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Why the best netball league in the world is facing a $7.5 million black hole
By Carla Jaeger
A secret report has cast serious doubts on the financial viability of Australia’s Super Netball league, which is losing millions of dollars and being propped up by money from the grassroots level of the game.
In a troubling outlook for the league, once envisaged as the “commercial jewel” of the sport, the report found the league and its teams were on track to lose $7.5 million in the next three years. The Super Netball competition feeds the national team, the Diamonds, which celebrated its 12th World Cup title this month.
A confidential report commissioned by Netball Australia projected a $2.6 million loss for the 2022 Super Netball season, and a $7.5 million loss over three years. Credit: Getty Images
The report was presented to Netball Australia last year. It was commissioned by the sport to establish the value of the Super Netball league, and authored by former NRL and Football Australia boss David Gallop.
It was handed down well before the collapse of the Collingwood netball team this year, and after the governing body rejected a $6.5 million bid from private equity firm Tier 1 to buy the league outright.
The report’s contents have not been made public, but sections seen by this masthead warn that, without significant change, the league is “highly unlikely” to become “the commercial jewel in the crown of the game, nor return a dividend to the game”.
It warns that without change to the model, the league and its teams would struggle to break even during the current broadcast deal with Foxtel, which runs to 2026.
The projected loss of more than $7.5 million by 2026 was based on revenue remaining flat and factored in a cost increase of 3.5 per cent a year.
The report added that it was likely Super Netball and its teams would be dependent on other parts of the sport “to sustain them”, including “money flowing” from the grassroots level; essentially fees from clubs, players and parents.
Former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander said clubs at community level felt disconnected from the top league.
“[They] feel that they’re having to pay a lot of money in registrations and memberships, and they feel like that’s propping up the Super Netball [competition],” Alexander said.
The report projected a $2.6 million loss for the 2022 season. Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan confirmed that despite the sport’s improved balance sheet – Netball Australia announced a $300,000 profit last financial year, following two years of multimillion-dollar losses – the league itself had been loss-making.
Netball is Australia’s biggest participation sport for women and girls, but it is facing fierce competition from rival professional women’s leagues, such as AFLW and cricket’s Women’s Big Bash League, and amid an explosion of interest in soccer with the Women’s World Cup on Australian soil.
Five sources briefed on the report, who were not authorised to speak publicly as its contents are confidential, expressed frustration and dismay that there had been little action since it was handed down.
Asked about the report’s findings, Ryan said: “Netball Australia has been transparent about its financial position. We are continuing to grow the business and posted a profit in 2022.”
“To put this report into context, it’s one of many tools we are using with our stakeholders as we continue to transform Suncorp Super Netball into the commercial jewel in netball’s crown.”
Ryan said while the sport was looking into potential models for capital injection, the organisation was focused on other priorities for the foreseeable future.
“We need to make sure this sport is not just surviving, but thriving,” she said, indicating that further consulting needed to happen before changes were made.
She ruled out an outright takeover of the league.
Collingwood will no longer play in the Super Netball league.Credit: Getty Images
The report casts doubt on the league’s ability to keep paying its players at current levels. Super Netball players received an increase in their pay in 2022 of up to 22 per cent after the sport’s governing body struck a five-year broadcast deal in 2021 with Foxtel, which took the majority of the league’s matches behind a paywall.
While the sport does not have specific viewership figures for the 2023 season, three well-placed sources said the competition – considered the premier domestic netball competition in the world – was attracting an audience of about 40,000 per match.
However, one senior figure with knowledge of the broadcast deal, who requested anonymity to discuss audience numbers that have not been made public, said matches aired on Kayo Freebies were attracting about 10 per cent of that figure – a “very poor” number that would be concerning to sponsors if the ratings did not grow.
Asked about its netball audiences, a Foxtel spokesperson said: “Viewership of the 2023 Suncorp Super Netball season across both linear and streaming channels was up 10 per cent compared to 2022, while audiences watching games available on Kayo Freebies grew by 18 per cent and viewership of Kayo Minis doubled.”
Ryan conceded that viewership was, on average, lower than when the competition was aired on free-to-air TV. However, she stressed that different metrics – such as audience engagement – were more important when assessing the success of the season’s broadcast.
Super Netball does not have a cap on international players; 17.5 per cent of players are imports.
The report’s author, David Gallop, was contacted for comment.
With Marnie Vinall
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