Australia's most popular spectator sport, Aussie Rules, has struck a deal with players to slash wages by up to 70 percent to ensure the game can survive its coronavirus shutdown.
The Australian Football League (AFL), which draws crowds of 100,000 to top matches, was forced to suspend its season last weekend after just one round. It was a devastating blow for the sport similar to Ireland's Gaelic football, with officials calling it the most serious threat faced since a league was first established in 1896.
Staring at the loss of broadcast money, sponsorship, and ticket sales, players - some earning in excess of Aus$1 million (US$600,000) a season - late Friday agreed to savage pay cuts.
Under the deal agreed by the AFL and the players' association, they will receive 50 percent of their wages to the end of May and just 30 percent beyond that if games are postponed for longer.
Even if the season resumes, they will be paid just half of their normal salaries. AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said all stakeholders needed to share the pain to keep the sport alive, with hundreds of backroom staff already temporarily suspended or let go.
"The players always understood the gravity of the situation and have agreed to take significant pay cuts to ensure we can keep the industry going," he said. "This issue has been incredibly complex and fast-moving and we have been able to achieve in a couple of days what would normally take months."
AFL Players Association boss Paul Marsh said "we just had to find a solution to the problem; there are no winners". "We were able to get some certainty on what happens if we play, and also if we don't play. We will continue to deal with what is in front of us," he added.
The AFL has said games will resume before the end of May, with the government currently advising against all "non-essential" domestic travel. Rugby league and rugby union are both locked in similar crisis talks on how to weather the coronavirus storm, with decisions on pay cuts and potential job losses expected early next week.
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