CSL Ownership/Funding

[Garom]

Hello everyone,

I'm just doing some research about CSL and would like to learn how they are managed and how sustainable they are in this league. Who owns the clubs, how they survive and make profit every season (if any)?

I would appreciate if anyone could provide me a few answers (mostly about management/finances), because I can't find much details about what's going on inside the 13 CSL clubs.

Thanks in advance…

1- Who owns the clubs? Are they community clubs (1 member/1 vote model), sole ownership, non-profit organizations?

2- How do they cover their expenses? I imagine the clubs are not actually profitable, and the small income they have is from youth players tuitions, government grants and mainly money from someone involved with board that puts thousands of dollars every season. If they get government grants, what are the conditions to be eligible for it?

3- What is the average salary of the part-time players? Any club has full-time staff, working exclusively with the club, i.e. one or two head coach/fitness coach working for the club (under contract) with the senior and youth teams? Is it compulsory to have a licensed coach under contract, like in Europe where UEFA 'A' license is mandatory?

4- Any gossip regarding the owners? Is there a small-scale obscure 'Roman Abramovich' that owns a franchise in CSL just for the fun of it?

5- As the money coming from season tickets and sponsors is probably not enough, if a club ends the fiscal year in debt is there any sanction from the league? Any idea how much each club receive from Rogers TV and Givova, if any? Are the matches broadcasted only to Ontario or nationwide?

6- What is the history behind each club? I found something about the ethnic clubs (Serbia, Croatia, Portugal), but what was the motivation for other teams like London City (1973), North York (1990), St Catherine Wolves (1977) and others? I imagine that decades ago the organization/professionalism of Canadian League was quite low, and opt to play fully amateur leagues only and save some money would be a easier task.

7- How do the players travel to away games? I mean not only in Ontario, but from GTA to Montreal, the players travel with their own cars or there is a budget to rent a bus? Is it like in semi-pro leagues in UK, with players carpooling to the matches when not very far from home?

8- Is it usual for players that show some prospect in CSL receive offers from MLS/NASL? Is there a transfer compensation system in place?

9- I see that there is a lot of foreign coaches (Rafael Carbajal, Tony de Thomasis, Klinovsky)…they were hired from overseas to work at CSL? Or they were already living in Canada?

10- If Toronto FC and Montreal Impact have academy teams, any particular reason for Ottawa Fury and Toronto Lynx not join them at CSL?

[Juby]

I can answer a few of those questions, your right, I'm pretty sure most teams are losing money but probably not a terrible lot (this is a bit of a guess but I peg their expenses at like high 5 figures - low 6 figures (I'm also wondering who the big spenders are) most teams have a few local sponsors, sell a few tickets, I'm thinking their losses (more guess work) is low 5 figures. If you have a bit of money (theirs apparently like 200 000 ish millionaires in canada, if only we knew some), you may consider it an acceptable loss (and to be fair you get a pretty decent team for that kinda investment))

The owners are a fairly varied group I'd say (some seem to be just getting by year to year, some seem to be secure and very competitive every year) and I don't know about government grants.

The average salary is probably fairly low cause the vast majority are youth and part time, I'm pretty sure theirs a handful of full time contracts league wide though, but an average salary for a part time starter is probably not to much (a few grand) to help them get by on a part time job and then youth contracts are even lower of course.

I think most clubs have a paid coach (who comes a variety of ways, csl experience(former players), european contacts, regional experience) and a part time physio but I don't think all the teams have more then 1 paid coach.

I don't think their is any paid tv revenue, I think the csl is glad to be on local rogers and local rogers is just as glad to have them. I doubt it's on outside of southern ontario, maybe people from quebec and elsewhere can say if they get any games.

A few players are starting to make radars in mls (I think mostly just for tfc though) but getting on ussfd2 radar is probably more likely. They should be able to get an agreed upon transfer fee, however alot of contracts are for the season so I think most prospective teams are likely just to wait out the contract.

Theirs no reason why the lynx and the fury couldn't join the csl, they'd have to adjust for the longer season, play's a little better though (I say this for one simple reason, the csl is a fairly rugged mens league, their might even be more raw talent of some of the young guys on some pdl teams, but if they played I wouldn't be surprised if the csl teams squeezed out more results with strength and experience, pdl team might look better but probably commit a few more errors)

most of this though (especially the numbers, though I can't imagine I'm too far off) is guesswork, vpjr is the best person to answer some of these questions

[Garom]

Thanks Juby, I appreciate .