Depends if the league gets more income (obviously)

Anonymous that is stupid. Drop the cap, so make the league shit but more teams? do you even read what you write?The caps fine where it is for now, and if a team cant keep up with it, it folds... what of it? sometimes the runt of the litter dies... survival of the fittest. i would rather 8 solid teams then 12 filled with duds.

I don't think it needs to be lowered or raised. The current crop of Imports are impressive and there are still plenty of decent locals coming through the ranks. I do think the points system needs a review. I like that it levels the field somewhat but I do feel that players ratings should be reviewable each season and players should be able to protest them easily and there should be good reward for club loyalty allowing veterans to be retained without massively effecting their teams rosters just because they had a decent season 3-4 years ago.

If a majority of teams are losing money, then it's very possible that players are getting paid too much.

Mystro, ratings are reviewed, players can protest them (especially if it's keeping them out of work) and they only factor in the past two seasons.

Im for a slightly reduced cap and more teams. Until the vast majority of teams are around break even point, or the league generates significant broadcast revenue etc, the cap shouldnt go up.

Redhage's rating will drop as his performance drops. It's done on a two year basis so if Redhage keeps going as he is this year he might even be an 8 next year.

The article mentioned the points system is harsh on old blokes, but Saville, Campbell, Hoare, Bruton and Boucher have/are all playing out their careers without any hindrance from the points cap.

I don't know what the financial position of the NBL and its clubs is, but if it isn't dire, I'd just hold off making a move for a little while. Audience numbers and ways of accessing NBL content are heading in the right direction. So just wait, personally I think the NBL is on the rise, so I think the next move could be to increase the salary cap, rather than tighten it. It should be that snowball effect once the league starts making money and the cap goes up.

If a team wants to take a gamble on a bunch of kids and they turn out to be good I think they should be awarded for taking the gamble. I still think Imports should be 10 point players first season and the rated accordingly based on their performance in the NBL.

Maybe give clubs a share of the TV deal and let them direct that towards the salary cap. i.e., if the share of TV deal for each club is $50,000, that gets put to the salary cap for the season. If the TV deal goes away, so does that part of the cap. That directly links commercial performance and profitability of the NBL product to remuneration of players.

Mystro, imports ARE re-rated after their first season. A couple from last year were 6-7 points.

PeterJohn. You cannot build long term player contracts around that concept.

"I'll pay you $135,000 pa for 3 years, but in years 2 and 3 it will only be $115,000 if the league loses their TV deal."

Player is not going to sign that....

You will find the players association will block any move the NBL commission makes to reduce the cap.

marquee player concept needs to be brought in- that way teams that can afford it can pay one import big money outside the cap, also an aussie marquee player concept should be introduced, that way allowing the league to entice aussie players to comeback!

then it becomes like the NBA where the dicks from L.A (Sydney/Melbourne) spend bundles of cash on titles and the smaller market teams just make up the numbers. Teams can sign a marquee player now, they just can't stack the rest of the team around them and there are plenty of good players in the league currently.

New Zealand could then afford to have Jackson and Penney, Abercrombie, Vukona and Pledger start. Think they wouldn't win a title with that 5?

HO - this may be wrong but I thought that AFL & NBA players' associations negotiate a share of TV rights as part of their salary negotiations. Wasn't the NBA lockout about that? How do they manage around the long term contract issue?

Or is the point really that NBL is not in the same situation as those other leagues? That is, it's not strong enough to give players comfort that there will be a continuing revenue stream from TV?