Salary cap - let’s discuss

[spirit of norm smith 16,459]

Under the collective bargaining, the AFL salary cap will explode over the next few years   It’s expected that 50 players (roughly 2-3 per team) will be on $1m a year contracts   Wow!! 

The total player payments will jump from

$15.023m in 2023 to

$15.788m in 2024 to  

$17.76m in 2025 (yes that’s a jump of just under $2m or 12.6%) to 

$18.29m in 2026 to

$18.44m in 2027.

wow !!!

That’s is serious $$ between 44 players. The “average player salary” is likely to $480,000 in 2025.  Obviously it’s skewed as 

Other research done in prior years shows that 30% of just under, is paid to the top 6 players in the club.  

Oliver. Petracca. Gawn. Viney. May. Lever. Likely to be getting around $5.4m collectively.  Sounds about right.  Then around $12.3m for the other 38 players. 

This is considering a blend from the top to the bottom , given the youngsters get paid peanuts by comparison , with a top 10 draft pick set to receive a base salary of $150,000. For players drafted between picks 11 and 20, the base salary decreases by $10,000 ($140,000), and for those between picks 21 and 50, it decreases by a further $10,000 ($130,000). Players drafted from position 51 onwards will have a base salary of $120,000. However it’s not bad for an 18 or 19 year old fresh out of school, who by the time they are 22-23 could be on $500,000+.  Wow!! 

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,848]

The cost of living crisis is biting us all it seems.

[whatwhat say what 22,757]

2 minutes ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

The cost of living crisis is biting us all it seems.

Wait’ll there’s no news corpse to fund 75% of the broadcast rights

Post 2032 is going to be interesting to see

[spirit of norm smith 16,459]

Roughly in 2025 …

Oliver $1.1m

Petracca $1.1m

Gawn $1.0m

Viney $850k

May $800k

Lever $750k 

$5.60m !!! 32% of the salary cap.  Works out to the industry norm for the best paid group.  

[KozzyCan 764]

9 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Roughly in 2025 …

Oliver $1.1m

Petracca $1.1m

Gawn $1.0m

Viney $850k

May $800k

Lever $750k 

$5.60m !!! 32% of the salary cap.  Works out to the industry norm for the best paid group.  

Where are you getting these numbers from? You would hope that the extensions of Gawn and Viney came with a bit of flattening of their wages with how old they are going to be at the end of those deals.

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,848]

17 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

Wait’ll there’s no news corpse to fund 75% of the broadcast rights

Post 2032 is going to be interesting to see

Amazon Prime will snap up for a cool billion a year over 6 years.

[george_on_the_outer 7,591]

The problem for us and other clubs is that EVERY club will have an additional $2M available in their salary cap next year. 

So let's say a player is currently on $1M a year. 

That means they can move to any other  club ( contract not withstanding) and be accomodated under their salary cap straight away. Something that is not possible at the moment, because most clubs are already paying to their limits. 

There will be a lot of conjecture come season end, and there will be a lot of players "exploring their options".

[DubDee 25,868]

Every club would have factored this into their stars deals. 20% increase when the new salary cap changes comes in so may not be that big a difference 

[KozzyCan 764]

2 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Every club would have factored this into their stars deals. 20% increase when the new salary cap changes comes in so may not be that big a difference 

Not how it works. Players have TPP increases included in their contracts. I think there are few clubs that try not to include that in their deals. Eagles famously didn't include it but it caused a lot of tension a couple of years back.

[jnrmac 20,065]

Trying to unravel the mysteries of the salary cap will send you bonkers

There are so many deals that are:

• back/front loaded
• Based on games played
• Dependent on finishes in awards 
• tied to increases in the general salary cap etc

Tracc and Oli I imagine would have signed deals that gave them an increase when the TPP increased (ie its percentage of TPP based) or some might even have clauses which say I have to be in the top 3 players at the club etc

Good luck with the project

[58er 6,440]

1 hour ago, KozzyCan said:

Where are you getting these numbers from? You would hope that the extensions of Gawn and Viney came with a bit of flattening of their wages with how old they are going to be at the end of those deals.

Age is not the major issue remember you work in most jobs you are not penalised as your experience and footy smarts are still expected in your twilight years. 

Having said this I don’t think Maxy deserves a pay cut after 2024 would have been his hardest year yet with both the Oliver and Trac situations plus our overall letdown of the team from middle to the end of the season.

it is rare that players are reduced Tmac was a. Negotiated one but Maysie has probably escaped a little although he still in the top 5 FB in the AFL. 

 

 

[whatwhat say what 22,757]

1 hour ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Amazon Prime will snap up for a cool billion a year over 6 years.

