A-LEAGUE players may have to wait for much longer than normal to be offered new terms as clubs wait on a potential bonanza from a new TV deal.

Despite a swath of players coming off contract at the end of the season, and permitted to talk to other clubs in three weeks’ time, club officials have warned that new deals for the majority will be difficult to formulate until the new broadcast deal is struck.

It’s expected that the grant distributed to each club — currently $2.5m per year — will rise substantially, with players guaranteed to receive 30 per cent of any increase secured by Football Federation Australia from its broadcast partners from next season. But until exactly what that increase is known — and what the salary cap then rises by — players are being warned that contract talks for many will be put on hold until deep into this season.

It’s believed that under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, next year’s salary cap will rise from $2.55m to at least $2.8m — but could climb as high as $3.1m depending on what sort of deal FFA secures, most likely from a combined contract struck with Fox Sports and a free-to-air station.

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media_camera Sydney FC skipper Alex Brosque is one of 13 Sydney FC free agents. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Under the CBA formula, part of the increase will be spent on player development programs, and the rest on expanding the cap. But clubs are expecting that the other 70 per cent of the increased broadcast revenue is in part given to them on top of any increases in player payments.

In theory clubs could offer deals to players now with a built-in agreed percentage increase dependent on a new broadcast deal — but club CEOs are also keen to keep some discretionary spending, to allow for extra signings.

The number of players off contract varies from 18 at the Mariners, 14 at Sydney and 10 at Newcastle. Sydney FC, who declined to comment on their renegotiations with players, are likely to face increased demands across the board if their blistering start to the new season continues.

“It’s definitely a game of wait and see at the moment,” said Mariners chief executive Shaun Mielekamp. “It doesn’t help that we’re very early on in our journey with Paul Okon as head coach, but there’a lot of uncertainty over how much money we’ll have next season.

media_camera Bernie Ibini is eligible to host talks with rivals clubs in three weeks.

“Our owner Mike Charlesworth has been very open about the fact that we could go from operating at the floor of the cap to its maximum, depending on how much the grant increases by. In our situation, we’re strongly hoping that there is a gap between the central grant we get from FFA and the amount mandated on the cap, so we can cover more of our running costs.”

Jets boss Lawrie McKinna has been asked by players what would happen if they signed deals before the new broadcast agreement is struck. “We’re having meetings next week with the coaching staff about which players we might be looking at pursuing at other clubs, but it’s difficult when none of us know the bottom line,” he said.

“I just had a player come to me about extending his contract, and I told him that hopefully we’ll have more money to play with next season but we don’t know how much.”

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