Salary Cap - what about TPAs

[tiger_one]

Ok, OK we.ve all heard about our salary cap dramas etc etc.

But if there is any sense of equality about the cap being monitored fairly across the board at all NRL clubs, the big difference for us MUST BE the Third Party Agreements (or in our case, our absolute lack thereof!)

So we just have to fix this - over now to the Wests Tigers board and management to make this happen , so we can join the so-called level playing field with the big boys!

 

[Guest]

It's a difficult area to break into from what I understand. There aren't too many clubs in Sydney who have good third party agreements in place. The Roosters and Bulldogs are the top two. The rest tend to struggle.

 

[sideline_eye]

It's catch 22\. We won't attract TPAs until we are a successful club BUT we may not be successful until we attract TPAs!

 

[radiowave82]

It's a difficult area to break into from what I understand. There aren't too many clubs in Sydney who have good third party agreements in place. The Roosters and Bulldogs are the top two. The rest tend to struggle.

How does Russell Crowe go with them?

 

[Geo]

Ok, OK we.ve all heard about our salary cap dramas etc etc.

But if there is any sense of equality about the cap being monitored fairly across the board at all NRL clubs, the big difference for us MUST BE the Third Party Agreements (or in our case, our absolute lack thereof!)

So we just have to fix this - over now to the Wests Tigers board and management to make this happen , so we can join the so-called level playing field with the big boys!

The major problem is T_1 is these TPA's that the 'richer clubs' seem to have are not really in a sense playing within the rules…

Clubs can offer TPA's from Club affiliated sponsors up to an amount (currently 600k I beleive) on top of the salary cap...this can also be cars boats etc and can be spread to anyone in the playing group...

Outside TPA's are supposed to be between the Player and the Third Party with no links to the Club whatsoever ..think Billy Slater and his love of Bananas...in those adds he wears no Club gear at all...and is an arrangement between him at Queensland Bananas who pay him whatever and is not included in the Salary Cap...It would also travel with him if he was to move from Melbourne to another Club...

Now the murky area is something the NRL needs to address is how much of these TPA's are done in the spirit of they were intended ie allow the player to earn income above his NRL salary or how many are being done to entice a player to stay with their current Club and or move to another Club.....this is where the problem lies...there definitely is a false economy in Rugby League and the playing field is far from level...

 

[happy_tiger]

It's catch 22\. We won't attract TPAs until we are a successful club BUT we may not be successful until we attract TPAs!

We have improved greatly from where we were TPA wise

The issue is does the players we have or want attract possible TPA's ??

 

[newtiger]

I thought that this is where Harry might step up to the plate. If he is that much a Tigers tragic a few TPA's would hardly effect his bank balance.

 

[happy_tiger]

Ok, OK we.ve all heard about our salary cap dramas etc etc.

But if there is any sense of equality about the cap being monitored fairly across the board at all NRL clubs, the big difference for us MUST BE the Third Party Agreements (or in our case, our absolute lack thereof!)

So we just have to fix this - over now to the Wests Tigers board and management to make this happen , so we can join the so-called level playing field with the big boys!

The major problem is T_1 is these TPA's that the 'richer clubs' seem to have are not really in a sense playing within the rules…

Clubs can offer TPA's from Club affiliated sponsors up to an amount (currently 600k I beleive) on top of the salary cap...this can also be cars boats etc and can be spread to anyone in the playing group...

Outside TPA's are supposed to be between the Player and the Third Party with no links to the Club whatsoever ..think Billy Slater and his love of Bananas...in those adds he wears no Club gear at all...and is an arrangement between him at Queensland Bananas who pay him whatever and is not included in the Salary Cap...It would also travel with him if he was to move from Melbourne to another Club...

Now the murky area is something the NRL needs to address is how much of these TPA's are done in the spirit of they were intended ie allow the player to earn income above his NRL salary or how many are being done to entice a player to stay with their current Club and or move to another Club.....this is where the problem lies...there definitely is a false economy in Rugby League and the playing field is far from level...

I think you are allowed up to 5 cars Geo up to a value of $125 k

Blair had a car , but it was given to Tedesco

 

[Black_n_White]

Im not sure on the car swap and all Happy, nor the current dollar value, but just to clarify it isnt 5 cars of X value each, but $X split between up to 5 sponsored vehicles.

You probably have it on lock, but it could be kind of ambiguous to those trying to get their heads around the cap/cars…

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Ok, OK we.ve all heard about our salary cap dramas etc etc.

But if there is any sense of equality about the cap being monitored fairly across the board at all NRL clubs, the big difference for us MUST BE the Third Party Agreements (or in our case, our absolute lack thereof!)

So we just have to fix this - over now to the Wests Tigers board and management to make this happen , so we can join the so-called level playing field with the big boys!

