Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin says pay negotiations with Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) are now closed and Hyundai A-League clubs will push on and endorse FFA’s plan to implement the changes contained in the proposed CBA by new regulations.
The recent Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired last Tuesday, with the PFA rejecting the final pay deal following six months of negotiations between them, the FFA and the 10 member clubs of the A-League.
Griffin said the new regulations would be introduced regardless of the PFA’s approval but admitted a CBA could be implemented if the players union’ accepted the terms.
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“The door is closed,” Griffin told AAP.
“The regulations will now be put in place and if the players’ union executives want to say ‘well let’s put it into a CBA instead of regulations’, that will occur.”
The PFA were demanding that 30 per cent of all club revenue be redistributed into a player pool. This includes revenue from box office, membership, sponsorship, hospitality and merchandise.
But Griffin said that request was unrealistic and would affect the long-term sustainability of the A-League competition.
“Three clubs will turn a profit this year, the rest will not,” Griffin said.
“That’s the winter of our discontent, these ongoing statements which assert the game is in this rosy condition, which it’s not.
“What do they want? Do they want to play in a competition or not?”
It’s believed that only two A-League clubs are profitable, while another breaks-even but most are running operational losses in excess of $1 million annually.
A “loyalty player” clause has been implemented, which allows clubs to spend up to $200,000 more outside the salary cap on long-serving players.
