My God!!!! How much money is there in the NH?

[GIGS20]

Premiership salary cap rises

Friday 04th January 2008

The salary cap for the Guinness Premiership will rise to £4m ($7.95m) next season, and will be subject to a number of increased inspection measures to ensure that clubs are adhering to it.

The current cap is £2.25m ($4.48m), although there are flexibilities in place to allow for injuries which can extend that up to £3.4m ($6.77m).

A vote will be taken later in January as to whether to set the £4m figure to encapsulate all of this in one simple sum, also incorporating a normal inflationary rise into the basic cap.

The salary cap in England, introduced nine years ago, has been lauded by most for its principle, under which the Premiership has become the most evenly-contested league in the rugby world.

However, there have been more and more doubts about the strictness of the adherence to its limits by many clubs over the past 12 months, as the influx of foreign World Cup stars has risen.

Among the proposals concerning the new limit is Premier Rugby's intention to create a new administrative department and recruit an official to ensure the enforcement of the cap.

"There is no question that the cap has been a success," a Premier Rugby spokesman told The Guardian on Thursday.

"It has helped create the most hotly contested club competition going and the question was asked at a recent board meeting whether clubs wanted the scheme to continue.

"The answer was a unanimous yes, and there was also agreement that everyone had to stick to the cap.

"Extra resources are being made available to ensure that we are able to properly monitor spending on wages.

"We have had a system in place up to now, but from next season we will be able to investigate more thoroughly than we have been able to before.

"There is no evidence that clubs have overspent in the past, but scrutinising the cap is a job in itself and money will be made available for an appointment to be made."

Story http://www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0,...021375,00.html

That's just ridiculous! One club in the English premiership could fund our ARC with it's player salaries!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Burgs]

Is it how much they do have or how much we don't have!?
I'm convinced that the ARU and SANZAR as businesses aren't doing enough to maximise their product.
Remember the dollars (pounds...) above are in a land where round ball is king, where as in South Africa and New Zealand Union reigns and in two of Australia's states it is number two to League.
Why aren't more of the major Australian companies being attracted across, why aren't they making more out of interest from the US...

[GIGS20]

Chicken Egg there Burgs, but in the long run it means the retirement train to the NH clubs will be more densely populated from now on!

Sux!

[Burgs]

Not if the SH lifts their game, the point I'm making is that there is huge room for increase in SH budgets if they allow there to be and actively get out there with a mission to expand and attract major dollars.
Few could argue that NH Rugby is a better (ie more attractive, therefore easily marketable) product.
Tens of thousands of Australians follow European Football teams and thousands follow American sports.
If SH Union got serious they could capture some of the NH market, even a 10% increase would be huge.
I think the SH has found a glass ceiling and are afraid of a few cuts if they were to smash it to get through.

[GIGS20]

Maybe just increase the salary cap of the teams without changing the marketing strategies. That would make the teams more proactive in marketing themselves, thus improving the profile of the game. SANZAR get the profile lifted without doing any of the dirty work themselves, sounds like exactly the sort of solution SANZAR would jump at.

The risk is of course the NSW would bankrupt the ARU in a season by buying washed up mungos and getting someone else to pay the bill.

[slomo]

the amount of money floating around must come from tv rights and sponsorship as the crowds aren't that great over there , average crowds last season 9,802, up this season to 10,301 the highest attendance in the last two seasons was 18,122 at london irish v's wasps...