Men’s national team is awaiting response from Canada Soccer – TSN.ca, sources say

The men’s national soccer team, which has no contract agreement just two months before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, is waiting for Canada Soccer to respond to an offer made nearly a month ago, two sources familiar with the matter told TSN.

Players’ representatives proposed on August 25 that the men’s and women’s national teams should have an equal share of 80 percent of the $10 million in prize money that Canada Soccer would receive for the men’s team competing for the this year’s World Cup qualified sources said.

The offer was made during a Zoom meeting two weeks after Canada Soccer publicly recognized the Canadian Men’s National Soccer Team Players Association (CMNSTPA) as a negotiating partner for players invited by Canada Soccer to coach or join the men’s national team to play.

Players’ representatives from the Canadian Soccer Players Association, which represents players from the women’s national team, declined to comment.

During the Aug. 25 meeting, lawyers for the men’s national team also challenged the use of pictures and likenesses of players by some of Canada Soccer’s corporate sponsors, a source told TSN, adding that the players’ lawyers asked the federation for a list from companies that have been granted permission to use players’ images for marketing purposes.

“Discussions with our Canada national teams are ongoing and progressing well and we will continue to negotiate in good faith,” Canada Soccer wrote in a statement to TSN. “The goal remains to find a solution together, based on the values ​​of fairness and equal pay, and the best way to do that is to continue negotiations internally and through our respective legal counsel. We will continue to respect this process and work towards this goal.”

Sources also told TSN that during a subsequent virtual meeting on Sept. 1, Canadian soccer attorney Sean Bawden told CMNSTPA attorneys that men’s national team players owed the association $3.5 million in lost ticketing revenue because they have refused to play the June 5 game against Panama. The sources said it was unlikely Canada Soccer would seek to ask players to compensate the federation.

The men’s national team trains in Vienna and is expected to play World Cup warm-up matches against Qatar on September 23 in Vienna and Uruguay on September 27 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Canada opens the World Cup on November 23 against Belgium.

On June 4, the day before the men’s national team went on strike, Canada Soccer players had demanded a $4 million after-tax payment to qualify for this year’s World Cup.

At the time, multiple sources told TSN that Canada Soccer President Nick Bontis had told players the federation could not afford such a payment due to too much of the organization’s income from a marketing and broadcasting deal with a little-known private company called the Canada Soccer Business, which is controlled by Canadian Premier League team owners.

The agreement commits CSB to pay a guaranteed fee to Canada Soccer annually between 2019 and 2027 in exchange for the rights to sell both broadcasting and corporate sponsorship rights to the men’s and women’s national teams.

In 2019, that fee was $3 million, according to a copy of the contract obtained by TSN. The guarantee increases every year, peaking at $3.5 million in 2027. The contract, signed by Steve Reed (President of Canada Soccer from 2017 to 2020), states that CSB has the right to extend the deal for an additional 10 years and if that extension triggers Canada Soccer must Pay at least $4 million per year from 2028 to 2037.

CSB has the right to withhold any proceeds from the sale of national teams’ sponsorship and media rights.

In a joint statement released in July, players from both the men’s and women’s national teams called for the Canada Soccer-CSB contract to be reviewed. They still haven’t received a copy of the contract, sources told TSN.

Canada Soccer has made some progress in talks with players, the sources said. The federation offered in a letter to the players’ advisor on Sept. 13 to provide players with four tickets to each of Canada’s World Cup matches, as well as the opportunity to purchase ten additional tickets for each match, the sources said added that Canada Soccer has also offered every player in the World Cup squad a bonus of $20,000 plus $8,000 for each additional round if Canada exits the group stage.