KEY POINTS:
The 10 Tasman Trophy franchises yesterday received the rules over the salary cap and the use of imports.
Despite what has been a busy time for the sport with various internationals, the Australian Commonwealth Bank Trophy competition winding up over the weekend and the pending nationals and world championships in New Zealand, Tasman Trophy general manager Tony Holding said good progress was being made with the new competition which will start in April.
The rules on imports are similar to those that existed in the National Bank Cup.
Teams are allowed one import or one player that is not eligible for their national team. Teams can secure a second import subject to approval by an eligibility panel.
Teams now have details of the salary cap. Holding would not reveal the figure which has been set but it is estimated to be $300,000 per team. For squads of 12 it would mean average salaries of $25,000 for the players over the 17-week competition.
The salaries are paid for by the Tasman Trophy joint venture board and will probably be covered somewhat by the money Sky TV and Fox TV paid for the broadcast rights, which was the largest broadcasting deal in the history of netball.
While the Tasman Trophy board pays for salaries and accommodation, the franchises have to find sponsorship to fund stadium costs, player recruitment costs and marketing, which are expected to be in excess of $400,000.
Holding said the next step was to get the participation agreement signed off and secure sponsorship.
The participation agreement is a lengthy document which not only outlines contractual issues for each party, revenue sharing etc, but ties in various other documents such as the rules, how the games will be conducted, salary caps and the use of imports.
Once that is finalised, the teams will be able move their attention to signing up sponsors, players, management and announcing venues and team names.
"Are we where we'd like to be? I would say yes," Holding said of his progress after just seven weeks in the job.
"Once the teams can get on with doing what they do, they have all done it before. Every year they put a team together, every year they recruit a coach, every year they go and raise sponsorship.
"There is nothing stopping them from getting on and doing that anyway."
Tasman trophy update
* The semi-professional netball competition, which involves five teams from New Zealand and five from Australia, will start in April next year.
* Six of the 10 teams have already appointed coaches. Most are in the process of setting up boards and internal structures.
* The New Zealand franchises have agreed not to approach players until next month.
* A salary cap has been set.
* Rules on imports have been laid down.
* The participation agreement, the binding document between the Tasman Trophy joint venture board (the organisation, owned by Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand, that will run the competition) and the 10 franchises, is close to being finalised.
