Capitals superstar Lauren Jackson on Monday claimed women's sport had been made a "sacrificial lamb" and it could affect WNBL clubs' ability to stop players leaving for Europe, while boss of W-League club Canberra United Heather Reid said it would have potential ramifications for sponsorship.

Graf, however, was convinced current sponsors would remain loyal.

"I don't think we're going to have a knee-jerk reaction from our sponsors because of this, if anything they might verbalise to the ABC why it is they support women's sport, and the importance of it being on television," Graf said.

"There's no question not having television impacts what you can present to sponsors. To consider that has an impact is absolutely right, it will have an impact.

"We've got a few months to find another package, and work out what it is we present to our corporates. It might be a little hard to attract potentially some new ones [sponsors], but like any situation you see as a disaster comes opportunity," she said.

ACT Sports Minister Shane Rattenbury✓ has blasted the ABC's move as "a betrayal of women's sport" and has tabled a motion for debate in the Assembly urging members to oppose $254 million in cuts and $50 million at SBS.

"This is a betrayal of women's sport, which has grown vastly in the past few decades. Many of the teams now have a considerable supporter base and substantial sponsorship deals.

"With no TV coverage, teams could struggle to attract the same level of sponsorship. This could lead to a devastating impact on the sport as a whole – potentially forcing players to move to better-supported competitions overseas and impacting the level of competition here."

Capitals general manager Lachlan Searle said it necessitated the need to attract bigger crowds.

"We need to look at getting more people to the game to watch now," Searle said. "It's not as simple as sitting on the couch watching it on a Saturday afternoon anymore. It's pretty sad for sport in general to think outside an Olympics or Commonwealth Games, there's no way of watching much women's sport."

Australian Sports Commission CEO Simon Hollingsworth said the achievements of female athletes "need to be more appropriately recognised by the media".

"The Australian Sports Commission believes women's sport deserves increased media coverage, it is therefore disappointing to hear the ABC has chosen to cut the coverage of both the WNBL and W-League.

"We will continue to work with Basketball Australia and Football Federation Australia to explore ways of broadcasting their top tier female competitions."