CBA unveils salary cap for domestic players
The Shanghai Sharks (in white) play against the Guangzhou Loong Lions during their Chinese Basketball Association preseason match in Anshun, Guizhou Province, on Thursday. The Sharks won 92-84.
The Chinese Basketball Association league will set up a salary cap for domestic players from the 2020-2021 season following a meeting of club investors in Beijing on Thursday.
The league declared in a statement that the move is aimed at curbing the excessively rapid increase in the salaries of domestic players and promoting a sustainable development of the league.
According to the plan unanimously approved by club investors, from the 2020-2021 season, the initial benchmark value of the salary cap will be 36 million yuan (US$5.09 million) for a club, with a buffer value of 12 million yuan, meaning the initial salary cap of a single club should be at least 24 million yuan and 48 million yuan at most.
The league also ruled that from the 2020-2021 season, any newly-signed contract should apply the standard, seeing the maximum salary of a single player not exceeding 25 percent of the season's initial benchmark value of the salary cap, namely 9 million yuan for the season. Any contract exceeding that amount cannot be registered by the league.
The CBA has not established a salary cap for foreign players in a move to encourage more high-quality overseas stars to join the league.
The league also announced that from the 2020-2021 season, one club can increase its registered foreign players up to four, with a maximum of two foreign players submitted in the list before every match.
To improve competitiveness and training quality of domestic players, the CBA ruled that only one foreign player can be on the court at any moment of a match.
