THE AFL Players' Association remains concerned at the increasing gap between rich and poor clubs and believes structural reform is required to maintain an equalised competition.
The AFLPA says it is still worried about the trend of teams spending more money having more success.
Ahead of an AFL fact-finding trip to the US on the issue, AFLPA chief Matt Finnis said the equalisation of the competition was undermined by structural factors such as historical levels of support, the fixture and geographical location.
Therefore, he believes, structural change is necessary.
He said the competition was sometimes too focused on using player-based restraints, such as the salary cap or the national draft, as the only levers for equalisation.
Finnis said if those levers weren't in place "the competition would need to look at other strategies to ensure the clubs were competing on a level playing field."
However he did admit it wasn't easy for clubs to make money and he respected the view that good management should be rewarded.
Finnis – who will join the trip to the US next week – said the association had an open mind on the potential solutions.
"We haven't hung our hat on a particular solution at this stage," Finnis told AFL.com.au.
He did say that every club should have the capacity to spend 100 per cent of its player payment pool to give it the best chance to achieve on-field success. Some clubs have found that difficult to achieve in recent seasons.
Although the US trip agenda is yet to be set in stone, the delegation will meet with representatives from Major League Baseball, the National Football League and owners of clubs such as the New England Patriots.
The AFL party will convene in New York on Sunday evening.
Those American sports use a draft and salary cap system, but have variations on the model such as soft salary caps, revenue sharing and a luxury tax.
AFL deputy CEO Gillon McLachlan told AFL.com.au a fortnight ago the delegation would look at every option.
"We haven't ruled anything in or out," McLachlan said.
It was recognised after the AFL held a summit on the issue in March that between $15 and $18 million a year was needed to close the revenue gap between competing clubs.
Many of the wealthier clubs have expressed a view that additional revenue options need to be explored rather than limitations being placed on spending.
In the AFL, potential solutions can be lobbed into three baskets – raising additional revenue, expenditure restraints or refining the way the AFL distributes centralised revenue.
The current policies are being executed through the AFL future fund and no significant change would be expected until 2014. However, the discussion was moving closer to solutions being debated as the AFL identified it as a key issue to tackle.
Only eight clubs have competed in preliminary finals in the past five seasons.
Finnis emphasised the League remained in great shape but it was important the competition acted early to ensure that remained the case.
"We're not here to advocate on behalf of clubs that fit into a smaller revenue basket or clubs that fit into a bigger revenue basket," Finnis said.
"Our job is to advocate for a position that places the competition in a position best placed to succeed."
Finnis will also meet with the NFL Player Association later this week ahead of the equalisation discussion. He will discuss revenue sharing, concussion and player development and wellbeing issues.
