How much is Seven going to pay Kane Cornes? Since the announcement earlier this week that Seven had poached the footy analyst there has been speculation about how much Cornes is being paid.
Cornes is managed by Chris Giannopoulos, founder of Bravo Talent Management. A business that also boasts Liam Pickering as a director and is now part of SEG under the leadership of Craig Hutchison. The talent agency is full of successful media and sporting talent including Scott Cam, Gary Ablett, Shaynna Blaze, Jamie Durie, Shelley Craft, Cherie Barber and many more.
Kane Cornes with Hutchy on Footy Classified
The starting place for any analysis of what Cornes might be being paid should be Nathan Brown’s annual footy commentator rich list. However, there was a change in methodology in this year’s list that saw Brown name only players-turned-commentators and also estimates only of the amount they earned from football.
That means the list this year excluded the work of Gerard Whateley, Anthony Hudson and Mark Howard. The list still includes James Brayshaw, a former cricketer and former football club president.
In Brown’s 2023 top five there was one former AFL player – Garry Lyon. Brown estimated he was on a total of $1m with $400,000 from his radio work on SEN, plus $600,000 from Fox Footy. That ranked Lyon the second-biggest earner.
The other four on the list in 2023 were James Brayshaw (#1 with $1.2m), Mark Howard (#3 with $850,000), Anthony Hudson (#4 with $750,000) and Gerard Whateley (#5 with $650,000).
With mostly non-players and footy earnings only on Brown’s 2024 list, it looked like this:
1. James Brayshaw $1.3m+
2. Garry Lyon $710,000
3. Brian Taylor $650,000
4. Jason Dunstall $570,000
5. Kane Cornes $550,000
The big mover of course since this list was released just six weeks ago has been Cornes. In July this year Brown broke down Cornes’ earnings as follows – Nine $150,000; SEN $300,000; AFL.com.au $50,000; The Age $50,000.
There was some speculation this week that Cornes might have catapulted to $800,000 annually. Presumably, that is not all Seven money, but the bulk of it will be with him now focusing on just Seven and SEN.
Cornes is keeping the length of his contract with Seven private. When he starts at Seven it will be the first year of Seven’s new seven-year AFL rights contract. Although seven years would be a very long media deal, it would make sense for the broadcaster to lock away its hot property for the length of the deal.
If Cornes has signed for seven years on a starting combined media salary of $800,000, that would make him the $5.6m man. That’s without factoring in any inflation or bonus payment clauses. One media executive told Mediaweek anything longer than three years would be a very long contract.
See also: Bombshell footy trade – Kane Cornes quits Nine, signs with Seven for 2025 and beyond
Kane Cornes and his Footy Show colleagues at Nine
How Kane Cornes told Nine he was quitting
Cornes has to see the year out at Nine, fronting up to another month of Footy Classified and Sunday Footy Show episodes. With his new Seven deal finalised he realised he had to move quickly last week to break the news to Nine before it started leaking out.
Just how he went about telling his employer about his departure was discussed on Kane and Kingy, the Friday SEN 1116 breakfast show Cornes co-hosts with David King.
“This has been a big decision clearly,” Cornes told King.
“Channel Nine has been so good to me,” Cornes added. He then paid tribute to Nine’s head of AFL, Matt Conway. “He’s one of the best bosses I’ve had. He’s been amazing and a great friend. He was the brains behind the charity run and we did it together. We spent two weeks together doing that which was some of the best memories I’ve ever had. The people I work with [at Nine] are so good and I really rate what they do.”
King told people at Nine he saw on Monday night that he was leaving. People he couldn’t see got a phone call. “I ran Matt Conway first and he was terrific and supportive. I then ran Damo [Damian Barrett] and he was great. Then I rang Brownie [Nathan Brown]. I went to the ones that I thought would give me the least angst first.”
Telling Nine’s Tony Jones proved a little more complicated. “When I was at Nine on Monday night I went to see TJ, but he was reading the news. I was waiting for a break, but I couldn’t get him. Then I decided to ring him later and he answered straight away. I thought he was going to give it to me. He was the one I was really nervous about. But he was really good about it.”
Cornes said he told all the Footy Classified team in person including Caroline Wilson and Matthew Lloyd and all the staff. “They were just magnificent about it which made me feel a bit better about it.”
Who called Cornes from Seven?
Much has been made about the frosty relationship Cornes might get from some of the Seven AFL team. Cornes hasn’t held back from being critical of some of them. They have returned fire too.
Just earlier this year, Seven and Triple M commentator Luke Darcy accused Cornes of being “more mean-spirited and nasty to people than anyone in the history of our industry”. This came off the back of Cornes sending up some of the commentary on Seven. (Caroline Wilson later called Darcy’s comments nasty and mean-spirited.)
Cornes told David King last week that Seven’s James Brayshaw, Brian Taylor, Alister Nicholson and Luke Hodge had all called with congratulations. “I haven’t heard from Darcy yet,” he added. “You want Darcy to ring you?” asked King.
Kane Cornes
When will viewers see Kane Cornes?
The Herald Sun’s Alice Coster has reported it is likely Cornes will spearhead a TV footy war with a new Seven show likely to launch on Monday nights up against his old show Footy Classified and Fox Footy’s On the Couch. There was a hint too he might be used on Wednesday night in a new program to replace Talking Footy.
Cornes will also be on duty for Seven’s Thursday Night Footy and at games played in Adelaide that are covered by Seven. He will also be offering news and opinion for 7News. Mediaweek mentioned in a report last week Cornes is expected to host a podcast and write a column for 7News.com.au, or maybe even The Nightly too.
Revelations about a former manager and a media boss
It was nice timing for The Howie Games podcast this week when episode #218 dropped – a two hour plus two-episode interview with Kane Cornes. The interview was recorded in mid-July and features some blockbuster revelations about hurdles in the life of Cornes from his playing days through to the media.
One involved a former manager who told Cornes to focus on South Australian media. The manager didn’t think he would make it in the Melbourne media.
Then just this year Cornes said he heard second-hand that one media boss said he would never work at Seven.
Howie’s podcast also has revelations about a helpful call Bruce McAvaney made to Cornes early in his playing career. There is also detail about Cornes’ schedule during the three nights a week he spends in Melbourne.