I heard their owner speaking on radio a week or two ago, sounded fairly switched on. I think he said there was a loophole on the ESL whereby rugby converts were exempt from the cap. So not really likely to poach one of the top NRL men.
I'm not 100% about being exempt for the whole length of their contract but here's a list of the esl cap dispensations:
The key dispensations are:
-
Marquee Player – Each Super League and Championship Club is permitted to have
two Marquee Players whose Salary Cap Value is limited to £150,000 (or £75,000 if Club Trained).
-
Club Trained Dispensation – Each Super League Club is given up to £100,000 of dispensation for producing Super League standard players.
-
Player Welfare Dispensation – Each Super League Club that achieves the player welfare target is given a £15,000 dispensation.
-
New Talent Pool Dispensation – Any Player who has not previously played Rugby League is given a value of £0 in the first year of his contract and at 50% of his true value in the second year.
-
Returning Talent Pool Dispensation – Any Player who has not previously played Rugby League in the 5 years prior to signing is given a value of 50% of his true value in the first year of his contract and 75% of his true value in the second year.
-
International Bonuses – Bonuses paid for international representation are excluded up to specified maximums.
-
Educational Fees paid directly by Clubs are excluded.
-
Prize Money – Payments made out of prize money are excluded.
The club trained dispensation wouldn't be a bad one for the nrl. Helps clubs like Manly with the Trbojevic family and Parker, and means the roosters can go and get stuffed.
Also (in general and said above) SBW was signed on for much more than his playing ability. He's been given a truck load of cash and an ownership share based on his global marketing pull. Toronto need to survive the big show and not be reduced to selling raffle tickets for survival as is unfortunately happening in some long time struggling clubs.
Pretty much by themselves they are forging the interest in Nth America and there's not much respite for their efforts with moves underway for a second and third Nth American team in New York (which is a state
and a city you guys) and Canada's capital, Ottawa.
The marquee player rule is not a new one, just owners haven't really gone all out in using them (understandably) in the past.
I don't think sbw is going to get 5 tries per match giving Toronto a super league title next year but even the signing has gotten League so much coverage on major sports news organisations so far that his salary is starting to pay for itself.
We're also up against sports who stars routinely get paid 5, 10 and even 15+ million dollars a year! As awesome a game league is, it's a tiny tiny tiny drop in the world sports money bucket.
On that note, happy
21st birthday NHL player Elias Petterson who is in the middle of a three year
11.3 million dollar contract.
And 22 year old Conner McDavid who is in the second year of an 8 year
100 million dollar contract!!! (Additionally, they are allowed to sell products and generally market themselves).
But if I'm travelling to Mars, I'd rather fly in a spacecraft built by the best, not by the companies who bid the lowest.
wwos.nine.com.au
