Canada Soccer, in ‘real struggle,’ may need to explore bankruptcy protection

Canada Soccer may have to consider bankruptcy protection if its finances do not improve, interim general secretary Jason deVos said in a story reported by TSN’s Rick Westhead.

“We are in a real struggle. It’s not imminent, but we need to explore what bankruptcy entails and how it might affect our organization,” deVos, who once captained the Canadian men’s national team and took over in his executive position in April, said in the story. “We don’t have enough revenue coming in for the programs that need to be run, and that includes everything from grassroots coach education and referee development to youth national teams and our senior men’s and women’s teams.”

DeVos was clear on where the organization stood when it came to exploring bankruptcy.

“(bankruptcy) has been discussed, but not in the sense of this is a strategy or this is something that we’re looking at,” he told Westhead. “It’s been discussed more from my own perspective to learn about it. It is absolutely the last option that I want to consider or even think about. But I would be remiss if I didn’t do my due diligence on this.”

The comments from deVos come a week after Canadian men’s coach John Herdman said the organization needs to “get serious” if it wishes to compete for World Cups.

“We’ve got the best generation of players we’ve had, and there’s more coming. … (But) we’ve got to figure this out financially,” Herdman said after Canada lost to the United States in the Nations League final. “… When you play at home, you get a chance to win it. You get a chance to get to a quarterfinals and then get on that road to win. And we’re not serious. We’ve brought a World Cup to our country and we’re not serious about winning it.”

At the heart of the organization’s financial woes is a deal it signed with the private company Canadian Soccer Business. Under a long-term “representation agreement” announced in March 2018, CSB took charge of sponsorship and broadcast rights in exchange for an annual payment — currently around $3 million — to Canada Soccer. CSB uses its portion of the proceeds to fund the men’s Canadian Premier League, an eight-team circuit with clubs across the country.

Former Canada Soccer officials defended the deal while appearing at parliamentary hearings in May, but critics say the agreement is too rigid, too long and doesn’t allow for Canada Soccer to benefit from the recent success of the men’s and women’s national teams.

Canada Soccer has acknowledged it is looking to renegotiate part of the agreement with CSB and deVos seemed to be taking aim at that process.

“I’ve told CSB that we are in this together,” deVos said in the interview. “I know how important it is to have professional leagues for men and women in this country, but that cannot come at the expense of our men’s and women’s national team. Our youth boys’ and girls’ national teams need to develop the best players in Canada who go on and succeed at the international level because that success is going to drive the game forward.”

Westhead reported that Canada Soccer’s cash shortage situation could result in the men’s national team not playing any games in two of three international windows in the fall, while the women’s national team could be limited to a pair of Olympic qualifying games in September after this summer’s World Cup.

DeVos said the men’s team has already missed out on games against South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Sportsnet has reached out to Canada Soccer Business and the office of the federal minister of sports for reaction to deVos’s comments and will update this story with their responses.

— With files from The Canadian Press