25 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

which is why there is an expectation, particularly with saudi pif-backed, russki-controlled daz n now owning foxtel / kayo, that the rivers of broadcast rights gold that have flowed to the afl and nrl are about to seriously dry up

without murdoch wanting the domestic sports for the 'halo' effect for his media empire, the rights value for the afl and nrl may be severely impacted

Looks like Australia must decide... What's going to be the national sport? 🤣 It's a never ending debate.

5 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Yes, it's strange.

In the US everyone knows how mucha any given player makes.

I could understand if it was for safety/privacy issues but I don't feel Australia is a dangerous place for people with money (unlike a lot of the developing countries).

Yeah true, I guess the developing countries example was what I was thinking so thank you. IPL is completely transparent and like you said, NBA contracts for example are basically front page news.

I’ve always found it a bit weird that AFL player salaries aren’t so open. I could still be missing something, but I don’t see any downside on its face to not show it.

Unless…. It raises questions about how players are making the purchases that they make. That’s something that I can see being a reason to not show their salaries but this is pure speculation on my behalf.

58 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Geelong have rewritten the book on key incentives outside the salary cap. Strange that Freo and more particularly West Coast haven't followed on. There's a lot of new money in the West.

For all that the money paid to AFL "stars" is chicken feed compared to most sports

Whilst I agree who are all of their big stars?

On 04/09/2025 at 12:04, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Whilst I agree who are all of their big stars?

Yeah this is what confuses me about the cats conspiracies. Outside of Cameron, Smith, Stewart, and Dangerfield (who would now be sundowning) most of their players are just solid role players.

On 04/09/2025 at 11:59, BoBo said:

Yeah true, I guess the developing countries example was what I was thinking so thank you. IPL is completely transparent and like you said, NBA contracts for example are basically front page news.

I’ve always found it a bit weird that AFL player salaries aren’t so open. I could still be missing something, but I don’t see any downside on its face to not show it.

Unless…. It raises questions about how players are making the purchases that they make. That’s something that I can see being a reason to not show their salaries but this is pure speculation on my behalf.

I would imagine that it’s not so much to do with public perception, but more to do with internal IP about salary cap management at clubs.

If it was public knowledge what every player was paid clubs would know when they had the whip hand, and exactly to what extent, when trading with other clubs. I don’t imagine they want that, as it takes away bargaining power.

It is weird though, and oddly out of sync with global sports.