Salary cap on its way?

[kursaal]

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin hopes a salary cap can be introduced in European football, and says all clubs agree on the topic.

Ceferin said he had spoken to the European Commission about the issue and talks had taken place about bringing in such a measure.

"Surprisingly, everyone agrees," he told US media outlet Men In Blazers.

"Big clubs, small clubs, state-owned clubs, billionaire-owned clubs, everybody agrees."

Fifa president Gianni Infantino spoke about the possibility of a salary cap in football in March and the topic is also on the radar of European football's governing body.

"In the future we have to seriously think about a salary cap," said Ceferin. "If the budgets go sky-high then our competitive balance is a problem.

"It's not about the owners, it's about the value of the competition, because if five clubs will always win then it doesn't make sense any more.

"But it has to be a collective agreement - every league and Uefa. Because if we do it and the other leagues don't, then it doesn't make sense.

"I hope it can be made as soon as possible.

"For now, we have the new rule after 2024 that you can spend up to 70% of your revenues for salaries and transfers, but that's not enough because if your revenues are five billion, 70% is quite a lot.

"So this is the future here, and I'm not afraid of the club owners being too powerful or anything. Uefa is leading the European competition and we have great relations with the European Club Association now."

 

[allatsea]

Won't work. Far too many ways around a salary cap.

 

[littlewilly]

Won't work. Far too many ways around a salary cap.

Salary caps are used by the following major sports leagues around the world:

• North America
  • The National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Major League Rugby, North American Rugby League, Canadian Football League, National Lacrosse League, Women's National Basketball Association, National Women's Soccer League, Premier Hockey Federation, and minor leagues in various sports.
  • The National Basketball Association uses a soft cap plus luxury tax system, while Major League Baseball has no salary cap and instead implements a luxury tax only.
• United Kingdom:
  • In England, the top-level leagues in both rugby codes—the Gallagher Premiership in rugby union and the Super League in rugby league—have salary caps.
  • The four Welsh regional sides in the rugby union competition now known as the United Rugby Championship unilaterally adopted a salary cap effective with the 2012–13 season.
• Australia and New Zealand: Most major leagues operating in the two countries have salary cap provisions:
  • The Australian Football League (Australian rules football), which operates only in Australia. The AFL Women's league, operated by the (men's) AFL, is also capped.
  • The National Rugby League (rugby league), A-League Men (association football) and National Basketball League, each of which is based in Australia but has one team in New Zealand.
  • The countries' national netball leagues—Suncorp Super Netball in Australia and the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand—are capped. The trans-Tasman predecessor to both leagues, the ANZ Championship, was also capped.
  • In rugby union, New Zealand's top domestic competition, the National Provincial Championship, is capped. In addition, the Australian teams in the Super Rugby competition operate under a unilaterally adopted cap. New Zealand's Super Rugby sides are not subject to a team cap, but are subject to caps and floors on individual player salaries. During the period in which Argentine, Japanese, and South African sides participated in Super Rugby, teams from those countries were not subject to caps, but South Africa did have caps and floors on individual player salaries. It is unknown at present what limits South African sides are subject to in the United Rugby Championship.

Please explain how they don't work.

 

[allatsea]

Salary caps are used by the following major sports leagues around the world:

• North America
  • The National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Major League Rugby, North American Rugby League, Canadian Football League, National Lacrosse League, Women's National Basketball Association, National Women's Soccer League, Premier Hockey Federation, and minor leagues in various sports.
  • The National Basketball Association uses a soft cap plus luxury tax system, while Major League Baseball has no salary cap and instead implements a luxury tax only.
• United Kingdom:
  • In England, the top-level leagues in both rugby codes—the Gallagher Premiership in rugby union and the Super League in rugby league—have salary caps.
  • The four Welsh regional sides in the rugby union competition now known as the United Rugby Championship unilaterally adopted a salary cap effective with the 2012–13 season.
• Australia and New Zealand: Most major leagues operating in the two countries have salary cap provisions:
  • The Australian Football League (Australian rules football), which operates only in Australia. The AFL Women's league, operated by the (men's) AFL, is also capped.
  • The National Rugby League (rugby league), A-League Men (association football) and National Basketball League, each of which is based in Australia but has one team in New Zealand.
  • The countries' national netball leagues—Suncorp Super Netball in Australia and the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand—are capped. The trans-Tasman predecessor to both leagues, the ANZ Championship, was also capped.
  • In rugby union, New Zealand's top domestic competition, the National Provincial Championship, is capped. In addition, the Australian teams in the Super Rugby competition operate under a unilaterally adopted cap. New Zealand's Super Rugby sides are not subject to a team cap, but are subject to caps and floors on individual player salaries. During the period in which Argentine, Japanese, and South African sides participated in Super Rugby, teams from those countries were not subject to caps, but South Africa did have caps and floors on individual player salaries. It is unknown at present what limits South African sides are subject to in the United Rugby Championship.

Please explain how they don't work.

Because of the Agents currently working in football and how they use the system, and the Oil rich clubs who will find ways to make themselves more attractive to the top players by paying them money outside their contracts.

 

[brasil_spur]

Presumably signing bonuses will become a much bigger thing. Salary is capped at £100k per week, but signing bonus over 4 year contract works out at another £300k per week. And signing bonus is paid weekly over the term not in a lump sum up front.

 

[Rob]

It’ll just lead to “brand ambassadors” on £m contracts for the likes of Emirates.

 

[Gb160]

Because of the Agents currently working in football and how they use the system, and the Oil rich clubs who will find ways to make themselves more attractive to the top players by paying them money outside their contracts.

Bingo. AKA Stealth payments. Been happening for a long time already.

 

[GMI]

Because of the Agents currently working in football and how they use the system, and the Oil rich clubs who will find ways to make themselves more attractive to the top players by paying them money outside their contracts.

Isn't that one of the key points that City are being charged with? You would hope, moving forward, there would be a lot more transparency required around this and it being a less viable 'work-around'.

 

[cliff jones]

would be great, but sooo difficult to administer, and lead to a football version of LivGolf

 

[CosmikRoger]

Ok, but if we salary cap the players, the workers, then we should do the same to the owners, invest in the team instead of squirrelling money away from the football .

 

[Dannyspur]

would be great, but sooo difficult to administer, and lead to a football version of LivGolf

They could call it the European Super League - I don’t think anyone is using that name.

 

[Hotspur33]

I’m glad that this has come up. I think the playing field needs to be levelled up desperately. Unfortunately, because of the scale of European football, I really struggle to see how this is governed successfully.
It works in American sports as they are isolated competitions. Trying to govern hundreds of clubs, really tricky.