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The Average Salary of an AFL Player

The Average Salary of an AFL Player thumbnail
The AFL is a professional indoor arena football league.

The Arena Football League (AFL) lasted for 22 relatively successful years before canceling its 2009 season due to financial hardship. AFL franchise owners and league officials staged a one-year lockout in an attempt to mold a better business model in difficult economic times. The AFL resumed play in 2010 with a drastically different pay structure for its players. Up until 2009, players had enjoyed decent salaries, but the lockout ushered in a new era for the AFL in which player compensation pales in comparison to most other professional sports leagues in the U.S.

  1. AFL Player Salaries Before 2009 Lockout

    • The average AFL player salary for the 2008 season leading up to the 2009 lockout was approximately $80,000, according to sports writer Andy Martino of the NY Daily News. Median earnings for players settled around $40,000 to $50,000. The league minimum was $31,000 per season, and a handful of franchise players made six figures. For example, Philadelphia Soul quarterback Tony Graziani was the highest-paid player in 2007 with a salary of roughly $200,000, according to ESPN.

    AFL Player Salaries After 2009 Lockout

    • AFL players have taken massive pay cuts following the 2009 lockout. The league as a whole now pays all player salaries rather than individual teams paying their players. AFL players no longer hold lucrative annual contracts. Instead, most players earn a flat rate salary of just $400 per game, according to a 2010 article in the Sports Business Journal. Up to three players per team can receive special designation as franchise "marketing players." These elite players make a higher salary of $1,000 per game, but they also have to participate in promotional appearances on behalf of their teams and the league as part of their deals.

    Additional Compensation and Player Attitudes

    • While the new base salary for the AFL is very low, players do receive some additional compensation in the form of financial assistance for housing and meal expenses. In a March 2010 interview with Asylum.com, one of the standout players in the AFL expressed his displeasure with this new setup. That player was Jeremy Unertl, a five-year veteran of the league and former All-Arena defensive back. Unertl stated that he would be going from making $140,000 per season to just $16,000 per season under the league's new business model, noting that this was not nearly enough to justify the physical toll that football takes on players. More importantly, Unertl complained that the new salary setup was nowhere near enough to live on and support his family. Players throughout the league share similar views, expressing their bewilderment and outrage at what has happened. Many frustrated AFL players including Unertl are now looking for other leagues to play in while considering career changes away from football as they pursue day jobs for supplemental income.

    Outlook

    • The outlook seems bleak for the AFL. Six weeks into the 2010 season, the AFL was averaging around 8,000 fans a game, compared with a 13,000 average in 2008, according to the Sports Business Journal. Similarly, AFL Friday night broadcasts on the NFL Network drew an average of 125,000 viewers in 2010, compared to 200,000 in 2008. In addition, sponsorship revenue dropped 60 percent from original projections. A 2010 article by Mark Anderson of Pro Football Weekly mentioned that many league officials, including Arizona Rattlers president Danny White, are confident that the AFL will rebound in a few years. Some veteran players have returned, hoping that salaries will eventually rise to somewhere near previous levels if they tough it out until the league stabilizes. However, salaries will have to go up sooner rather than later if the AFL wants to retain talented players and fan interest over the long term.

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  • Photo Credit American football field. image by Sandra Henderson from Fotolia.com

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