Whatever the new league structure (3 leagues of 12, 4 leagues of ten, the 3 leagues of 12, with top two spitting into 3xicon_cool.gif etc, once implemented in 2015 it should be left in place for at least 50 years.

Stability and simplicity will attract more new sponsors to Rugby League and breed success.

In addition, the Salary Cap should be scrapped with immediate effect.

I would not put anything complicated in its place. It all has to be administered and Clubs get round it anyway.

What is needed at the same time as scrapping the Salary Cap are just a few high level rules:-

1. All clubs to submit audited accounts made up to 31 December each year to the RFL by the following 30 June. Failure to do this = 6 points deduction
2. One-up, one-down automatic promotion and relegation between the leagues
3. Go into Administration = 6 points deduction
4. Go bust and transfer club to a new company = relegation to the bottom division
5. A simple limit on the number of players any club can have registered at any one time.

If you want a 6th point (beyond 5 main rules you are tinkering though) I'd say

6. 13 of the 17 named for each match have to be EU born or trained.

Put that in place for 50 years as well and then just leave the clubs to it.

Totally agree,

The main objectives of the salary cap were to stop clubs overspending and operating beyond their means and to level the playing field for all clubs and make SL more competetive.
Both these objectives have failed miserably.
Time for the RFL to stop acting like big brother and allow the clubs to administer their own destiny.

I disagree. It has prevented clubs spending too high a percentage of their turnover on wages, and Super League is more competitive than it was. The salary cap's effectiveness has been stifled because not every club can afford to spend up to it. Eliminating the salary cap will only result in a wider disparity. And it's downright two-faced for fans of Salford, of all clubs, to start demanding a free rein just because they've come into some money.

Yep, it's tempting to think that the salary cap should be scrapped, given that it would allow us free rein to get more players that we want, but it would be an absolute disaster for the sport in the current climate.

Very few clubs make profit. The salary cap is low when measured against the NRL, but we need more money across the board in the sport before we can think about raising it. Getting rid of it shouldn't even be an option.

I do like the idea of having a marquee player that isn't counted on the cap though. If teams have the option to bring in a superstar that could generate interest and bring in more fans then it can only be a good thing.

I agree with your point about the disparity this would create between clubs in Superleague but the bigger issue now is the disparity in pay for players in Superleague compared to the NRL and Union. The goalposts have moved over recent years and the question is do we just sit back and accept it or allow clubs who can afford to react to react?

If we do nothing we risk losing more of our best players, more paying spectators, more sponsors and this will enevitably lead to an even bigger disparity in television revenue going forward.

This.

If you get rid of the cap is there enough money in the game to keep players from going to the NRL or Union? There seems to be an assumption that existing owners of some clubs have the cash to compete when that may not necessarily be the case.

If the likes of Moran and Koukash do have the money to compete with the NRL and Union then there would soon be a total disparity between the haves and have nots in SL that will make blow out scorelines an even more common occurance than now. Would that really keep supporters interest and attract sponsors? The 10 years or so that Wigan won everything saw the game lose money hand over fist until it had to be resuced by Sky.

Couldn't agree more.

Its got nothing to do with Salford coming into money.Its a reality that if something isnt done about the gulf in earning ability between SL and the NRL/RU then we will lose more and more star players.This will dilute the quality of SL and make it even more unattractive to outside sponsorship which will seriously affect the long term sustainability of SL.

As for SL being more competetive than ever then you must be watching a different SL to me.I believe only 4 teams have won a Grand Final since SL started.Its the same teams year in year out.Doesnt seem very competetive to me.
There have also been plenty of instances of SL clubs ending up in financial trouble throughout the SL era so how exactly does that show that a salary cap works.
Isnt it time to let the guys who run their clubs take responsibility for their own finances and not have others dictating what they can and cannot do.The RFL can have penalties for clubs that end up in financial trouble and leave the ball in their court.If they break the rules then they pay the price for their own failings.

Different clubs winning things is not the definition of being competitive.

Thats all very Zen of you,

So your definition is just losing to the same top teams but just not by as much as before.As long as you put on a good show.Sounds great.
Sorry but i want to see more teams winning or at least having a realistic chance to do so.

Is there not a massive disparity in Premier League football between the wealthy clubs like United, Chelsea and City compared to clubs like Southampton, Crystal Palace and Norwich City etc, etc??? In my opinion the wealthy clubs in football help the finances of smaller clubs by enhancing the profile of the league, gate reciepts, sponsorship and television revenue.

