Players to win cash for winning flags (Herald-Sun)

[one-eyed]

Players to win cash for winning flags
01 August 2006   
Herald-Sun
Damian Barrett

AFL players will be given even greater incentive to win a premiership from next year - access to hundreds of thousands of above-table cash.

The AFL Players' Association has negotiated the pot of gold as part of its collective bargaining agreement discussions with the AFL.

While the deal is yet to be sealed, it is understood at least $500,000 is to be made available as part of a finals incentive package.

The scheme will be fully funded by the AFL and fall outside salary cap rules.

Losing Grand Final team players are also likely to benefit, and consideration was last night also being given to an allocation to all players whose teams make the finals, on a sliding scale of performance.

Players who receive money from the finals incentive scheme will be offered the right to allocate the booty among all teammates on a club list, not just the 22 in the team on game day.

The AFL has already committed to raising prizemoney for the club that wins the Grand Final.

Just $250,000 will go to the 2006 day premiership-winning club (the NAB Cup winner received $200,000 this year).

That figure, which can not be used to reward players outside the salary cap, will be increased to at least $500,000 and possibly $1million, from next year.

The finals incentive scheme is expected to be announced as part of this week's press conference to confirm the resolution in the players' wage battle.

The AFL and the players' association late last week reached agreement on the total player payments (TPP) component of the collective bargaining agreement.

Players are to receive 7per cent increases for 2007 and 2008, with at least 3per cent rises for each of 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Prizemoney increases were a significant part of the players' association's negotiations.

The AFLPA was reluctant to sign the TPP deals until all other collective bargaining agreement matters, including the finals incentive scheme, had been thrashed out.

With the player payments issue resolved, the AFL will seek to finalise financial arrangements with the clubs.

Fifteen of the 16 clubs (Sydney excluded) have united to demand $2million a year for the five years of the next broadcast deals.

The AFL has no intention of acceding to the claim, with $1million a year each, or less, considered more likely.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19977039%255E20322,00.html

[one-eyed]

Battlers cry poor as cream gets cash
Greg Denham
The Australian
August 02, 2006

THE AFL will today announce to the 16 clubs that base player payments will increase by more than $93million over the next five years.

But the new collective bargaining agreement between the AFL and the AFL Players Association is sure to meet with protests from poorly performed clubs because of additional financial rewards for players in finals.

The eight clubs that play in finals from next year will collectively benefit by between $2.6m and $3m, of which $1m will be guaranteed to players by the AFL and will be exempt from the salary cap.

Winning next year's premiership could be worth more than $500,000 in incentives to the club and its players alone.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou yesterday confirmed the finals bonus.

"That money will be distributed from first to eighth and the players and clubs share in that," Demetriou said.

"We're presently working on a formula of how to distribute it."

The 16 clubs will be informed of the increased allocation, which includes the previous finals allowances, and also of how the extra $1m will be distributed among the players.

Premiership players will obviously be rewarded the most.

The new incentive was yesterday criticised by officials from lesser-performing clubs, who believe it could make it tougher for them to attract players.

"It's a sweetener for the players outside the salary cap that doesn't fit with the AFL's equalisation strategy," one club chief executive said.

"The incentives will surely make it attractive for players to want to go to the top clubs."

Another club CEO said: "It raises the possibility of a player being recruited on the basis of him earning additional non-salary cap financial benefits."

But Demetriou defended the finals benefits after the information had yesterday leaked to several rebuilding clubs.

"You can't guarantee a grand final," he said.

The AFL and the players' union were yesterday finalising player benefits in the new five-year deal, in preparation for the league's two-day summit with club chief executives, which starts today in a semi-rural convention centre outside Melbourne.

Base total player payments will increase by 24.4 per cent over the next five years on a compounding ratio.

Total player payments, which are currently $103.6m after 3 per cent increases over the past three years, will increase 7 per cent next year, 7.1 per cent in 2008, 3.7 per cent in 2009, 3.3 per cent in 2010 and 3.3 per cent in 2011.

Individual club salary caps will rise from $6.47m this year to $8.21m in 2011, with the increases fully funded by the AFL.

Actual gross AFL player payments will be well over $160m by 2011, the final year of the new broadcast agreement.

Last year, despite setting base total player payments at $100.8m, players were paid a total of $117m, which included $6.1m for additional services agreements (marketing etc) as well as a number of other allowances and benefits.

