29 replies to this topic

[DeadShotKeen]

DSK the problem though is that, since it hasn't moved with inflation since it was introduced the salary cap is effectively a third less than it was when it was introduced.

Do you agree that the cap should now be increased annually with inflation?

At what point do we stop lowering the cap every year and either freeze it ( by linking it to inflation) or raise it slightly. The money from sky has gone up, the clubs are charging more on the gates, when can the players expect their earnings to increase with inflation?

The cap should only be increased when all clubs can afford to pay it (inflation or not).

Players can increase their earnings by moving to teams lower down the food chain with gaps in their cap spend (should they want them and be able to afford it) as happens in the US sports and presumably NRL. The problem is that we don't have those clubs. But stacking our pedigree players on the same few teams neither helps the league nor said players' development. Brisoce won't get better by running in 4 tries against Cas or London most weeks but he also deserves his pay rise. SL can make a panicky decision to raise the cap or it can hold its nerve and deliver us an NRL in 10 years. Slow and steady wins this race.

[hindle xiii]

Time for a rethink?

Not really, if it's his ambition. We let the Burgii go because that's what they wanted to do.

[RidingPie]

The cap should only be increased when all clubs can afford to pay it (inflation or not).

The cap has reduced by a third and some teams still can't pay up to it! How much more do we reduce it? We seem to be close to the point where the NRL and Union look at us as a cheap way to develop players. If all the stars are playing elsewhere there is no reason for Sky to pay as much. Then we'll be in to a downward spiral. the quality of the product on the pitch.

Players can increase their earnings by moving to teams lower down the food chain with gaps in their cap spend (should they want them and be able to afford it) as happens in the US sports and presumably NRL. The problem is that we don't have those clubs. But stacking our pedigree players on the same few teams neither helps the league nor said players' development. Brisoce won't get better by running in 4 tries against Cas or London most weeks but he also deserves his pay rise. SL can make a panicky decision to raise the cap or it can hold its nerve and deliver us an NRL in 10 years. Slow and steady wins this race.

We are going to be semi-pro in 10 years at the rate we're going. I don't think increasing the cap with inflation can be classed as panicky.

But I guess we're just going to have to disagree on that one.

[barrowraiderskid]

Can't wait to see him in the NRL. Not bothered if the best SL players go to the NRL I get too see them either way and its only going to strengthen the international side.

[keighley]

The cap has reduced by a third and some teams still can't pay up to it! How much more do we reduce it? We seem to be close to the point where the NRL and Union look at us as a cheap way to develop players. If all the stars are playing elsewhere there is no reason for Sky to pay as much. Then we'll be in to a downward spiral. the quality of the product on the pitch.



We are going to be semi-pro in 10 years at the rate we're going. I don't think increasing the cap with inflation can be classed as panicky.

But I guess we're just going to have to disagree on that one.

These are just my thoughts and I'm certainly not an accountant, but if we are having teams in financial trouble now with the present salary cap, Salford, Bradford, Crusaders, Wakefield and maybe others, how will increasing the salary cap help stabilise that. It would be good for those few teams who can afford it but then we would have a more unequal league than we have now with all the top talent going to the top three or four profitable teams.

I take your point about players going elsewhere RU, NRL but if the SL clubs cannot afford to pay them, what is the alternative. If the money is not there the money is not there. It's no good keeping sending clubs into bankruptcy paying players money they do not have.

[RidingPie]

I agree more with your thoughts Keighley but the problem is that all sports are having similar problems. And what of the 10 years unprecedented boom before the current recession, why didn't the salary cap move during that era?

At the end of the day a business is a business whether its HMV, Virgin Media, or Bradford Bulls. They generally go bust because management haven't balanced the books and grown the business (I accept I'm over simplifying but I really don't want to write an essay on business practices and I'm pretty sure you don't want to read it)

[brooza]

or have a marquee player exemption...

we already have one. £100k on to of the salary cap for an England international, I believe

[keighley]

I agree more with your thoughts Keighley but the problem is that all sports are having similar problems. And what of the 10 years unprecedented boom before the current recession, why didn't the salary cap move during that era?

At the end of the day a business is a business whether its HMV, Virgin Media, or Bradford Bulls. They generally go bust because management haven't balanced the books and grown the business (I accept I'm over simplifying but I really don't want to write an essay on business practices and I'm pretty sure you don't want to read it)

Yes, the game is between a rock and a hard place. On the wider view you brought up, I think RU is staring down the abyss also and soccer is not completely safe, big as it is. At some point all these sports are going to have to balance their books. It took the USA a long time to catch up with the rest of the world but now, even there, the budget deficits are just too big and action is having to be taken.

The next few years will definitely be interesting.

[Roy Boy]

Can't wait to see him in the NRL. Not bothered if the best SL players go to the NRL I get too see them either way and its only going to strengthen the international side.

I may be old fashioned, but prefer to see em in the flesh rather than on tele!

[barrowraiderskid]

I may be old fashioned, but prefer to see em in the flesh rather than on tele!

I agree but don't have a SL club within a 90 minute drive so seeing a SL game is a rarity. I do love watching English players in the NRL makes the games very interesting as I want them to do well.