David Schuman’s Post

From FCS to FBS: The Referee Pay Surprise Discover the shocking salary jump from FCS to FBS refereeing, where some make $150,000 while others are pulled from everyday jobs. We explore the impact of these pay discrepancies in college football officiating. #CollegeFootball #RefereePay #FBSReferees #SalaryDisparity #FootballOfficiating #SportsIndustry #FCStoFBS #RefereeJourney #SportsPay #FootballInsights

The #EthiopianPremierLeague has issued guidelines regarding the annual salary packages for players. The #EthiopianPremierLeague SC is currently issuing a statement to media members regarding certain decisions made at the 4th Urgent General Assembly." For 2024/25 season, it is decided that a club should not spend more than 52 million Birr on salaries and 5 million Birr on incentives. I believe that while guidelines can be beneficial for regulating spending and promoting sustainability, they should also consider the needs and rights of players, including fair compensation for their skills and contributions to the sport. It would be wise for the league to engage in dialogue with football players and their representatives to address any concerns and ensure that the guidelines are implemented in a fair and equitable manner. #EthiopianFootball #SalaryCap #Football #Business #footballplayers #FIFA

Premier League Looks To Be Closing In On Salary Cap: On Monday, the majority of premier league sides voted to finalise proposals for for a definitive spending limit for wages and transfers that would be linked to the revenue of the league’s poorest club. This system, known as anchoring, will be presented to clubs in June along with a full economic and legal analysis, where a formal vote to approve the plans could also take place. With growing numbers of investors now involved in the sport and weakening demand for live TV right, the game’s organisers have been exploring ways to end the cycle of overspending. UEFA have already introduced new rules barring clubs from spending more than 90% of their revenue on the playing squad, dropping to 80% next season and settling at 70% the season after. Whilst the Professional Footballer’s Association remain ardently against the plan, growing pressures from a multitude of angles perhaps make some form of cap inevitable. #premierleague #costcap #sportsbusiness #sportsfinance #football #sportfinance #footballfinance #uefa #pfa

🚨How Sporting Directors are saving up to £100K per year 🚨👇👇 Signing a non-league player can be a very useful method of managing the B team / U21 wage bill. A 16-20 year old non-league player on a steep upwards trajectory with 30-50 senior appearances will cost £350 - £500 p/w basic salary. This player provides an inexpensive alternative option to a player released from a Cat 1 on a downwards trajectory asking for £1,500 - £2,500 p/w. A non-league player is experienced at senior level, has different experiences away from the academy system and would grab the opportunity of full-time football. If the non-league player fails to break into the first team, it’s a £18,200 - £26,000 p/a loss on investment via the player’s salary. Compare this to a released Cat 1 player on £78,000 - £130,000 p/a. The risk is much smaller on a non-league player and there is potential for a steeper upside. #NLG

TO STRIKE OR NOT TO STRIKE With the increase in the number of matches in European football following the changes in the format of the Champions League, many have argued that the welfare of athletes is being neglected by the relevant Football Associations. Players have been vocal about the fatigue they are subjected to and how they have little time to recuperate. We have seen iconic players like Kevin De Bruyne come out to fault the UEFA Nations league being glorified friendly matches. Even Coaches have been very vocal about the congestion of fixtures. Some football fans, analyst and commentators seem to share an opposite view to the effect footballers are paid a lot of money, travel the world and are idolized by fans. It is therefore not unexpected that some footballers have suggested that players embark on a strike action to express their displeasure with the congestion in fixtures. How feasible is this? Can professional footballers embark on strike action against UEFA and their FA? Like every professionals, footballers can bind together to form their own union through which mechanism they will sought to curb the excesses of their footballer association and clubs. For instance the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales. For instance the start to the 2011–12 Seria A season was delayed due to strike action by players, following a failure of the players' and clubs' respective unions to reach a consensus on a collective bargaining agreement, the strike was however called off after an agreement was reached on 5th September 2011. Players in Spain, England and the United States have also embarked on Strike actions at different times. In May FIFPRO and the World Association of Footballers threatened FIFA with legal on the congestion of matches but FIFA maintained that the footballing scheduled was approved after consultation from the continental confederations, including UEFA. I am of the opinion that FIFA and other regional football governing body ought to pay more attention to the demands of the players in Europe to avoid a sporting catastrophe. Players, even though they are paid handsomely by their clubs and live the best lives; also need to pay attention to their health and career. Congestion of games will lead to fatigue which will result to injuries and ultimately affect the longevity of the careers of professional footballers.