I have my doubts - nrl and afl are very small fry and overpriced compared with the other sports rights they have invested in

[KozzyCan 764]

14 minutes ago, 58er said:

Age is not the major issue remember you work in most jobs you are not penalised as your experience and footy smarts are still expected in your twilight years. 

Having said this I don’t think Maxy deserves a pay cut after 2024 would have been his hardest year yet with both the Oliver and Trac situations plus our overall letdown of the team from middle to the end of the season.

it is rare that players are reduced Tmac was a. Negotiated one but Maysie has probably escaped a little although he still in the top 5 FB in the AFL. 

 

 

Sport isn't most jobs. Age is absolutely a major issue when it comes to expectation on performance and once you're over 30 the cliff can come at any time. We signed these guys up on long term contracts while both still had a year to go. It's not a pay cut, it's job security in a field that will pay them significantly more than they will likely get post footy for their entire lives. Most players over 30 get put on 1-2 year contracts, we've signed these guys up for 3 and 4. If we're not sun setting their contracts then we're in for a world of pain when all these guys are over the hill and we can't afford to pay our up and coming stars.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,833]

I heard that Trac and Oliver will be the top 5 earners next year in the AFL.

Clearly our success or failure will be defined by these two.

No Trac and a hobbled Oliver resulted in a 4-7 scoreline from Kings B'day onwards, with the only wins coming against quite frankly rubbish or mediocre teams. 

Edited October 22 by Bring-Back-Powell

[Sir Why You Little 37,038]

The Gap between the “Haves & Have Nots” will be getting wider 

Winning games will tell everything 

[rpfc 28,433]

I will not find the article but both Trac and Oliver earn a percentage of the cap, not a flat number, I am sure they can move money around but I am fairly certain it is tied to the cap.

[george_on_the_outer 7,591]

40 minutes ago, rpfc said:

I will not find the article but both Trac and Oliver earn a percentage of the cap, not a flat number, I am sure they can move money around but I am fairly certain it is tied to the cap.

The problem is not for us with Trac and Oliver, it is whether Geelong or Collingwood have players who aren't and therefore can take full advantage of the extra space in their TPP.

[Little Goffy 14,546]

That estimate of 30% of the salary cap typically going to the top 6 players at each club really highlights a few things to me;

The immense value to a club when a top player says 'you know what, at ten times a normal full-time professional salary, I think I'll worry a little less about money'. A 15% pay cut for a top player is the difference between the club recruiting fringe players and hoping for the best, or recruiting targeted quality to meet identified needs.

In the middle of the range, I think 'good' players are a bit undervalued. You could probably have Fritsch, Rivers and Salem for the same price as one of Petracca or Oliver. There's an argument both ways, but I have this instinctive confidence that if you get a best 25 or so who are all credible AFL quality, stars will emerge. After all, Geelong went from ZERO All-Australian selections to NINE in the space of a single year.

And then there's the value in having a long 'tail' of draftees. Even with late picks, the worst that happens is they spend 2 to 4 years on the list and never quite make it, all at bottom dollar freeing up cap space to target specific needs with trades, or to secure confirmed talent on the list. Meanwhile, a good draftee who can contribute effectively on field in their first few seasons is list management and salary cap gold, because at very young ages there is always a little bit of a lag before performance is fully reflected in their next contract. The most famous of those situations being Lance Franklin who signed a 'pretty good for a young tall' contract for just a few years and then promptly kicked 73 goals then 113 goals in his next two seasons. To have Franklin, Roughhead and Lewis all surge the way they did in their 3rd and 4th seasons was an enormous list management boost for the Hawks. It got them directly from 'just kids in a developing team' to 'let's take unders so we can stick together and be champions' so quickly that Hawthorn skipped the entire hardest chapter of the list management cycle.

Well, that post blew out a bit, but this is a proper discussion thread so there's some proper discussion for ya!

 

 

[spirit of norm smith 16,459]

44 minutes ago, rpfc said:

I will not find the article but both Trac and Oliver earn a percentage of the cap, not a flat number, I am sure they can move money around but I am fairly certain it is tied to the cap.

Ouch and interesting if they EACH take a set 5%-6% individually of the cap for example.  

[praha 11,240]

There's a reason why teams are locking away players for 7-10 years and backending their contracts. Oliver's contract looks bad now but in 5 years it'll be pretty normal for a player of his caliber.

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,848]

9 hours ago, DubDee said:

Every club would have factored this into their stars deals. 20% increase when the new salary cap changes comes in so may not be that big a difference 

Exactly. Carltank have already ordered x-large paper bags for the 2026 season.