AFLW players set to be granted a pay rise regardless of the league’s new broadcast rights

AFL Women’s players are expected to be granted a pay rise for next season regardless of how much the league makes from its broadcast rights. ELIZA SEWELL lays out all the financial options for players.

AFLW players are set for a pay rise. Picture: Getty Images

AFL Women’s players are expected to be granted a pay rise for next season regardless of how much the league makes from its broadcast rights.

The base wage for a female player was originally calculated pro rata on what an AFL male rookie earns in his first season.

Male rookies will take home a minimum of $75,000 next season and it’s understood the pro-rata model for female athletes will again be sought.

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Calculated on a female player’s 2018 contract hours, the Herald Sun has estimated the base AFLW wage in 2019 could rise to around $13,000.

The impact of any potential broadcast money and an increase in contracted hours is yet to be determined.

AFLW contracted hours are expected to increase with the league likely to extend the season to a two-week finals series.

Western Bulldogs players celebrate their premiership win. Picture: Mark Stewart

Players are believed to want a nine-week home and away season plus two weeks of finals next year with an expanded 10 team competition, to allow teams to play each other once.

But the league is understood to prefer its seven week home and away fixture, but is open to adding another round of finals.

Broadcast experts believe a model similar to Super Netball — where TV networks pay for all the production and earnings are split between the broadcaster and the league — is an option for the AFLW.

In season one the pro rata per hour rate was calculated at $29.32 per hour. Players were restricted to nine hours training per week and the majority paid $8500.

In season two, the hours increased to an average of 13 hours per week with the base wage rising to $10,500.

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GREATER remuneration of AFL Women’s players would result in long-running benefits for the “bigger picture” of women in sport, according to a board member of the Australian Sports Commission.

Danni Roche — a director at St Kilda and the ASC — has urged the league to consider ramping up the salary of AFLW players as it negotiates a new pay deal.

Roche, a former Australian hockey player, said the league needed to consider the long-term benefits.

AFLW stars Katie Brennan and Monique Conti. Picture: Getty Images

“If they can’t develop exponentially, how can they contribute exponentially?,” Roche said.

“I think all of us want to see the women’s league do very very well.

“Let me propose to you a bigger picture. If we paid the female players in the first few years a professional wage, so they can feed their families, they can pay off a mortgage and they can be full-time professional athletes, then they can study, they can work, they can exponentially train and reach their potential so they have the chance of creating a great league.

“And in 10 years’ time, they will have potentially paid off part of a house, potentially got a degree, potentially have some work experience, and we will have 200 amazing role models in this country.”

Roche said that her Olympic background had helped form her view.

“If we don’t pay (the AFLW players) a professional wage, they’ll have to scrap around the edges of training to try to make some money to survive, so they won’t be able to fulfil their potential for life after sport and we won’t be giving the best start to the league by giving the opportunity to create the first era of role models,” she said at St Kilda’s first Women’s Breakfast Series.

“So I urge the AFL and the commercial sponsors to consider this and consider what you could be creating if we paid the girls a professional wage in their first few years.”

Channel 7 boss Lewis Martin was put on the spot at the event for his view, with a broadcast deal also being negotiated.

Mel Hickey has joined AFLW expansion club Geelong. Picture: Alison Wynd

He said it must be a collaborative approach.

“We’d like to think that we’ve got a sustainable model for all women’s sport, including cricket and including AFLW. That’s our ambition. But it’s got to be done collectively,” Martin said.

“Everybody has to realise that this has got to be done over time. Let’s not do this over two or three years — let’s put things in place and give this an ongoing, ever-lasting sustainable model.”

IN AFLW02 PLAYERS RECEIVED (24 week contracts)

Tier 1: $20,000

Tier 2: $14,500

Base: $10,500

Clubs also have a marquee budget they can allocate to their most marketable players, ranging from $5000 to $10,000 per player, with a cap of $40,000 per team.

New deal for AFLW03 is currently being negotiated.

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