Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:35 am
FearTheVee wrote:
Those would be marquee players though surely and therefore cap exempt?
Those players might be marquee today but I think the issue is that we used to get those players in without those marquee exemptions because they were able to fit under a salary cap that was both more comparable to the NRL cap and worth more in real terms than it is today.
The issue is also not necessarily one of the salary cap, but of the value of those players. You can bring in a player on whatever money you like and whilst only a fraction of that appears on the salary cap, the full value appears on the bottom line.
So does £300K for "AN Player" from the NRL today make as good a business case as £150K for a Brent Webb, Lesley Vainikolo or a Jamie Lyon given that in that same period, the sport isn't really generating any more revenue from that talent (in terms of TV, sponsorship etc)?