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NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has confirmed the salary cap will be reduced next year but the figure is yet to be finalised.

Newly appointed NRL boss Andrew Abdo has confirmed there will be a reduction in the salary cap next season to account for the financial "hurricane" that has gripped the game.

Already the NRL has begun slashing costs at headquarters with chief operating officer Nick Weeks and chief corporate affairs officer Liz Deegan made redundant on Tuesday.

On Saturday Abdo told ABC Radio the same level of cost cutting needs to apply across the board to reduce expenditure.

Negotiations with the Rugby League Players' Association (RLPA) and clubs are expected to continue over the coming weeks, incorporating a reduction in squad sizes - expected to go from 30 to 28.

Until now, changes to the player payment system had been speculated but not confirmed, but Abdo said they are unavoidable.

"We've been hit by a hurricane, just like other industries and other sports and we've had to stabilise, and to stabilise we've had to think about reduction in revenue and how do we share that?" Abdo said.

"We're reorganising the NRL, reducing expenditure, we're looking at other ways we can save money and of course we're going to have to reduce the player payment pool as well.

"We've been in constant dialogue with the RLPA and hopefully we're close to resolving something in the next couple of weeks.

"The players have been very disciplined this year and the relationship with the players association is strong, we're just trying to work out exactly how much and from which areas of the player payments, what that looks like, and that includes the roster or the structure of the squads.

"We're not going to see massive changes. Clubs have already starting contracting for next season."

As the delicate negotiations continue, clubs have started working towards 28-player squads for 2021, but the uncertainty is impacting roster management.

Without official confirmation clubs are working on the assumption the cap will be dropped by five per cent to $9.5 million.

A final salary cap figure and squad structure are expected to be announced by the end of the regular season, which is three weeks away.

Meanwhile, Adbo said the NRL is hoping to stage three State of Origin games as planned in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane.