't a RL fan in those days, I was just the kid that followed his old man to Warriors games in Kiwi from time to time.

All good mate, I sometimes forget how old I am :)

Been a fan since '92

 

[Mister Wright]

the problem with a draft is that it has previously been tested in court, and i believe found to be a restraint of trade, which is why it was scrapped ...

anyone who wants a draft can thank Terry Hill for that

Won’t be a restrain of trade if the Players agree to it in a CBA which is what I think the AFL players agreed to.

 

[Foordy]

Won’t be a restrain of trade if the Players agree to it in a CBA which is what I think the AFL players agreed to.

right there is why the draft will never again happen in the NRL ... the players will never agree to a draft as they would prefer a free-for-all over their services.

the players don't give it a second thought in the AFL, because it was introduced in 1967 and is now just thought of as tradition ... the NRL players don't have the same mentality

 

[Nashy]

right there is why the draft will never again happen in the NRL ... the players will never agree to a draft as they would prefer a free-for-all over their services.

the players don't give it a second thought in the AFL, because it was introduced in 1967 and is now just thought of as tradition ... the NRL players don't have the same mentality

Faced with no job, or a draft, I assure you, even the dumbest people of society, IE, footballers, would agree, money is better than no money.

 

[Morkel]

Faced with no job, or a draft, I assure you, even the dumbest people of society, IE, footballers, would agree, money is better than no money.

And then it just takes one Cam Smith to say "I'm considering Union" for the NRL to buckle in seconds.

 

[The Strapper]

And then it just takes one Cam Smith to say "I'm considering Union" for the NRL to buckle in seconds.

No they wouldn’t.
They merely have to say “here’s your release papers, good luck” and he will fold.
Whatever mess the NRL are currently in (and it’s a big one) the ARU are a hell of a lot worse.
They have virtually no money (castle won’t even tell their players association what their finances are like because they are horrendous, they will almost certainly be bankrupt by the end of April).
The super 15 season has been abandoned not postponed.
The Irish tour is a near certainty to be called off.
They have no broadcast deal and virtually no prospect of getting any meaningful one beyond this year for which they are no longer getting paid for anyway.
ARU are zero threat to the NRL.
In fact if we can come out the other side of this in any reasonable sort of shape there will be plenty of opportunities to lure current ARU players over to us.