Cheree Kinnear explains the key points in the Silver Lake buy-in.
New Zealand Rugby and the Players' Association continue to butt heads over how the income from the Silver Lake deal will be reflected in player pay.
A disagreement between the two parties is the major sticking point in the deal proceeding after it was unanimously voted for by the 26provincial unions earlier this week. The deal cannot proceed without the blessing of the NZRPA
Speaking to Newstalk ZB's Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford, NZRPA president David Kirk outlined the concerns of the association.
"The players are not asking for anything more than they currently have. It's really important to make that clear," Kirk said.
"There's a mediation going on with New Zealand Rugby, and the players are not asking for any additional money in terms of the percentage of player-generated revenue that they take.
"There's been a long-standing agreement and understanding between New Zealand Rugby and the players about what percentage of money needs to be set aside for the players, to keep our best players in New Zealand... no one's proposing any change to that.
"What's changed is that because New Zealand Rugby is selling 12.5 per cent of their revenue, because that makes the game unprofitable, New Zealand Rugby are looking to reduce the player's share significantly in order to pay for, what we think, is a bad deal."
David Kirk (left) and Brent Impey (right) disagree. Photos / Photosport
In a later interview with Barnett and Gifford, NZR chairman Brent Impey hit out at what he called Kirk's use of "selective information."
"He said to you that the players aren't wanting more money, they're wanting to retain the same percentage. The percentage is the thing that, of the new money, they get over 40 per cent of the new money, which is the very reason New Zealand Rugby becomes unprofitable. It becomes unprofitable because it is about the money. It's disingenuous really. David is using very selective information.
"The only reason NZR becomes unprofitable is because the players want to retain the same percentage and that means there's not enough money to go into the community game.
"That's where the problem is. The important point that David Kirk made to you...he said 'we're just looking for the same percentage, not after more money'. That's nonsense, because the percentage is of a much larger pot.
"We're all agreed the players should receive more money, no question about that, and that the players should get a fair share, but...every time a contract comes around you negotiate an amount based on the pay, you don't keep the same percentage of the total revenue, and that's what David is really saying. It's a fallacy in his argument; it's fundamentally flawed."
NZ Rugby and the Players' Association powerbrokers have held seven mediation sessions over the past three weeks, without making significant progress on their opposing views on a potentially landmark Silver Lake deal.
Talks are expected to resume between the two parties to try resolve the deadlock in the coming weeks.
