Forget Mayweather vs McGregor there’s a new super fight in town – NRL v RLPA. The Rugby League Players Association locks horns with the NRL over the pay agreement under the new TV rights deal.

We had to sit and watch the ASHES come under threat when the Australian Cricket Players Association couldn’t resolve their pay dispute. Now Rugby League faces a similar threat as the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) is threatening industrial action.

Part of the new pay deal is a guaranteed fixed revenue share of nearly 30% of projections and a pay rise of approximately 50% over 5 years. To put this in perspective, a minimum contract would appreciate from $80,000 to $120,000 per year.

What the NRL and RLPA can agree on

9.4 million cap. But that’s about it. The players aren’t miffed about the money – well not all of it. The two biggest thorns in their paws seem to be:

The Devil in the Detail

The RLPA has concerns over some of the allocations in player welfare, including retirement concessions and a long serving player allowance. The other foggy area is grass-roots. From the RLPAs perspective, too much money has been allocated to grassroots rugby league and the NRL cannot articulate what the dollars will be spent on.

Access to Information

Under the new deal, players would have to make some personal information available to the NRL like bank statements. Players are arguing this is an invasion of privacy. And that there is no need for the NRL to acquire this information. The NRL sees this as vital to the integrity of the game and sites that this is no different to the expectation on most international athletes.

Industrial Action

So far the RLPA has threatened a boycott of the Dally M ceremonies, corporate and media responsibilities and potentially the biggest blow a boycott of the Rugby League world cup.

The catch 22 of the whole situation is that most of the revenue generated in the game today comes from TV rights. Think about it this way, if players can’t agree and start boycotting events and games participation goes down. Then what incentive is there for media conglomerates to invest in a product that is not expanding. One would hope in a shared model the players are prepared to share in the good and the bad times. And if they want shared revenue they have to have targets in place for growing the game.

by Darrin Seath – contributor