Forget the debate about whether a salary cap is good or bad for the A-League. The real arm's race has already taken off. It's in the semi-pro ranks of the National Premier Leagues, where competitions in NSW and Victoria in particular are gearing up for day when they might get the chance to join the A-League in their own right. That's what the FFA Cup has done. It's stirred the beast. There's no going back from here.

As the FFA heavies gird their loins for a bitter fight with the A-League owners over how the game's shop window needs to be run, action is speaking a lot louder than words below the waterline. Depending on who you talk to, $1,000-per game payments are fast becoming the norm in NSW and Victoria - and there are some ex-A-League players commanding double that. Not bad for a three-nights-per-week training schedule if you've become a squaddie in the A-League.

"It's crazy," says one leading Sydney-based administrator. "There's no money in winning the league, but a lot of clubs still don't want to be left behind. I'd say the bigger clubs are now spending around $450-500,000 on average on their senior teams. That's three-times the budgets of four or five years ago. The FFA Cup has been the spark. It's got everyone excited again."

There's an assumption it's only the ex-NSL heavyweights - desperate to position themselves at the front of the queue if and when there's a national second division with promotion to the A-League - who are splashing the cash. Not true. Some district/association clubs are known to be matching them in the spending spree. And it's not just the top tier of the NPL system which has opened the chequebook. Four-times Australian champions Marconi Stallions, who have dropped to the second-tier, are rumoured to be the biggest spenders in NSW as they chase promotion. With the reserve teams of Central Coast Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers in their league, even the biggest budget offers the Stallions no guarantees.