Re: Salary Cap : Wed May 20, 2020 1:03 pm  

Marty Grrrrrrrrrr! wrote:

Which clubs are you referring to that could spend more can i ask? I dont see any other than Warrington.

Our club couldnt but that doesnt mean its a badly run club. Should Leeds be asked "what the hell is going on? Leeds is the best run club in Super League but cant.

I don't believe that Leeds couldn't compete on salaries with any other club in ordinary circumstances. The Leeds business has grown substantially since the introduction of the cap. I don't believe that the club couldn't afford an inflation-linked increase in the salary cap.

It is in Hetherington's interests to supress the cap from a competitive perspective and I suspect that is where is position is based. Leeds has historically retained its talent better than other clubs and Hetherington has used the salary cap to press home that fact. That's not an approach I agree with, even if I can understand it.

And we're not talking about completely freeing clubs from the shackles of any sort of financial levelling. I'd fully support an FFP-style system, as I mentioned earlier. What I don't support is a "race to the bottom" which damages the core product the sport has to sell, perpetuating this cycle of the sport being starved of cash.

Re: Salary Cap : Wed May 20, 2020 3:09 pm  

bramleyrhino wrote:

I depends on your definition of "massively". I think there are more clubs that are, or should be, capable of spending to a salary cap level that was set back in 2002 during ordinary times and should be capable of maintaining a level of pay that is on parity with inflation.

But I'd reiterate again - instead of saying "there is no money in the sport so we can't raise the salary cap, even in line with inflation", we should be saying "what the hell is going on a club level to create a situation where there so little cash in the sport, we have to pay the players £1m less in real terms?". That's the real issue here - why are clubs playing in front of declining crowds, why aren't they increasing revenue and why are, in some cases, practically giving away tickets and sponsorship? Name me another professional sport that has seen such a lack of growth.

The line of thinking that we have to supress the salary cap year after year is a false economy. It devalues the product, makes recruitment and retention harder and makes it more difficult to sell what is increasingly becoming a "Pound Shop Sport" to new audiences, sponsors and broadcasters.

And above all else it is an issue of fairness. The club owners are frankly taking the mick out of the playing talent, asking them to play more and more, asking them to bear the brunt of the current situation with actual pay cuts, and imposing real-terms cuts for two decades. If your employer tried the same shtick you'd move to a competitor - except that it's much more difficult for RL players to do the same because the clubs have effectively colluded with each other to keep renumeration low.

I think it's because most people including Sky are delusional about the product. It's simply not possible to attract new adults to Rugby league, as not as good to watch as was 10 years ago.
Over reffing
Zillion replays
Disciplinary panel
Terrible commentary
All killing the sport.........

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 8:26 am  

Shabino wrote:

I think it's because most people including Sky are delusional about the product. It's simply not possible to attract new adults to Rugby league, as not as good to watch as was 10 years ago.
Over reffing
Zillion replays
Disciplinary panel
Terrible commentary
All killing the sport.........

Lobbing a load of hobby horses in to try and prop up a false hypothesis is unhelpful.

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 8:48 am  

People said the same thing 10 years ago, and 10 years before that and 10 years before that. The game has been substandard dying since 1895 according to some

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 10:40 am  

bramleyrhino wrote:

Basing strategic decisions on the answer to the question "can Salford afford it?" is not a way to run a professional sport.

The salary cap is £1m less in real terms than it should be. If Salford, Wakefield or anyone else (Leeds included) cannot afford to compete when one of the main costs is £1m less than it should be, whose fault is that? And why should it be the players who pay for that lack of growth and poor commercial performance at club level?

The question we should be asking is not "CAN Salford or Wakefield afford it?" and instead "WHY can't Salford or Wakefield afford it?".

People like Neil Hudgell and Ken Davy will always vote to supress player wages because their clubs rely on their personal investment, so keeping those costs as low as possible reduces their personal contribution. Michael Carter will always vote likewise because he's an accountant and he wants Wakefield to stay competitive as possible whilst spending as little as possible.

I hoped Leeds and Hetherington were better than that.

Agree with this

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 11:34 am  

Ive always thought it very easy for Leeds fans, a big city club, to knock clubs for attendances and not being able to full cap.

Blaming clubs like Huddersfield etc for not having our gates or revenue seems ludicrious to me.

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 11:58 am  

To be fair, they don't even have Cas' gates.

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 12:26 pm  

Think Gary is trying to pull on heart strings and get fans to dig deep for the club. He forgets we'be all been hit by this and we've endured years of under investment and a terrible spectacle on the playing side now.
Not sure sympathy levels are that high right now.....

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 12:29 pm  

Leeds have been champions more times in the last decade than we were in total between 1895 and 2004; some of the more fickle fans seem to have forgotten the element of humility that makes sport worthwhile.

Re: Salary Cap : Sat May 23, 2020 1:37 pm  

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

Leeds have been champions more times in the last decade than we were in total between 1895 and 2004; some of the more fickle fans seem to have forgotten the element of humility that makes sport worthwhile.

Why do we have to label people into groups like 'fickle'.
Fair enough you don't agree, but labeling just kills discussion on the spot....