Overhaul player payments, says Jess
16 November 2007 Herald Sun
Daryl Timms
A RADICAL overhaul of AFL player payments has been proposed by leading player agent Peter Jess.
Jess believes his proposal, which will be presented to the AFL Players' Association, could prolong careers.
He will propose that clubs divide their lists into rookies, seniors, ambassadors and legends.
Jess said the additional services agreement (ASA) should be scrapped in favour of players at all levels having their contracts split between their image rights and their playing agreement.
He said rookies should be paid 20 per cent for their image and 80 per cent for on-field. Senior list players would have a 30-70 split, ambassadors 40-60 and legends a 50-50 split - the ratio used by the Wallabies and Super 14 rugby teams.
"If a player was classified as a legend, he would be paid 50 per cent for his image and 50 per cent for on field (performance), which would take the pressure off them on a performance point of view, coming up every week."
Jess said there would need to be a fixed number of legends, probably two at each club, and probably five ambassadors, who may have at least 10 season's service.
"Legends could include Brownlow Medal winners, captains of the clubs and multiple best-and-fairest winners. They could take up genuine roles in marketing and put less pressure on their bodies," he said.
"With the pressure taken off them, they might play 10 or 12 games a year. They might be able to squeeze out another couple of years when they would also be going through a very important mentoring period, rather than just focusing on short-term survival in the game."
Full article at:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,22766748%255E19742,00.html
