Australian players have been advised by the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) not to sign new Big Bash League contracts or enter in any contract negotiations with their states until there is a solution to the bargaining agreements that broke down before Christmas.
Certain BBL franchises have sent players "letters of offer" for new BBL deals beginning next year, but player managers have told The Australian they didn't know of any player to have accepted a new contract yet.
The ACA wants the pay deal finalised first before they give players the go ahead to sign new deals, as both the ACA and Cricket Australia look to get a deal in place before the cut-off date which is fast approaching with the tour of India and Champions Trophy to come in recent months.
The BBL is a very important part of the new agreement, as The Australian has revealed that CA want to cap payments to Sheffield Shield players, saying their pay packets are already quite generous and are directing players who are after the money to seek BBL deals.
“Combined payments for domestic men playing state and BBL cricket should increase at a sustainable rate,” CA’s confidential submission states.
“The increase should be driven by BBL payments, as state men’s retainers have already grown by over 50 per cent in the last four years.
“Given the $234k average payments for domestic men in 2016-17, maintaining a revenue share model that provides additional income beyond domestic men’s payments would compromise resource allocation to other areas of Australian cricket.”
As well as other new conditions, Cricket Australia are also looking to open up the marketing pool to all cricketers, up from just international males and three females.
The pool is the amount of money in which players are paid from when they are directly involved in promotions for Cricket Australia.
