NBL and team owners ask players to agree on a 50% pay cut for next season

NBL proposed a 50% pay cut to players due to coronavirus pandemic

Australian NBL players were told in a conference call on Thursday that the league and team owners asked players to agree on the following, or risk being stood down, a league source told Sportando.

– A 50% pay cut (capped at minimum wage).
– No career-ending injury insurance
– No health insurance.
– Development Player wave reduced fro $17K to $15K.

Despite the league won’t be starting in less than five months, NBL is using coronavirus pandemic to ask a reduction of salaries for the players.

The actual Collective Bargaining Agreement states the following:

Minimum salaries for players will be set at $55,000 – an increase of 38 per cent since 2016;
Development Players will receive a minimum salary for the first time, set at $17,000 for the NBL Season;
The salary cap for each club will increase from $1.1 million in 2016 to $1.43 million in 2019/20;
Increased support from the NBL and Clubs for the ABPA Player Development Program which will provide players with a range of programs including access to mental health support, education grants and assistance in career transition
Clubs will provide health insurance for all players and there will be improved salary protection for injured players; and
More players will have the flexibility to play in other leagues at the completion of the Hungry Jack’s NBL season, enabling greater earning capacity and continued development

Sportando reached out to NBL owner Larry Kestelman asking about the report.

“What we are doing is seeing how we can look after our players during this terrible time around the world” he said. “10s of Millions of people have been stood down and we believe as a league we are in a good position to avoid that. We are having productive conversations with the Players association and confident we will find common ground. It’s a tough time for all, but by working together we will come out the other end strong. We are still confident we will get our season away as have 6 months to get through this and feel lucky we are in our off season” Kestelman added.