Money in Superleague

cfitz

I follow the Irish Men's Superleague a little bit and I was wondering does anyone here know what kind of money is involved?

What kind of money do the non-EU players make? Are they expected to do much promotional work etc.? Do they get accommodation etc. as part of their wage?

Do many of the Irish players get paid? All of them? Is it a full wage or would they have supplemental jobs?

Would each team have some full-time staff - fully paid coaches, marketing directors etc.?

Kinetic^

From what I heard back when I was playing in the SL, top players could earn about a €1000 a week between playing and coaching. That might not seem much for a professional but most of the top new players that come through only use Ireland as a launch pad for their career. Accommodation is generally paid for also. The coaching is seen as promo work and also funds the team.

I can't really speak for the Irish players and what they get paid as I've no clue. Most of them would have full time jobs though or are in college.

Not a clue really about staff either tbh. Of course the coach is gonna be paid but after that I doubt there's many paid staff.

phil

In general the benefits depend on the club, but most players would have their accommodation taken care of. In terms of cash, I don't think any player in Ireland brings in 1k a week from playing/coaching. It's true that coaching can bring in a certain amount of money, but I doubt it's anywhere close to that amount. I know some contracts would have a required coaching element to it that helps fund the players anyway.

Bearing in mind that I don't know the details of anyones contract specifically, but my brother plays abroad where there's more money available and even the top Americans on his team wouldn't bring in that. From talking to people, it would suggest that there was a lot more money in previous years to pump into paying Americans than is available now.

None of the Irish players get paid (at least to my knowledge). The clubs struggle to pay the nominated professional players from what I know. I know plenty of players who aren't even expensed for travel etc. For anyone in the basketball community this isn't unusual, but if you play other codes of sport (rugby, GAA) it would be unheard of for most clubs not to pay expenses for travel.

There are teams without full time staff. Some teams have professional coaches and some do not.

The general rule is that Superleague clubs are run off shoe-string budgets. Whatever can be done to save costs is done.

Plenty of the clubs, are run committee style with people volunteering their time where the PRO (we voted for Johnny cause he has the good handwritin') is normally the marketing director

Kinetic^

phil wrote: »

I don't think any player in Ireland brings in 1k a week from playing/coaching.

Very easy to bring in that amount if the players are willing to work. If they take 1 class per hour, 2 euro per kid. That's 60 euro per hour. Granted the club takes a probably half that. If they're doing 5 hours a day for 4-5 days a week, pretty easy. I can't remember his name but it was the guy who played for Limerick a few years ago that was on that amount, Cleotis.

cfitz

Thanks lads, that's my questions answered very well. I was just trying to get an idea of the level of professionalism and I suppose where it lies in comparison to other sports in Ireland.

Just to get to one thing that was mentioned in the previous post though - I would say (outside of Dublin anyway), it is very rare for club players in GAA to get regular expenses paid by their club. That said, county teams are the top level in GAA so maybe that's where the comparisons should be made.

From what I've learned on this thread, I would say that the Basketball Ireland website does quite a good job of making the Superleague look glamorous.

The Hulkster

I play for UCD , and it is FARRRR from glamorous !!

cfitz

From a spectators point of you I don't think it's too bad at all. Basketball is a naturally glamorous/attractive sport because of the skills involved. The American players add a lot of style, I think without them it would have a lot less to offer (maybe I just don't appreciate the finer points of the game ).

The teams generally seem to have modern kits and all. I haven't been to many of the arenas, so maybe it falls down on the glamour there? But that guy who does MC in the Arena in Tallaght is a legend!

Fair enough, it's not the NBA but it could be a lot worse!

phil

Kinetic, it's possible, but I'd be very careful of believing what players are telling you. I've caught more than one person out in my time out on what they earn, especially sports players. They do have a shedload of free time though. Either way, the idea of a "professional" player is that they are paid for performance. i.e. that player is neither guaranteed that money from coaching nor is it negotiable. Also, if they take 300 euros a week from playing and 700 euros a week from coaching are they a full time player or a full time coach and a part time player?

I'm not trying to be pedantic here, but when you discuss the opportunities as they relate to players then yes that coaching money is relevant. (i.e. what you'd tell a professional when they're coming to the country to play). When you discuss the professionalism of a sport, what the players can earn on the side is irrelevant.

cfitz, I think it depends from club to club, but I know for a fact that plenty of football clubs pay expenses to players at all levels (junior to senior). It depends on the policy of the club and by the very parochial nature of club football, players tend not to have to travel far to games. It wouldn't be uncommon for Superleague players to be up and down the country for a few weeks from Belfast to Cork. I'm not trying to suggest no Superleague club compensates the players, but certainly some are not able to on a regular basis or to an appropiate level.

County players rarely need to put their hand in their pocket for anything I'll grant you. In terms of professionalism, most top senior football clubs I know would be more professional in terms of their setup than the Superleague clubs I'm familiar with.

That said, the difference in participation (and hence funding) of the two sports is in stark contrast. Basketball past schools levels is very much a minority sport.

The Hulkster

Agreed the game itself is brilliant , fast paced and action packed ..I love playing it and watching it ( ALth my team needs a few new players LOL ) ...... Last year I got to see 2 NBA games in madison square gardens....It was LEGEND....

cfitz

Is there prize money for the top team(s) in the league and cup?

phil

Someone posted on the streetballireland.com forums previously that the prize money for the winners was sub 1k.

I'm nearly sure we got €500, think the winners get €800. Not 100% but its in that region

Kinetic^

phil wrote: »

Kinetic, it's possible, but I'd be very careful of believing what players are telling you. I've caught more than one person out in my time out on what they earn, especially sports players. They do have a shedload of free time though. Either way, the idea of a "professional" player is that they are paid for performance. i.e. that player is neither guaranteed that money from coaching nor is it negotiable. Also, if they take 300 euros a week from playing and 700 euros a week from coaching are they a full time player or a full time coach and a part time player?

Yeah I agree but I wouldn't post if it I thought it wasn't possible and it hadn't come from a good source. I coached a couple of hours a day when I was playing and was getting maybe 250 yoyos a week for that. Now I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that was nothing compared to the Americans. Ask C-mac at training, he was doing it as well with me.

phil

Yeh, I guess if the coaching is there, you can do it. I stand corrected so

Anyway, g'way and play PGR will ya? :P

Judomad

The Hulkster wrote: »

Agreed the game itself is brilliant , fast paced and action packed ..I love playing it and watching it ( ALth my team needs a few new players LOL ) ...... Last year I got to see 2 NBA games in madison square gardens....It was LEGEND....

got to see the celtics whup the heat in miami with me shoutin everytime the C's scored, and i agree the nba and the arenas are LEGEND indeed, would love to go to games more often!!!!1

old boy

beattie taylor was on around 250 per week with limerick a few years ago, americans were put up, bosmans had a job, plus free bed, coaching was about 14 lids an hour, how many hours would you get, money is real scarce in the superleague, not many coaches got paid, high profile maybe, some coaches it costs them,