Australia’s Surfing Super League Sets Out to Put Team Surfing on Live TV

Australia is launching a new domestic professional surfing competition designed around teams, regional rivalries and predictable live broadcasts. The Surfing Super League will feature eight franchises, relay-style matches and equal pay for contracted surfers, creating a new pathway for athletes while broadening competitive surfing’s national audience.

Key takeaways

The league is intended to complement, rather than replace, Australia’s established individual surfing system.

• Eight regional franchises will compete across seven regular-season rounds.
• Each 90-minute match will use four surfers per team in a relay-style format.
• The top four teams will advance to the inaugural Grand Final.
• The first season is scheduled to begin in January 2028.
• Contracted surfers are promised equal pay regardless of gender or playing tier.

The format is built to give broadcasters fixed match windows and fans teams to follow throughout a season.

A new domestic model for professional surfing

The Surfing Super League, or SSL, officially launched in Australia with the goal of creating the country’s first domestic professional team surfing league. Its organizers argue that surfing has long had elite athletes and passionate supporters, but lacks a domestic competition structured specifically for live television.

SSL CEO Chris Mater, a former Surfing Australia chief executive and longtime Red Bull executive, says a consistent broadcast product could attract larger audiences, commercial investment and more sustainable professional careers.

Eight franchises, one national competition

The inaugural teams will represent major Australian surfing regions: Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Sydney’s South, Newcastle, the Northern Rivers, the Gold Coast with two franchises, the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne.

The seven-round regular season will lead to a championship event featuring the four highest-ranked teams. Organizers expect the regional structure to encourage local support and create rivalries that extend beyond individual performances.

Faster competition built for television

Each match will last 90 minutes and include four surfers from each team. Competitors will take part in a relay-style system in which every wave contributes to the team’s combined score. That approach differs from the individual, head-to-head format that has traditionally dominated elite professional surfing.

The fixed schedule is designed to reduce the uncertainty and downtime that can make conventional surf contests difficult to program for live television. A team scoreboard also gives viewers a continuing storyline, even when individual surfers rotate in and out of competition.

A pathway for athletes and coastal communities

The SSL says its teams will bring together Australian legends, current professionals, international athletes, out-of-market Australians and emerging surfers. The league aims to offer professional contracts at home while supporting clubs and coastal communities and helping athletes pursue broader international careers.

Equal pay for all contracted surfers, regardless of gender or playing tier, is another central commitment. For athletes who currently rely on limited competition earnings or sponsorship income, guaranteed league pay could make full-time professional surfing more accessible.

Launch planned for 2028

The inaugural season is scheduled to start in January 2028 and run across eight weeks, with live television coverage planned throughout the competition. Fans will be able to follow future announcements about team signings, event details and tickets through the league’s official channels.

The SSL’s launch reflects a broader effort to position surfing as a major Australian team sport while preserving the individual competition pathways that have produced many of the country’s international champions.

Sources

• A New Made-For-TV Surf League Just Launched In Australia, SURFER Magazine.