NPC salary cap finally set

Next season's NPC salary cap will be set at $2 million but a complex range of price tags will be attached to players in an effort to force the bigger unions to trim their squads.

While the $2m will rise in subsequent years, in line with a cost price index, all Super 12 players will carry an added financial burden for unions.

The latest proposal, to be shown to provincial chiefs on Wednesday, assigns a value to every player according to their Super 12 salary and experience. Unions will have to include the assigned value of all Super 12 players on their NPC wage bill, even though Super 12 salaries are paid by the New Zealand Rugby Union [NZRU].

In practice, that means a player who earns, for example, $65,000 from the NZRU for playing in the Super 12, plus $30,000 from his union for playing in the NPC, will be deemed to be adding $95,000 to his province's wage bill.

However the Herald on Sunday has learned that a range of discounts will be on offer to players classified as veterans and current All Blacks. A reduced percentage of these players' salaries will be included on the NPC wage bill.

The NZRU does not want to punish teams for developing All Blacks and also concedes that test players will be available for only a handful of NPC games.

Therefore, while All Blacks are paid anything from $100,000 to $200,000 a season to play Super 12, only a fraction of those costs will count within the cap.

Veterans will be classified as individuals who have played a certain number of games for their province - possibly 50 or more - and again, a smaller percentage of their costs will be included.

Those privy to the detail believe the new deal has been structured in such a way so as the $2m cap equates roughly to what Auckland currently spends on NPC wages. It is hoped that the cap will force the bigger unions to be more selective in their contracting but not have to shed large numbers of players.

The latest proposal has been agreed after extensive negotiations between the NZRU and the Professional Rugby Players' Association.

The NZRU has made it a stated aim to develop a salary cap that would force a more even distribution of players and also curb escalating costs.

Their original proposal was to set the cap at $2.3m next year and then reduce it to $1.7m by 2008. But that would have required Auckland to have cut their costs by $800,000 and Canterbury and Wellington by $500,000 over three years.

The big unions felt that proposal would lead to an overseas exodus. They argued that the smaller unions would not have the funds to pick up the players they would be forced to let go.

Privately, some big unions also felt the initial proposal was unwarranted punishment for the NZRU's decision to increase next season's NPC competition to 14 teams.

Having committed to including 14 teams, the NZRU was compelled to put in place mechanisms to give the new unions some hope of competing. The PRPA also rejected the original salary cap proposal, believing it would force down wages.

Also rejected was a proposal submitted by some of the smaller unions to require players to play in a certain number of NPC games to be eligible for Super 12 selection.

Some players at Canterbury and Auckland struggle to get much game time in the NPC but still earn Super 12 contracts despite spending a lot of time on the bench.

The smaller unions may yet gain one crucial victory because the NZRU may agree to scrap transfer fees to encourage player movements. Currently, fees ranging from $5000 to $125,000 are paid on domestic transfers and unions are restricted to purchasing no more than five domestic players a season.

The cap has been agreed as part of the players' collective bargaining process which is thought to be close to completion. The deal will see players' income linked to NZRU revenue, retainers for all players and improved injury cover and professional development programmes.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY