This all started when I tried to write a column about which 25 players I would want on my team for 2013 subject to the $4.4 million salary cap. Then I realised how hard the task was without an accurate idea of what each player is worth.
No club releases accurate data relating to player contracts as they are not compelled to do by the NRL.
The amount a player earns has always remained a secret between the club management, the agents and the players.
Only some of the highest paid players have their salaries reported and they can be inaccurate, due largely to the influence of third party deals.
No one seems to understand how much NRL players are actually getting paid.
For bigger sports leagues with salary caps, like the NBA and the NFL, there are sites dedicated to the details of every player’s contract, allowing fans to understand how much these athletes are getting from their beloved clubs.
If fans are shelling out money for merchandise, tickets and membership, shouldn’t they have a right to know what their club is paying their star players?
In the wake of the Melbourne Storm saga, surely transparency can only be good for the game. This would also significantly clear up uncertainty surrounding third-party deals.
For good or bad, focus will also be put on a team’s front office. If they make a good deal by paying less for a good player, fans will know their administration are shrewd negotiators. If they spent too much, fans will be able to put pressure on their team, making the board think twice before offering big deals in future. Just ask the Eels about Chris Sandow, the Panthers about Michael Jennings.
I think fans genuinely have the right to know how much their players are paid, whether some of the contracts are justified and they should be able to recognise when players are basically robbing the teams with their poor performances. They should also be able to campaign for solid players who are due to earn more.
In the long term, this will benefit both the clubs and the players, while cutting down the impact that agents can have on recruitment decisions.
Clubs will have a better understanding of the market price for a certain type of players and be less prone to overpay players just because their values have been inflated by agents that are good at ‘hyping up’ their clients. This will also provide an incentive for players to perform, given that they now have to justify their salaries to the fans as well.
Wouldn’t you want to find out how much some of your players are getting paid?
mushi
Roar Guru
Where is you prescribed right, point to what gives you the right under Australian law to know what these guys are paid. If you are petitioning for the right then why is sports the only sphere fo scoiety to which this right is conveyed?
mushi
Roar Guru
You haven’t presented a anything to support why fans have the RIGHT to player salaries simply because we are customers. We are customers and shareholders of many organisations and do not have the right to view the salaries of the employees only executive positions (for public companies). Under your thinking some of us watching something on TV out ranks all other rights? Shouldn’t the exact same thing go for every single person that has ever profited from the media? Basically your thrust seems to be the US does it in leagues where: - the average salary is higher than the NRL cap, - having trades in a salary cap environment kind of requires it, - it is negotiated as part of the CBA We ain’t in the US of A pardner you can’t really use it as a legal precedent as to our rights as fans. You also say it benefit both players and the clubs if it stops agents having more influence on negotiations? Most NRL salary negotiations are a zero sum game so only one side wins if more transparent benchmarking occurs. I see do see you the unfounded benefit of players being forced to live up to their contract being sighted but surely you don’t believe that. If you’ve got players that refuse to give their all until pressured by the public with 100% accurate information on their salary (rather than just a rough approximation) then you’ve got some serious issues at the club that go so far beyond accurate reporting of cap figures it’s not funny. So would I like to have access to that info. Sure that would be great. Do I have any right to it? No way in hell. Even if we do eventually get the ability to view it due to a negotiation between players and the NRL it still doesn’t mean we have an unfettered right to it.
mushi
Roar Guru
That's great I didn't introduce the Investment bank analogy you did. You just didn't realise it didn't apply to your case.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
The clubs are not public entities or government departments. The NRL /AFL / ARU / FFA are private companies, again there is no reason for them to divulge private information. As for "being afraid" and "brown paper bags", really? Do you think that if they were doing such deals then the information they give about player wages would be accurate? Lets think about this for a second, did the Melbourne Storm have all their accounting above board? If you are going to cheat the system you would be pretty dumb to put the correct maths out there wouldn't you?
Nicholashugo
Roar Pro
Um the NBA, the NFL? leagues where NRL has got the whole salary cap concept from?if you are still unsure, I have posted links at the comment section on this page.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Exactly where do you get that idea? Every company has a salary cap. It is all about good corporate governance. Seriously, you (and anyone else not directly involved) have no right to that type of information. Frankly, just because you are a follower of a particular sporting team does not infer any sort of right to private information. Beside, other than being a sticky beak why would anyone care?
