Australia's women's cricket team will see a massive increase of $53 million in salary caps as per the new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) on Monday.
Under the agreement, all professional players (men and women) get a share in a projected $634m over the next five years, a 26 percent increase from the existing agreement.
In a major step, women players will share in $133 million (compared to $80 million in the previous agreement) while significantly increasing the value of Women's Big Bash League and State contracts.
The top CA-contracted women's earnings will peak at more than $800,000 per year by the end of the MOU (including their WBBL contract, match fees and marketing payments), while at the other end of the scale, the minimum WBBL retainer immediately jumps by 30 percent.
As part of the new deal, the top CA-contract holding female cricketers, who also holds a WBBL contract, can now earn more than $800,000 a year for the next five (including their WBBL contract, match fees and marketing payments), with the capacity to break the $1 million mark with further earnings in the Women's Premier League (India) and The Hundred (UK).
Under the deal, domestic players who do not play for Australia, who play both WNCL (50 over) and WBBL (T20) formats can earn on average $151,019 annually (inclusive of match fees).
This makes them on average the highest-paid female players of team sports in Australia by a significant margin.
The 'total payment pool' for the WBBL has doubled to more than $732,000 per team each year, with the top WBBL players can now earn up to $133,000, (including superannuation) while the average WBBL player retainer will also double from approximately $26,900 to close to $54,200. The minimum WBBL retainer will jump by 30%.
"I am particularly pleased this MOU represents another major step forward in the rise of women's cricket, with significant increases in remuneration for the inspirational role models of the world champion Australian Women's team and the WBBL who are driving substantial growth in female participation," CA chief executive Nick Hockley said.
The top BBL players will pocket approximately $420,000 per season, while the average retainer is worth $167,000 while the minimum contract increases by 20 percent.
"At the same time, we have recognised the need to ensure that the BBL remains highly competitive in a changing global cricket landscape and we're confident this agreement will help maintain its place at the heart of the Australian summer," he added.
There's been a big increase for men's players too as the value of nationally contracted men's players will see a rise of 7.5 percent to an average of $951,000 plus match payments and superannuation payments.
There are more national contracts now available too as the number of men's contracts are set to jump from 17-20 to 20-24.
The number of men's State contracts remains at 17-20, with a gradual increase in remuneration by 3.5% in the first year, increasing the average retainer to more than $103,000 before annual two percent rises.
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