A question, how do you think the Premier League would rank now against la liga and the bundersliga if a salary cap and overseas quota has been brought in several years ago?

Bring in some form of system that allows for rich clubs to spend but the smaller clubs benefit from.

In simplistic terms you're allowed to spend over it but what ever you spend over it you equally have to pay into a pot.
So if you go £1000 over the cap you have to pay another £1000 into a pot, every penny that is spent over the cap by every club has to be doubly paid for.
Every club that then doesn't spend over the cap receives an equal amount of that money.

If Koucash or Moran want to throw 500K at a player over the cap, it, in real terms, costs you 1 million.

If scrapping the salary cap enticed more wealthy owners into the game,which by the way Dr Koukash said in his opinion it would,then what is so wrong with that.
Why do we feel the need to regulate the system and Dumb down to the lowest common denominator.Theres nothing wrong with striving for excellence and wanting to bring the best into our game.
If we had more star names in the game then that would generate more interest/revenues from TV,Sponsors and paying fans.Everyones a winner.

I couldn't agree more. High profile superstars puts bums on seats and attracts sponsorship, not poor quality close games.

The NFL manages just fine with a salary cap and there's a ridiculous amount of money there.

The problem is that people have unrealistic expectations of what rugby league can be as a sport. Unfortunately, I can't see it ever generating the kind of crowds and money that some people want it to get. We can strive to make it bigger and better than it is, but I don't think simply getting rid of the salary cap is going to magically do that.

That [iis[/i the definition. I never said it was great. But getting rid of the salary cap would only worsen matters.

I hope Bill Gates likes rugby league.

Nobody is suggesting that its going to be easy or that scrapping the cap will instantly cure all that is wrong but you have to start somewhere.A top priority has got to be to stop the loss of our best players to NRL and RU because of lack of ability to pay them what they are worth because of salary cap restrictions.
This problem with the NRL and RU is not going to go away and will only get worse.What we are currently seeing is only the start of an exodus of players to the NRL.If we dont fix it now them its going to be a slow drawn out slide into total mediocrity for SL and that wont be good for anyone,TV,Sponsors or Fans

Rugby league in Britain cannot control this. There just simply isn't enough money swilling around the game, regardless of the salary cap. So the question is rather what should the game do to improve itself for the people who still want to play in Super League and below, and the people that want to watch it.



Well we don't know that. There is debate over the size of the salary cap in RU and whether or not it is sustainable, even in the face of the deal with BT Sport. So RU has its insecurities too. In the last decade, the NRL has been through what Super League will go through with the loss of talent overseas. This, conversely, was the making of the NRL today. Its clubs had no choice but to bring new players through the ranks and disregard what the established talent was doing abroad. And those players became stars. My hunch is that rugby league in Britain does not have the standard of player coming through to fill the gaps. But we need to disregard that. The situation is what it is. The game can only promote what it has, and it can do so better than it does currently with the likes of Tomkins et al.

And scrapping the salary cap isn't the answer. Far from it.

So your answer is to sit back and do nothing,just cater for whatever is left after the NRL and RU have cherry picked all the talent they want.Who says there isnt enough money for clubs to take onboard a few quality star players.We dont know the answer to that because the salary cap is currently restricting clubs spending.

What would be the impact on SL if for instance SBW signed for a SL club.Would attendances at all the games he plays in go through the roof.Merchandising sales explode.Would sponsors and TV companies be falling over themselves to have a piece of the pie.Does that benefit all SL clubs and not just the one he signs for.Star players of this quality will pay their own salaries in increased revenues whilst at the same time increasing revenues for other clubs as well.

Its no good just sitting back and accepting a situation without even trying a new approach.

Look at the profile Wire gained when Johns came over for...wait for it...3 games

Agreed.

I reiterate my opening post and stress that I'm advocating a structure, without any concept of a salary cap, that should be left in place long term - which in itself would gradually attract in more funding to the whole game of Rugby League in this country (not just Super League).

It's done Soccer no harm. Of course there will always be clubs (Man Utd, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus etc) that will be able to spend more on players than most other clubs in their respective leagues. But so what? That's life.

It's also sport; those clubs are then out there to be challenged. It was a fantastic achievement for Wigan to win the FA Cup - but I venture even sweeter given who they beat in the final.