The Ballarat and Central Highlands football leagues will as expected have lower player salary caps for next year.
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BFL clubs will be limited to $100,000 - a cut of $40,000 - under the AFL Victoria allowable player payments program, while the CHFL has been reduced from $105,000 to $85,000.
AFL Goldfields confirmed the new levels on Monday.
The regional body also announced that the Riddell District league had had a similar cut to $85,000, but the Maryborough Castlemaine District league remained at $75,000.
AFL Goldfields regional general manager Gerard Ryan released a statement explaining the move.
"These decreases are reflective of the expected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a community football netball club to raise revenue in 2021 and potentially into 2022 and 2023.
"Of particular importance, these amounts bring each of these leagues to an APP which, if not the same as neighbouring leagues, much closer to the variance that existed in previous seasons.
"In all cases these APP amounts for clubs are the maximum which they are allowed to pay.
"It is certain that in all leagues there will be many clubs which will pay significantly lower than this maximum allowable figure.
"Clubs will make their own decisions within their budget constraints as to what their player payment amount will be," AFL Goldfields stated.
The BFL expressed support for the salary cap reduction next season and beyond as a means of supporting clubs and providing some financial relief.
BFL chairman Adrian Bettio said there was real concern among clubs about being financially viable into next year and beyond.
"This reduced cap, which the league has pushed for, will go a long way to providing some help in budgets. It'll be a more realistic amount under the current circumstances," he said.
Bettio said the new cap would be in line with metropolitan leagues that border the BFL and provide a more equitable playing field in the recruitment of players.
Further discussion is taking place on how player points will be applied for 2021.