🇺🇸⚽️ A historic collective bargaining agreement (CBA) has been signed in the US between the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and its players association (NWSLPA) which will improve the conditions for women footballers: 🔹 Revenue sharing with players will be linked to prior year sponsorship and media rights agreements and added to each team’s salary cap. The revenue sharing will be on top of the players’ base salaries, ensuring the money goes into the players’ pockets. 🔹 Minimum salary for players will increase and almost double over the coming years, going from $48.500 in 2025 to $82.500 in 2030. 🔹 Competition bonuses for players winning the NWSL Shield or Championship will double. Same with players who make the league’s Best 11. Meanwhile, the bonus for the NWSL MVP will quadruple. 🔹 The NWSL will also abolish the typical US draft system, stating that: “The draft is an antiquated model that empowers teams to decide for players instead of players deciding for themselves. Now, players can choose the team environment that fits their needs and maximizes their opportunities. Teams will need to step up to create environments that appeal to players”. #nwsl #football #soccer

Another continuous vote is set to take place in The Premier League on Monday, a majority of clubs are insisting that there is a hard spending cap added to the new “squad cost” rules that will be brought in from the 2025-26 season. From the concept of “anchoring”, the de facto salary cap means that it limits how much money any club is allowed to invest into their squads by tying it to a multiple of what the lowest earners get from the league’ centralised broadcast and commercial deals. If anchoring was in place last season, there would have been a cap of £518m which is five times the £103.6m that Southampton Football Club earned in centralised revenues. Chelsea Football Club are the only ones in the league who have spent more money on their squad than that (£539m). This is something that is certainly going to be popular from the clubs that are lower in the division as they will be wanting to stop the bigger teams from getting further away from them. However, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) will have a say in this as this could put a limit on how much the clubs will be allowed to pay the players which isn’t based on the employers ability or desire to pay them. #premierleague #pfa #finances #football #sport #chelsea #southampton

Leicester Tigers have been fined £47,000 for a historical breach of Premiership Rugby’s salary cap, in the 2019-20 season. This relates to an overspend of approx. £47,000. The 2019-20 salary cap regulations provide for an ‘overrun tax’ to be payable on overspends of up to £200,000, without any further sanction. Hence, we are not in points deduction territory. However, notably, the club was fined two years ago for exceeding the cap by c.£98,000 during the same period (i.e. 2019-20), as part of a wider sanction covering the period from 2016-2021. This raises the interesting question of how the additional overspend (which does not appear to have been self-reported) was identified, and why it was not previously discovered. However, due to the relatively low value of the breach, which Premiership Rugby has described as a “separate matter”, the full details of the case will not be published. Nevertheless, the breaches have been treated cumulatively for the purposes of calculating the fine (as a tax of £1 for every £1 overspend applies to breaches of £50-150k). Finally, it is worth noting that the applicable regulations only allow the governing body to prosecute breaches up to 5 years ago. Therefore, any breach prior to April 2019 could not now be prosecuted. Let me know what you think. #sportslaw #rugby

Andy Goode makes some very good points here - https://lnkd.in/epRKdHEF The RFU is an organisation that is in desperate need of change. It tries to wear two heads. One for its 3000+ member clubs and one for professional and international rugby. Sadly it does neither very well. The exec board at the top of the RFU seems to operate with impunity. They are unimpressive individuals that are solely interested in filling Twickenham and maintaining the premiership monopoly to the detriment of the rest of the game and their 3000+ member clubs. 10 fiscally unstable Premiership clubs receive £33m a season whilst the rest of the game starves and withers. Rugby likes to promote it's core values of Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship, values that the Exec board seem to be sadly lacking (apart from Enjoying spending their huge pay packets). I've met so many members of RFU staff and they are hardworking, knowledgeable, passionate and determined to improve the game of rugby for EVERYONE. Why are we not seeing these individuals taking the top spots in the sport? The soul and fabric of the RFU appears to be driven by those that believe you must populate the top of the sport with soulless suits who put more time into negotiating their dubious performance related pay than improving the game for everyone at all levels.

https://lnkd.in/dGEgn6Ag Great article on the validity and conditons for Unilateral extension clauses (UEC) in football contracts. 📖 How CAS has been deciding throughout the years about contracts containing this clauses and the importance of the Portmann Criteria (and those added by CAS), that subordinate a first validity exam to a series of criteria: -The potential maximum duration of the employment relationship must not be excessive. -The UEC has to be exercised within an acceptable deadline before the expiry of the current contract. -The original contract has to define the salary raise triggered by the UEC; -The content of the contract must not result in putting one party at the mercy of the other. -The UEC has to be clearly emphasized in the original contract so that the player can have full consciousness of it at the moment of signing. -The extension period should be proportional to the main contract. The fact that these criteria are met does not mean that the clauses are automatically valid and taking into account the possible clashes with the freedom of movement of workers, the lack of FIFA regulation regarding this topic and the complexity of these clauses. Sports courts have had to intervene on a case-by-case basis to determine their validity.