The major problem is T_1 is these TPA's that the 'richer clubs' seem to have are not really in a sense playing within the rules…

Clubs can offer TPA's from Club affiliated sponsors up to an amount (currently 600k I beleive) on top of the salary cap...this can also be cars boats etc and can be spread to anyone in the playing group...

Outside TPA's are supposed to be between the Player and the Third Party with no links to the Club whatsoever ..think Billy Slater and his love of Bananas...in those adds he wears no Club gear at all...and is an arrangement between him at Queensland Bananas who pay him whatever and is not included in the Salary Cap...It would also travel with him if he was to move from Melbourne to another Club...

Now the murky area is something the NRL needs to address is how much of these TPA's are done in the spirit of they were intended ie allow the player to earn income above his NRL salary or how many are being done to entice a player to stay with their current Club and or move to another Club.....this is where the problem lies...there definitely is a false economy in Rugby League and the playing field is far from level...

Exactly, it's making a mockery out of the whole cap idea, and the NRL hasn't got the guts to address it.
No one wants to risk losing their cushy , overpaid job!

 

[cochise]

Ok, OK we.ve all heard about our salary cap dramas etc etc.

But if there is any sense of equality about the cap being monitored fairly across the board at all NRL clubs, the big difference for us MUST BE the Third Party Agreements (or in our case, our absolute lack thereof!)

So we just have to fix this - over now to the Wests Tigers board and management to make this happen , so we can join the so-called level playing field with the big boys!

The major problem is T_1 is these TPA's that the 'richer clubs' seem to have are not really in a sense playing within the rules…

Clubs can offer TPA's from Club affiliated sponsors up to an amount (currently 600k I beleive) on top of the salary cap...this can also be cars boats etc and can be spread to anyone in the playing group...

Outside TPA's are supposed to be between the Player and the Third Party with no links to the Club whatsoever ..think Billy Slater and his love of Bananas...in those adds he wears no Club gear at all...and is an arrangement between him at Queensland Bananas who pay him whatever and is not included in the Salary Cap...It would also travel with him if he was to move from Melbourne to another Club...

Now the murky area is something the NRL needs to address is how much of these TPA's are done in the spirit of they were intended ie allow the player to earn income above his NRL salary or how many are being done to entice a player to stay with their current Club and or move to another Club.....this is where the problem lies...there definitely is a false economy in Rugby League and the playing field is far from level...

Exactly, it's making a mockery out of the whole cap idea, and the NRL hasn't got the guts to address it.
No one wants to risk losing their cushy , overpaid job!

It's not as easy as that though, how do you address it while being fair to players and not causing a restraint of trade?

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Ok, OK we.ve all heard about our salary cap dramas etc etc.

But if there is any sense of equality about the cap being monitored fairly across the board at all NRL clubs, the big difference for us MUST BE the Third Party Agreements (or in our case, our absolute lack thereof!)

So we just have to fix this - over now to the Wests Tigers board and management to make this happen , so we can join the so-called level playing field with the big boys!

The major problem is T_1 is these TPA's that the 'richer clubs' seem to have are not really in a sense playing within the rules…

Clubs can offer TPA's from Club affiliated sponsors up to an amount (currently 600k I beleive) on top of the salary cap...this can also be cars boats etc and can be spread to anyone in the playing group...

Outside TPA's are supposed to be between the Player and the Third Party with no links to the Club whatsoever ..think Billy Slater and his love of Bananas...in those adds he wears no Club gear at all...and is an arrangement between him at Queensland Bananas who pay him whatever and is not included in the Salary Cap...It would also travel with him if he was to move from Melbourne to another Club...

Now the murky area is something the NRL needs to address is how much of these TPA's are done in the spirit of they were intended ie allow the player to earn income above his NRL salary or how many are being done to entice a player to stay with their current Club and or move to another Club.....this is where the problem lies...there definitely is a false economy in Rugby League and the playing field is far from level...

Exactly, it's making a mockery out of the whole cap idea, and the NRL hasn't got the guts to address it.
No one wants to risk losing their cushy , overpaid job!

It's not as easy as that though, how do you address it while being fair to players and not causing a restraint of trade?[/quote

I agree it's not easy, but that's what the big salaries' are splashed around NRL headquarters.
The last two statements sum it up perfectly.
There is a false economy in the NRL
Ang the playing field IS far from level. There's no point in a Cap if it doesn't work!
And it doesn't really work now
TPAs look like getting investigated( properly I hope , and along with them I hope that back ended contracts are completely banned. They are just a roundabout way to cheat the cap

 

[farmduck]

Here's an extract from:

"Players can earn unlimited amounts from corporate sponsors who are not associated with the club and who do not use the game’s intellectual property (no club logos, jerseys or emblems) provided these are pre-approved."

An example here would be Willie Mason on Sterlo, where he doesn't wear club colours or sponsors or players like GI who work for Aboriginal Education programmes.

