The whole player contracting system is wrong.

[Mego Red]

Proposed new system.

1. A player gets drafted. Initial two-year contract. Salary tied to draft position.
2. End of contract 1. Club option to renew for contract 2. Player gets automatic 200% pay increase.
3. Contracts 3 & 4. Player is restricted free agent.
4. All contracts from that point on, player is unrestricted free agent.

No compensation if a player is signed as a free agent.

I think the problem that needs to be solved is obvious - players such as Tippett acting as if they're free agents. We need to resolve that, while also acknowledging they're not contracted and have some rights.

 

[raffrox]

So after their first contract, in theory Chris Judd and Ashley Sampi would have got the same contract in your system?

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Hilarity

 

[Mego Red]

So after their first contract, in theory Chris Judd and Ashley Sampi would have got the same contract in your system?

No - you're ignoring player payments for games played, plus any bonuses for B&F finishes, etc.

Clearly Judd would earn more - but where he really earns is not in his third year (by when he's maybe played 30 games) but after his fourth year, when he has really demonstrated his value and can measure it in the market.

 

[Mego Red]

Hilarity

Why?

It is a standard structure in sports such as the NBA. Don't be ignorant.

Clearly we can't have a system when Gunston and Jacobs can hold their clubs to ransom. We have a system with implied free agency at the end of each contract. It is clumsy and amateur.

 

[IanW]

Kristof,

The problem is that, when faced with a plaintiff, a judge will almost certainly agree that, yes, the AFL's draft, salary cap and trading system is an illegal restraint of trade that needs to be stopped.

Avoiding any player becoming sufficiently upset to take it to court and make this happen is a major concern of the AFL and the AFLPA, because open slather will be bad for the AFL in the long term.

This means clubs need to deal with the fact that they need to be prepared to abuse the existing system to prosper from it - so Adelaide need to grow a set and be prepared to put Tippett in the pre-season draft, or Sydney will bend them over a barrel.

 

[SaintsManMat]

Why?

It is a standard structure in sports such as the NBA. Don't be ignorant.

Clearly we can't have a system when Gunston and Jacobs can hold their clubs to ransom.

Do you understand the NBA draft/contract system? Players do not get an automatic 200% increase

There is a sliding pay scale for first rounders (ie: 1st pick gets $2.5mil, 2nd gets $2.3 for example first year) all the way down to pick 30, with increases each season (not 200% though)

Each player is signed to a 4 year contract with the final 2 being "team options" so if the player isnt working out the team can release them, or can continue their contract for the next seasons bringing them out to the end of their 4 year rookie contract, at the end of that they are restricted free agents, where the team they currently play for can match any offer.

It is nothing like what you are suggesting

Also, any player drafted in the 2nd round or not drafted can sign any contract they like, and undrafted players are automatically free agents

 

[IanW]

Why?

It is a standard structure in sports such as the NBA. Don't be ignorant.

Clearly we can't have a system when Gunston and Jacobs can hold their clubs to ransom. We have a system with implied free agency at the end of each contract. It is clumsy and amateur.

You complain about a system where players "can hold their clubs to ransom" and then you use the NBA as an example !?

Go read this, and being to solve your frightening level of ignorance of how different leagues solve this common dilemna.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8486795/the-harden-dilemma

 

[SaintsManMat]

Kristof,

The problem is that, when faced with a plaintiff, a judge will almost certainly agree that, yes, the AFL's draft, salary cap and trading system is an illegal restraint of trade that needs to be stopped.

Avoiding any player becoming sufficiently upset to take it to court and make this happen is a major concern of the AFL and the AFLPA, because open slather will be bad for the AFL in the long term.

This means clubs need to deal with the fact that they need to be prepared to abuse the existing system to prosper from it - so Adelaide need to grow a set and be prepared to put Tippett in the pre-season draft, or Sydney will bend them over a barrel.

How is it restraint of trade?

The players are employees of the AFL, not individual clubs

If you work for say BHP as an example. They can have in their structure that each division (team) can not pay their employees over a certain amount (salary cap). They can tell you they are moving you to another site (team/trade) and if you dont like it you can find employment somewhere else which the players can do.

I dont see how its restraint of trade?