Clubs can currently spend up to $452,000 annually on their additional services agreements, which will increase at the same rate as total player payments.

It is understood that a significant part of the CBA increase will be directed at player benefits such as welfare, education, training and particularly their retirement fund, which could benefit by increases of about $1.5m each year.

AFLPA funding from the AFL for these programs is about $8m this year. Every player currently receives $13,000 annually towards a capped retirement fund and this will increase from 2007.

Another benefit to players will be a medical insurance subsidy, paid by the AFL, and worth about $1m annually.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19989682-36035,00.html

[one-eyed]

Average player set to earn $200,000
Jake Niall
The Age
August 3, 2006

THE average AFL player will be paid a total package in excess of $200,000 for the first time next year, with that amount soaring to about $245,000 in five years.

The players are now pushing for greater flexibility in the player market, allowing them to change clubs more easily.

The AFL yesterday announced details of its new pay deal with the AFL Players Association, which will enable players to comfortably retain their position as the highest-paid members of an Australian sporting competition — a position that the AFL believes will strengthen the game's appeal in the face of fierce competition from soccer's global might.

By the time the new deal is completed, there will be a new class of millionaire players, paid in excess of $1 million a year — Chris Judd could be in that group now if he wished to be, and Nick Riewoldt and Jonathan Brown are others set to command seven-figure salaries.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the game would be more attractive to prospective players as a result, which hands the players slightly less than the 25 per cent of the game's total revenue as demanded.

"Come and play AFL football because you'll be remunerated at the highest level," said Demetriou. "You'll be looked after in your retirement, you'll be looked after along the way with your medical benefits … this is a great story. So come along, let's advertise it, let's not apologise, what the players earn."

Over the next five years, player wages will increase by 25 per cent, and the AFL is poised to ensure that the clubs receive about $1 million each a year over that agreement — roughly $500,000 above the increase the clubs will have to fork out, although details are not complete.

While the figures released show that AFL players will have rises of 7.3 per cent next year and 7 per cent in 2008, in real terms the total — when retirement funds, marketing contracts, health and education funds, prizemoney and other "extras" are added — will increase by a far more substantial 10.5 per cent next year. That will jump by another 5.6 per cent in 2008.

This year, the average total amount paid to a player on a list is about $192,000 and that amount becomes about $219,000 if a player has played one game or more of senior football (the salary cap average figure is only $162,000). When all the extras are included, those figures will rise to an average of $212,830 a player in 2007 (no games) and a staggering $242,400 next year if a player has played one or more games, although some of this money goes in retirement funds and other areas.

The players are still negotiating other terms of the collective bargaining agreement, and according to players' union chief executive Brendon Gale, they want the player market freed up, perhaps even with a limited form of free agency.

"At the moment, it's highly restricted," he said. "We'd like to look at arrangements that will facilitate more player movement and flexibility."

In other developments:

■The players will receive a one-third share of every extra dollar the AFL earns in excess of its revenue forecast. Last year, the league exceeded its forecast by about $10 million.

■Rookies and first-year players are the major beneficiaries of the pay increase, with the minimum wage for first and second-year players rising by 10 per cent in 2007.

■The premiership team will receive $1 million — four times the current prizemoney — with all other finalists more than doubling their prizemoney and the runner-up receiving $500,000.

■The No. 1 draft pick will receive an extra $10,000 as recognition of his status and responsibilities, with other top-five picks also receiving extra money.

■$35 million will be paid into the players' union retirement account over the five years, with another $2 million given to a "hardship fund" for those with health-related difficulties.

■Next year's salary cap will be $6.94 million, rising to $7.43 million in 2008 — meaning players who fall out of contract this year and next will fare exceedingly well.

■The AFL is set to allow recruitment of rookie-list players older than the current maximum age of 23.


THE AFL PAY DEAL

■ The premiership club will receive $1 million, of which $600,000 will go to the players.

■ About $2 million allocated to a past-player health and well-being fund.

■ Five-year deal, from 2007-11.

■ Total player payments increase from $103.8 million this year to $131.6 million in 2011 — a 26.7 per cent rise.

■ Total payments per club rise from $6.5 million this year to $8.2 million in 2011.

■ Increases in minimum pay for first and second-year players (10 per cent) and rookies (15 per cent) next year.

■ $35 million to the players' association retirement account over five years.

■ $25 million to help players in areas of education, training, health and welfare.

■ From this year, $1 million in finals prizemoney to be distributed to players.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/08/02/1154198206162.html