The start of the 2023 NRL season is getting closer with every passing day but the league’s governing body and the Rugby League Players Association remain in a stalemate when it comes to the collective bargaining agreement.
But despite the fact that it was just last February that chairman Peter V’landys boasted about the league being in “the strongest financial position in our history”, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has now given a new interview declaring that “we can’t send the game bankrupt” in CBA negotiations.
The last financial report boasted about the league’s strong financial position, but Abdo is worried about bankruptcy?
According to the 2021 annual report (the 2022 report is due out next month), the league enjoyed a $43.1 million annual surplus and secured a number of long-term broadcast partnerships that promised to yield the highest annual broadcast revenue in the league’s history.
“From 2023 to 2027 NRL broadcast revenue will be over $400 million per annum, the most ever received for broadcast rights, and placing rugby league in the strongest financial position in our history,” said V’landys in the report.
But if the last look at the NRL’s finances showed the league to be in the best position we’ve ever seen, why are they now crying poor when it comes to the CBA?
Abdo says the NRL spent months listening to the players, but the RLPA boss says they’re yet to have an in-person meeting
In a lengthy interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Abdo slammed the assertion that the league hasn’t respected players.
“This argument that the NRL hasn’t prioritised or shown respect to the players is simply not true,” Abdo said.
“We have spent months listening and refining our offers to the RLPA for a new CBA. The RLPA have not shown much movement in their statements of claims over this period. In my view, the prioritisation and compromise has been one-sided. We could shake hands now, and accept every claim being made.”
However, his claim has quickly been refuted by RLPA boss Clint Newton — who says the association is yet to have an in-person meeting with the league to work through individual claims in the bargaining agreement.
“Our board and the players’ expectation is to now get in a room and work through line by line, whether positions are agreed, not agreed and why,” Newton said.
“Why are some of these things not acceptable to the ARLC? Why shouldn’t the players have certain terms and conditions that would be considered in line with other codes or industry-approved best-practice? State it. State your position in a room and why and let’s get into it.”
The NRL is offering money, but seemingly continues to miss the bigger picture that the RLPA is fighting for
The continual butting of heads between the league and the players is a complex and convoluted problem, but to put it simply: the NRL is offering money, but won’t come to the table on the RLPA’s other demands.
So far, the NRL has offered a 22% salary cap increase in the men’s game, and a 153% salary cap increase in the women’s game, with $1.347 billion in total payments to players over the next five years. The NRL also agreed to bumping up the minimum men’s wage from $80,000 to $120,000 (despite the fact that the RLPA requested a minimum of $150,000).
However, the RLPA has repeatedly stated that it’s not just about the salary cap, and is focused on delivering a number of other claims for players including:
- A new medical support fund to ensure players can access financial support for injuries outside of the current 12 month post-retirement window they have for any surgeries or rehab.
- A CBA for the NRLW.
- Better training wages, minimum salaries, contract certainty and transition benefits for the league’s most vulnerable players.
- A new past platers program to help retired players transition into a post-NRL career and life.
- An improved injury hardship fund that accounts for the 10 women’s teams and the introduction of the Redcliffe Dolphins).
- Fair agreement rights to ensure employment terms can’t be changed without players agreeing.
- A fair share of the league’s revenue for players.
The total cost of all of the additional financial entitlements comes in at $200 million worth of funding on top of the salary cap. But while Abdo has confirmed the NRL is open to increasing entitlements, the two parties are butting heads over who should have control over how this funding is spent.
It’s clearly not about the money, but Abdo’s bankruptcy comments further perpetuate that narrative.
From former NRL players like Noel Cleal labelling today’s players as “greedy”, to Daily Telegraph columnist Dean Ritchie suggesting that importing 160 American rugby league players can “save the NRL”, the narrative that the league is somehow the victim in a desperate cash-grab been pushed in abundance.
But despite the fact that all evidence points towards the current state of the CBA crisis being about the finer details that actually protect players, rather than a couple of wads of cash being thrown at the RLPA, the league — and Abdo himself — continue to perpetuate the cash-grab narrative.