 

[Mego Red]

Do you understand the NBA draft/contract system? Players do not get an automatic 200% increase

There is a sliding pay scale for first rounders (ie: 1st pick gets $2.5mil, 2nd gets $2.3 for example first year) all the way down to pick 30, with increases each season (not 200% though)

Each player is signed to a 4 year contract with the final 2 being "team options" so if the player isnt working out the team can release them, or can continue their contract for the next seasons bringing them out to the end of their 4 year rookie contract, at the end of that they are restricted free agents, where the team they currently play for can match any offer.

It is nothing like what you are suggesting

Also, any player drafted in the 2nd round or not drafted can sign any contract they like, and undrafted players are automatically free agents

Don't be dumb.

If I wanted to say "let's just do exactly what the NBA does" I would have said that. I would rate my understanding of the NBA contracting system next to anyone short of Larry Coon.

I instead proposed something that isn't dissimilar from what we currently do, where the majority of draft picks get a two year contract. In this system, it locks in a contract based on a sliding scale and a clear system of how that contract could be extended for a second term.

Hey, I'm not saying my proposal is ideal. But the current system is broken and archaic and there has to be a different system.

 

[Mego Red]

You complain about a system where players "can hold their clubs to ransom" and then you use the NBA as an example !?

Go read this, and being to solve your frightening level of ignorance of how different leagues solve this common dilemna.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8486795/the-harden-dilemma

Wow! A Grantland link! Well done - you've quoted one of the most read sports websites in existence, so the one person out there who doesn't read it must be much better informed!

Weak effort. We've obviously modeled much of what we do on the NBA. Except we now have a broken system because we've dipped our toes into free agency without overhauling our entire system.

 

[BABYBOMBERS2007]

Why do people want to change things all the time.

 

[Mego Red]

"Restraint of trade" is an opinion straight out of 1994 that no one in the AFL actually thinks has any grounds.

 

[Sharks On A Plane]

Would read again.

 

[IanW]

"Restraint of trade" is an opinion straight out of 1994 that no one in the AFL actually thinks has any grounds.

Go talk to a lawyer about that one. In reality, it's grey. Me, I think an aggrieved player would win our very own Bosman case, but its grey.

Putting more restraints on players, like you want to do, will make it less grey.

The system works. It worked with Clark. It worked with Wellingham. It worked with Dawes.

Just because Adelaide are bad at this stuff doesnt mean it needs to change.

And if you're going to quote other codes, then fer chrissake find out how they work first - the NBA is absolutely *rotten* with players going to where they want to go, contract or no contract.

As it is, you're just complaining because your club doesnt know how to use the existing system, so you whine about it here.

 

[Mego Red]

No, I think our system is wrong.

Restraint of trade has been kicked about since before Chalmers, but no one thinks in practice it would hold up. Th SANFL explored elements of it alongside their player retention scheme in the 80s when they were looking into the legality of players from ther league being drafted, but nothing has ever gotten anywhere and probably wouldn't. Contemporary agreements signed by players cover it comfortably.

That being said, my point is that the AFLs refusal to make things tangible, whether it is player rights at the end of contracts, the values of compensation picks, free agency or whatever is just amateur hour.

 

[Oh Darling]

LOL @ Adelaide people. This is what Sth Australian "idea's" have brought to our game.

1. Red point posts.... WHY

2. First 3 seconds of the video say it all. A siren that sounds like the horn of a 1981 Morris Minor which couldn't be heard in most games.




3. 2 premiership points for a win and a percentage system where you can score almost double your opponent yet only have a percentage of 63%???

4. Here is the best idea of the lot. Put a massive concrete bounce pad in the middle of the ground for the umpires to bounce on and Shaun Rehn to almost ruin his career on. What could possibly go wrong there?

I don't think we should be entertaining any ideas coming out of Adelaide.

 

[Ants]

Wow! A Grantland link! Well done - you've quoted one of the most read sports websites in existence, so the one person out there who doesn't read it must be much better informed!

Weak effort. We've obviously modeled much of what we do on the NBA. Except we now have a broken system because we've dipped our toes into free agency without overhauling our entire system.

Except the new free agency doesn't impact the players you're complaining about at all.

 

[Messenger]

You complain about a system where players "can hold their clubs to ransom" and then you use the NBA as an example !?

Go read this, and being to solve your frightening level of ignorance of how different leagues solve this common dilemna.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8486795/the-harden-dilemma

The Harden situation isn't about a player holding his team to ransom; it's about a small market team not wanting to pay a punitive luxury tax