Another rule of these TPAs was that they can't be dependent on a player playing for a specific club. Again, GI or JT would get spokesperson/advertising gigs with Aboriginal organisations or JT, Cam Smith, etc would get appearance fees on Fox Sports/Channel 9 regardless of which club they played for.

I think one of WTs' biggest problems is that "Wests" is a pretty vague area and it's hard to think of many large companies that people automatically identify with "West." We need a Wests Tigers Bank or a Wests Brewery selling Tiger Ale.

 

[cochise]

Problem is what right does the NRL have to limit a players earning ability from sponsors not officially affiliated with the club.

 

[diedpretty]

Problem is what right does the NRL have to limit a players earning ability from sponsors not officially affiliated with the club.

But that is the problem - the NRL turn a blind eye to whether TPAs are being sought independent to the club. Although not proven it is common knowledge that Politis is able to organize most of Easts TPAs. The broncos also use the thoroughbreds which supposedly has no affiliation with the club. This is where the whole TPA situation falls down and the NRL won't do squat about it.

 

[cochise]

Problem is what right does the NRL have to limit a players earning ability from sponsors not officially affiliated with the club.

But that is the problem - the NRL turn a blind eye to whether TPAs are being sought independent to the club. Although not proven it is common knowledge that Politis is able to organize most of Easts TPAs. The broncos also use the thoroughbreds which supposedly has no affiliation with the club. This is where the whole TPA situation falls down and the NRL won't do squat about it.

I get that 100% but to be honest that would be impossible to police. There is no easy fix for the TPA situation.

 

[Black_n_White]

Problem is what right does the NRL have to limit a players earning ability from sponsors not officially affiliated with the club.

But that is the problem - the NRL turn a blind eye to whether TPAs are being sought independent to the club. Although not proven it is common knowledge that Politis is able to organize most of Easts TPAs. The broncos also use the thoroughbreds which supposedly has no affiliation with the club. This is where the whole TPA situation falls down and the NRL won't do squat about it.

Actually it all falls down on the porous design of the cap in its entirety…
EG, both Broncos and Rooters recently both received breach notices, though the piss weak manouvering to beat the rap, leading to them receiving minimal fines was just astounding...
Roosters claimed they didnt keep paperwork, and thus werent fined to the full extent, and the Broncos more alarmingly dobbed themselves in, though I think it was the CEO stepped down, thus no longer a part of the organisation and not able to be compelled to testify allowing them to also escape with a slap on the wrist.
'
Thats the real joke of it all, they find the breaches, but dont prosecute them so its all but useless to bother.

 

[Goose]

The TPA's are very complicated, but are not the main reason why some clubs seem to have so much talent in comparison to others (with the exception of the broncos).
In theory a bona-fide TPA would continue to be paid to the player regardless of which club they played for, secondly is not paid for by someone related to the club.
A boots contract or a media arrangement (think Beau Ryan) are situations where it is clearly a TPA, some are murky like a paid gig writing a column for a local paper or the local plumber paying a player to appear in his adds, in a local town, the 2 examples given are generally accepted as ok, even know the reality is the income is collected as a result of belonging to a certain club.
The thoroughbreds, take this murky to a new level (and IMO are clearly breaking the rules) as those arrangements are clearly made with players solely from the broncos and are clearly linked to the club.

The difference between the clubs with the highest TPA's to the lowest is only a few hundred thousand (excluding the broncos). I think we are in the lower middle from a report I read.

The TPA's IMO do not account for the suspiciously strong squads of say the Roosters and now Manly.

 

[ricksen]

There was an article earlier in 2015 that claimed the top clubs were 'paying' up to $2m in TPAs, with some clubs not having any.

 

[bobo125]

There was an article earlier in 2015 that claimed the top clubs were 'paying' up to $2m in TPAs, with some clubs not having any.

its actually a little higher than this figure.
claims that there is a ceiling in place is correct but it just cannot be managed or policed at all as TPA scrutiny or audits do not cover family and friends in the same manner NRL contract payments do.

And whilst i also agree TPA's are not a specific reason for some clubs having a better roster than others, it is true that some clubs have a far greater ability to attract private "sponsers"
Melbourne being the only NRL team in that state - obvious
Broncos in brisbane.
Cowboys - now that they have won a premiership - there is a lot of money / business in north Queensland that could see the potential of getting involved / tax benefits etc
and in Sydney its obviously a little more complex. obviously those clubs with "top end of town" connections have a greater advantage.
roosters have nick and the eastern suburbs
souths have both rusty and jimmy
etc etc

some think its not that much extra coin etc but it certainly does "uneven" the playing field in terms of clubs able to attract players.

in theory, it was introduced as a legal loophole for the NRL to show they are not capping or limiting employees incomes.