By Kieran Yap 21/3/24
Above : Western United star Hannah Keane has been signed by Tampa Bay Sun FC in the new USL Super League. Photo: Kris Goman for Impetus
With a minimum wage reported to be more than double what it is in the A-League Women, the USL Super League is an opportunity for players that Australia needs to quickly catch up to.
There is about to be shift in Australian domestic football. The last month has seen Sarah Clark and Cannon Clough of Canberra United, Hannah Keane (Western United), Hailey Davidson (Wellington), Vicky Bruce (Western Sydney), Izzy Nino (Newcastle Jets) and Mia Corbin (Brisbane Roar) move to the USL Super League.
So far the majority of the players swept away to the newly launched competition have been Americans in our top Australian league, but the additions of Wellington’s Grace Wisnewski and former NPLW Vic striker Delaney Lindahl should signal some alarm bells in the A-League Women.
For Australians unfamiliar with the USL, it forms the second top tier professional women’s league under the control of US Soccer. It is a professional league, containing eight teams and although they do not have the profile and resources of an NWSL club, clubs are reported to have an estimated wage budget of $750,000 AUD as a minimum if the expectation is to be competetive. More recent estimates and transfer activity indicate that many clubs are preparing to pay more than that.
By comparison, the A-League women’s salary cap floor currently sits at $500,000. It is an impressive 20% increase on 2022/23, but crucially it has a cap of $600,000. Things are moving in a positive direction, just not quickly enough to keep pace with the competition.
The USL Super League is quickly being seen as a destination for experienced players in itself, not as a stepping stone to the NWSL. The absence of a draft system makes it particularly attractive as a point of difference from the existing, higher profile league.
The A-League Women has a minimum wage of $25000 that is paid over the six-month season, with scholarship players earning far less with a minimum of $12,400.
The Project reported an aim by the APL to make the players full time athletes by 2030 in a story widely shared by players, but this seems to be something of an admirable ambition more than a plan. To date no concrete pathway to this goal is publicly available, and there are no announcements so far to create an Australian second tier competition.
It had been suggested that players can earn more than twice as much in the USL, which has a minimum wage of around $50,000 AUD and is comparable to the NWSL
There are unavoidable aspects to Australian sport that make it expensive. Travel costs for away trips are huge, and Australian off-field facilities are widely accepted to be above club in many “major” leagues in Europe. But these caveats do not change the reality, the players can now earn more elsewhere.
There is a bright side to the best American talent in the A-Legaue Women being poached in that it offers opportunity to young Australian players or senior NPLW stars, but the quality that players like Keane, Catherine Zimmerman, Corbin or Shea Connors have brought to this league cannot be easily replaced.
These players hail from abroad but are A- League stars. They bring a lot to our league and long term having our best youngsters playing in an increasingly isolated and insular league will reduce the quality of the national team talent pool.
The acquisition of Wisnewski means that the scouting has gone beyond just those that might want to return home. The Wellington Phoenix midfielder is a capped Football Fern, and a bright prospect for New Zealand the Phoenix. It is another feather in the cap of the youth system in Wellington that also produced a league record transfer for Macey Fraser.
However, it does mean that the best local talent in the A-League women is being scouted and approached with an opportunity to potentially double their income and be in the shop window for what is still one of the world’s highest profile women’s leagues in a lucrative and growing sponsorship market.
Lindahl was an excellent NPLW player for The Preston Lions, and although she is American and her journey included a brief stopover in the Romanian league, she is a player that was not on the radar of any A-League clubs, but has found a professional career in the USA.
If NPLW players can potentially earn more than A-League Women’s stars with a move to the USL, 2030 is too long to wait for full professionalism.
Women’s football is growing rapidly worldwide. Investing now should not be seen as a risk. It is a chance to get in on a rising stock in while it’s relatively cheap. The Americans realised this after three years of market research into starting a second tier and then invested enthusiastically.
While the Australian league has higher wages and better conditions than many other countries, it still leaves players needing second jobs and without a club for half the year. On the back of a historic World Cup and record crowds and viewership in the A-League Women, it does feel like investment is not being made to meet the opportunity.
Critics will ask “what about the revenue?, should they not be paid according to what they bring in?” the short answer is “No.”
Following that logic The A-League Men would not exist. It launched in 2005 with a salary cap (excluding marquees) of $1.5 million. Not a ball had been kicked or ticket sold.
This was called “investment” and so far the results are a near annual period of navel gazing and asking, “how to we crack the puzzle of domestic football in Australia?” without ever thinking, “have we tried putting more money and effort into women?”
If 2005 was seen as the ideal time to launch a fully professional men’s league on the (well placed) hopes of Socceroos success in 2006, then the the 2023 World Cup and the 2023/24 domestic season should seem like an equivalent or greater opportunity for the women.
The hesitation is mostly due to a lack of imagination, terror of innovation, and a misplaced but ingrained societal belief that women’s sports is inherently less marketable or interesting to the wider audience.
The counter point will likely be a lack of funds, but those have always been available for another get rich quick scheme like a former men’s Marquee turned millstone. The fans aren’t buying it anymore.
There is nothing wrong with being a development league, or a stepping stone to the world’s biggest stages. It brings its own excitement and value. But it is harder to develop players without quality international teammates around them at senior level.
The APL has publicly aimed high, but the recent activity of the USL clubs has shown that the former CEO’s claims that we have a “top five league” are rapidly at risk of becoming fantasy.
2030 is too far away, on the basis on these transfers tomorrow is already too late. The time to invest money, the time to make money for everybody is now.
Women’s football is an opportunity that is being seized around the world. Australia needs to keep up and grow alongside with it while it is still affordable to do so. If our best players are not rewarded, the rest of the world is ready to take advantage and it will be too expensive to catch up.
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