Super Netball: Australian netballers sign CPA deal to end pay impasse; players still highest paid in country

Months of nervous waiting and endless delays are finally over for the Super Netball contingent, they are the highest paid female athletes in Australia. but how does it work?

The long-awaited deal is a huge win for netball players who had been in limbo for months.

Netball Australia has successfully negotiated its two-year Covid crisis to deliver a landmark pay deal to Super Netball players.

The collective player agreement (CPA) negotiated between Netball Australia (NA) and the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA), has delivered significant rises to the overall salary cap of teams as well as increases to the average minimum and average maximum player salaries.

Athletes had been sweating on a new deal, with every player in the competition out of contract and clubs unable to sign anyone until the CPA had been ticked off.

The deal, supported by Super Netball’s new broadcast deal with the Foxtel Group, means signings can start within days and Australia’s top netballers will earn up to 22 per cent more and remain the highest-paid female domestic club athletes in the country.

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Overall player payments per team increase 14 per cent from $750,000 to $855,000, with the average maximum salary of contracted players increasing to $91,500 and average minimum salary increasing to $74,000.

The minimum wage will also rise 17 per cent to $43,000 per season.

Against the backdrop of two seasons sharply affected by Covid lockdowns which hit NA’s bottom line hard, the conditions are a huge win for the players and a massive vote of confidence in the competition.

The NSW Swifts come together after claiming the 2021 Super Netball Grand Final last weekend. Picture: Getty Images

NA chief executive Kelly Ryan said the deal indicated the organisation’s faith in Super League and how much it wanted the competition to remain the world’s best.

“At a time when women’s sport is really topical, we want to maintain our position as the highest-paid female athletes in the country,” Ryan said.

“This landmark deal ensures our players are the highest-paid female domestic club athletes in the country and our league remains the best in the world.”

The impact of Covid on netball’s bottom line added “layers of complexity” to the discussions, with Ryan saying the new broadcast rights deal was not the only factor at play.

Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan says it was crucial to hold its position at the top of pay rates for female athletes in the country.

“Everyone likes to attach the broadcast rights directly to a new CPA and in an ideal world, that’s as simplistic as it can be but in the world we’ve been operating in for the last two years, it’s actually not that simple anymore because we have to make sure that we also maintain the viability of the whole sport,” she said.

“We certainly haven’t taken these conversations lightly in terms of making sure that we’re still financially stable but we also know that it’s important to reward the players and to continue progressing the league the way that we want to see it improve and be the best elite competition for women in this country and these are important steps that go a way to doing that.”

The long-awaited deal is a huge win for netball players who had been in limbo for months.

ANPA chief executive Kathryn Harby-Williams aid the new deal would allow the league to continue to attract the world’s best players.

“I am delighted that the players’ extraordinary professionalism and commitment has been recognised in this new deal which is a real step forward for netballers in Australia,” she said.

ANPA president and Melbourne Vixens defender Jo Weston said the pay rises were great recognition for players.

“It is hugely satisfying that … players are being appropriately acknowledged through this new pay deal for our contribution to the sport and for the sacrifices we have made over the last two years,” Weston said.

Originally published as Super Netball: Australian netballers sign CPA deal to end pay impasse; players still highest paid in country