"Relationships with the game have been tested and I know that has been a bit of a turn off for fans," he said.
"Both parties acknowledge and regret that. We are restoring certainty and beginning to repair relationships, especially with the fans.
"We want the focus to be back on the cricket."
Players will get up to 30 per cent of revenue - around $500m in the five-year period covered by the agreement.
CA and the ACA quarrelled throughout the year over a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Some 230 players were unemployed since the previous deal expired on June 30, with the most-divisive issue during the oft-heated stoush that of revenue sharing.
CA wanted to scrap the salary model that had governed players' salaries since the first MoU was brokered 20 years ago but players insisted it remained - it does.
"These agreements ... are complex and important to both parties," Sutherland said.
"So it's understandable at times they will be difficult."
The Test squad will assemble in Darwin next week for a training camp, with captain Steve Smith and his teammates flying out on August 18 for a two-Test series in Bangladesh.
It was feared that tour, the ensuing trip to India and the Ashes series could be affected by the saga.
Players took the unprecedented step of boycotting an Australia A tour last month and were prepared to take the same action for the Bangladesh series.
The relationship between administrators and players in Australia hasn't been as strained since the World Series Cricket revolution 40 years ago.
Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson said recently it would take time for trust to be restored.