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
No issue with that. But surely "clubs", who are significantly funded by members and supporters, should divulge the salaries of the players, especially when the whole competition is based on an "equality" driven salary cap. Whats wrong with complete transparency ? If its good enough for the NFL and NBA, then surely its good enough for the NRL. What are we afraid of ? Are there too many brown paper bags still floating around ?
Matt
Guest
They made good decisions, they make bad decisions. Often though they buy a decent player, then they have a bad few seasons. Or in Sandows case, I didn't think he was that good a player, PLUS he's playing in a rubbish team... it's pretty hard to do well when everyone else sucks, not too many tries are just setup and finished by 1 person. They generally do - same as coaches.
Dayer
Guest
.. And if you are a public servant or a polly, your salary is for the Public to know because you are paid by the Public purse.
Dayer
Guest
Thanks for the link, good information. wouldn't it BE great to have that much cap for the NRL clubs ... LOL I ready do think this would work and be easier for ARLC to monitor and govern. If the clubs are lying then they are fined heavily. It really is in the Hands of the ARLC. It's our right not to disclose our earnings to the public let the media have a guess and let us fans roll with it.
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
Privacy is a nonsense argument. As a public sector employee, my salary is available for anybody to look at. "Taxpayers" would argue they have a right to know how much I earn. There is no privacy in terms of what I earn for me. As a citizen who shells out his hard earned for club memberships, tickets, merechandise etc, do I not have a right to know how much the employees (ie the players) of the club are being paid ??? Wouldnt it remove all allegations of salary cap rorting if all players salaries were public knowledge ??
Bearfax
Guest
And you would have to up the salary cap to about $6 million to meet what is really being paid out, esp with 3rd party arrangements.
Nicholashugo
Roar Pro
like this? http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82a421db/article/available-salarycap-space-for-all-32-nfl-teams it should be done and if its the best the league is willing to do i will take it. But then again, NFL and NBA do provide the public with cap salaries of their players. i understand the salary cap systems are structured differently in these leagues but its its hard for the NRL to convince the fans that the salary cap is policed appropriately when it is structured in a manner that allows a lot of discretion for clubs. it is just hard to understand if other codes have adopted a transparent model, what is stopping the NRL from doing the same? it doesnt make the code look good when compared to these other viable rival models.
Dayer
Guest
Nicholas, what you are proposing is that the ARLC and/or clubs have a list of players base/cap salary without third party and other payments added to be made public but to me and most of the responders think that is still a matter of privacy. What probably should be made public after all the contracts are done is that each CLUB make public what they have left on the salary cup. What do you think?.
Nicholashugo
Roar Pro
The difference is, there isn't a salary cap being applied on a mining contractor, a doctor or a carpenter.
Noel
Guest
What makes you , or anyone else , think that player fees should be public knowledge . The only people who should be allowed to access this information are the player , the club finance dept. , and the cap officials . It's nobody else's business . What business is it of yours how much a person earns , be he a Rugby League player or a mining contractor , a doctor or carpenter , do you want your salary to be public knowledge ? probably not , nor does a player in any team .
tonysalerno
Roar Guru
I would love to know how much each player is on, but unfortunately it is a matter of privacy. Players releasing their figures to the public leaves them open to scrutiny. It is very hard to fit 25 players under a 4.4 million dollar cap. Although the lack of information leaves the salary cap fixing etc.
Edward Kelly
Guest
"Privacy" :scoundrels use this word to hide behind. People have a right to privacy in their bedroom but in terms of sportspeople using "Privacy" to hide behind it is a bit overrated when these details are not really secret and especially when other sports and sportspeople have shown the way and are very open about payments. Given there is also a salary cap, members of clubs and supporters of teams do have a right to know, these details are held by the NRL and are they really secret? I am sure most managers know what every player is getting and what each club is spending and has to spend, it’s just the poor old supporter that doesn't know. Anyway, shouldn't all these details be published in each clubs audited annual report, well yes but clever accountants can hide much in an annual report.
Nicholashugo
Roar Pro
Again. I am not proposing that we find out the actual income the players are earning from every possible avenue, just the figures clubs have to keep on their books for salary cap purpose so we can better understand things like why Dave Taylor is leaving the Souths, how screwed are the Eels over the next three seasons with Chris Sandow and how did the Storm afford GI, Cam Smith, Billy Slater, Copper Cronk and Adam Blair under the salary cap,
jdubya
Guest
I tend to agree here. I think that the NRL should have implemented this change in response to the Melbourne fiasco, although it is a difficult issue because at the end of the day we really have no right to know what somebody earns.