Stars say salary cap is old hat, urge AFL to look to US Michael Warner, Jon Ralph
From: Herald Sun
July 11, 2012 PLAYERS have floated an NBA-style luxury tax as an alternative to footy's 27-year-old salary cap.
As Collingwood struggles to accommodate Travis Cloke's massive pay demands, the AFL player union says the league's salary cap - introduced in 1985 - could soon be past its use-by date.
A luxury tax is employed in the US where teams such as the LA Lakers in basketball and New York Yankees in baseball are permitted to spend extra money on their stars.
Some player agents are also pushing for a new "marquee player" rule, which would see the wage of one player at every club excluded from the cap, and full disclosure of all player salaries.
The AFLPA option would see a cap imposed on the combined amount of money clubs could spend on their players and football departments.
If the game's richest clubs chose to exceed the cap, a luxury tax would see them pay a surcharge to the poorer teams.
While providing the potential for higher wages, players argue it would make for a more even competition.
A new collective bargaining agreement was signed last year, but the AFLPA continues to throw up alternatives because of concern about the widening gap between player salaries and football department expenditure.
"When you look around the world, other sporting competitions have been hugely successful by adopting other equalisation measures such as luxury taxes, and greater revenue sharing arrangements between clubs," AFLPA chief Matt Finnis said yesterday.
A Herald Sun examination of the AFL salary cap system found:
* GREATER Western Sydney is set to dramatically downgrade and possibly abandon its Breakfast Point residential base given its $400,000-a-year cost is included in the Giants' total player payments.
* LEADING player agents raised the prospect of a "marquee player" rule at last week's industry conference.
* WEST Coast Eagles chiefs have argued for a cost of living allowance, similar to the $862,000 annual bonus enjoyed by the two Sydney clubs, because of spiralling Perth property prices.
* RICKY Nixon, the controversial father figure of AFL player management, believes it is time for all player salaries to be publicly declared.
Senior AFLPA executive Ian Prendergast studied the luxury tax system last month during a visit to the US where he met officials from the MLB, NFL and NBA.
AFL player manager Tom Petroro believes the alternative marquee rule would help clubs reward loyal stars of six or more years service.
"Each club could be entitled to have one marquee player," he said.
"It might have to be six years of service at one club, but it would help clubs retain their best players and protect the investment clubs put into their players."
Nixon believed the franchise or marquee model would help reward under-paid stars.
"I have mooted for a long time that each club should have a franchise player they have to nominate on a yearly basis," Nixon said.
"Guys like Nick Riewoldt and Chris Judd and Jonathan Brown are earning the same money Wayne Carey was in 2000, and that's 12 years ago.
"Some serious thought needs to be put into it. You would nominate a franchise player and if he wasn't the franchise player the next year, his salary would have to go into the cap. It would solve the Cloke situation for sure."
Nixon said making player salaries public would help take the guesswork out of contract negotiations.
"If salaries were disclosed then supporters would understand what players were on and whether they were playing to that ability or not," he said.
"It means players have an obligation to play at that level and it stops the conjecture and arguments about salary caps because the money is out there in the open.
"If you want the big money you have to perform for it. In every other big sport in the world salaries are made public."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/stars-say-salary-cap-is-old-hat-urge-afl-to-look-to-us/story-e6frf9jf-1226422957507
