Surfing’s first professional domestic league is to hit the waves in 2028 with a fit-for-TV Surfing Super League and surfers paid a salary.
The league (or SSL) was launched in Sydney today (August 19) and organisers say the eight-team competition will be held across eight weekends along the eastern seaboard.
The SSL will contract 48 surfers in eight teams of six (four men, two women) on a base salary of $89,000 for everyone for the season.
Each squad will feature surfers from four tiers: Australian stars, the current elite, one international or retired star and free surfers.
Team will compete in games involving four surfs (three men and one woman) of 90 minutes duration to a running clock.
“We built this league so an Australian kid can make a career in surfing without leaving the country and so the surfers who shaped this culture are finally paid like the professional athletes they are – every athlete on exactly the same terms,” says Chris Mater, the founder and CEO of the SSL.
“We are producing surfing with the visual intensity of Formula 1 and the storytelling of the NRL,” he says.
“For 50 years, some of our best surfers have had nowhere at home to do this for a living. That ends here.”
IN A NUTSHELL: On ‘game’ day, each team will compete in a four-surf relay format. Two games are played each weekend in a fixed afternoon slot and covered on TV (no broadcaster has been confirmed). There will be a seven-round ladder, 15 games a season, 30 hours of TV coverage and a grand final.
SURFING'S STEP UP
Surfing's world record holder Laura Enever is keen to see passion for surfing make the step up from the club to professional level.
“We see that passion in surfing at club level; I grew up with it at North Narrabeen,” she says.
“To now take that energy to a professional stage, with a whole region behind each team, athletes being paid to compete and a format built for fans to watch live on TV, is going to be so exciting.”
Professional surfing's Sophie McCulloch believes the SSL will create greater financial security and commercial opportunities.
“Professional surfing traditionally offered limited sponsorship opportunities, particularly outside the surf industry and many surfers still work part-time just to fund the international travel required to compete,” she says.
“The League will help athletes build more sustainable careers by providing guaranteed income through professional contracts while also giving us a platform to grow our personal brands and attract a broader range of sponsors.
“It creates the financial security to spend more time developing our skills and pursuing international events, without the constant pressure of trying to fund our careers.”
Olympic medallist and former World Tour star Owen Wright will make his return to competitive surfing as part of the League.
“I genuinely thought that chapter of competitive surfing was finished for me but when I heard what the SSL was building, it felt different,” he says.
“I still love competing and this feels like a really special reason to do it again and to help build a new era for Australian surfing.”
The organisers say the SSL will be built on the Australian Boardriders Battle model, which is contested each year by more than 70 clubs.
Their plans also include a structured national pathway from the local club to a paid contract with an Under-18 and Under-21 national series, a high school premiership, a boardriders club premiership and eight academies.
An inaugural draft will run from April to July 2027 and surfers, clubs and fans can register now at surfingsuperleague.com.
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