Chief Executives support Rise in Salary Cap

The National Rugby League Club Chief Executives have today supported a rise in the salary cap for 2007 and beyond.

They have however urged caution in the extent of any rise and reiterated that most clubs fail to make a profit without the assistance of external funding.

Furthermore they point to the effect of increased taxes, other legislation affecting licensed clubs and threats to the tax status of clubs, which continue to cast doubt on the extent to which that funding will be available.

“Penrith Leagues Club for instance has already had to find another five million dollars as a result of the recent legislative changes with further costs ahead,” Panthers CEO Mick Leary said today.

The clubs today discussed a wide range of salary cap issues and options as well as the marquee player allowances and long serving player allowances that are already available to clubs.

“Ultimately you can’t escape the fact that an allowance is simply another cost,” Souths CEO, Shane Richardson said.

“We need to be mindful of the fact that clubs aren’t making profits.

“We need to also ensure that we are investing in the development of the game.”

The clubs today gave strong support to the NRL developing a National Youth Competition in association with the Telstra Premiership as a way of boosting the development opportunities.

ARL Chief Executive, Mr Geoff Carr, reminded all clubs of the competition the game faces in attracting and developing players:

“There’s an enormous investment being made by other codes and we need to support our volunteers and our junior players.

“The game certainly can’t lose focus on the money it needs to put into this area.”

NRL Chief Executive, Mr David Gallop, said that the results of today’s meeting would be discussed with the RLPA as the Collective Bargaining Agreement discussions continue tomorrow:

“It’s still early days and we have had encouraging discussions to date.

“It’s good to see the clubs supporting the cap increase we proposed today.

“Hopefully we can continue in an atmosphere that promotes an understanding of the realities the game faces.

“Certainly over the last few days there have been ideas put forward which the clubs today accepted were simply unworkable.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t go forward with an open mind but some things such as centralised contract systems or exceptions for some players contracts have been investigated time and again and have been shown not to work and simply unfair on other clubs.”

Related Article:

Chief Executives support cap regulations (Wed Mar 1)