ANALYSIS: REGIONAL SEMIPROFESSIONAL LEAGUE
3.
The CSA should consider relaxing the financial requirements for a semi-professional league during the initial three years of the competition (the USSF granted concessions with regards to financial requirements to the new NASL in its first two years of operations). The minimum budget of $250,000 annually could prove onerous for instances of senior amateur clubs, with well-organized and established supporters groups, that are candidates for a semi-professional franchise. These clubs could prove to be valuable members of a league in the long-term, yet the short-term financial hurdles could prevent them from seriously considering membership in the first place. The strategy could take the form of conditional exemptions for a period of time for clubs that fall into this category. For investor groups with sufficient resources, an exemption is not necessary. This intention should be communicated in the long-term strategy document so that investors are not caught unawares.
4.
Lastly, the CSA should consider expanding the number of teams eligible to play in the Amway Canadian Championship to include a team or teams from the new semi-professional competition. A review of the academic literature reveals leagues that offer an additional exogenous prize awarded to the winner of the annual championship are likely to invest more on talent and talent development.17 There is currently little incentive for teams or leagues in Canada to seek division III or semi-professional sanctioning, either provincially or nationally. In other countries, lower-level clubs are induced to invest in their playing squads by the knowledge that if they perform well on the field they have an opportunity to advance through a relegation/promotion structure to the next rung of play. As discussed in detail in phase I of this study, a relegation/
17 Helmut Dietl, Egon Franck and Markus Lang, “Overinvestment
promotion arrangement in Canada is not possible owing to the fact there are three independent, U.S. based and controlled closed leagues, each
in Team Sports Leagues — A
with their own set of fixed teams already operating within the country. Since
Contest Theory Model,” Institute
there is no opportunity for teams competing in a new semi-professional
for Strategy and Business Economics Working Paper Series, June 2007. University of Zurich
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competition to earn promotion into these higher division leagues, the CSA must use other means to encourage clubs to professionalize their operations and invest in the development of playing talent.
IN A LEAGUE OF OUR OWN
Unfortunately, by relinquishing a certain degree of control to U.S. headquartered and directed leagues, the CSA has limited the options it can use to incentivize teams at the division III level to invest in and professionalize their setup. However, the CSA is not completely impotent in this regard either. As the governing body for football in Canada, the Association still retains the exclusive right to set the format of the Canadian Championship and the eligibility rules of clubs that can compete in the annual contest. As such, the CSA should use the extra reward of competing for the country’s top footballing prize as inducement for clubs that join the new division III competition to spend on talent and player development. Opening the tournament to division III teams will also have the added benefit of helping the CSA protect the integrity of football at the semi-professional level. Not wanting to be disqualified from competing for the Voyageurs Cup and the possible honour of representing Canada on the international stage, it is likely that eligible teams will be more vigilant about policing their players and officials from engaging in activities that could bring the game into disrepute. There will be some in the football community who will argue that the Canadian Championship should be open to all clubs — professional and amateur alike — in the same way the FA Cup and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup are contested, and under normal circumstances we would agree. However, the CSA has so few incentives it can bring to bear to concentrate efforts and resources in elite Canadian player development programs. Opening the tournament to one and all would likely further erode any leverage the CSA has remaining. At least for the time being, the CSA should reserve the opportunity to compete in the Amway Canadian Championship to teams at the division III, semi-professional level and higher. The CSA’s 2008 Strategic Plan focused on increasing the number of football registrants at the youth level, bidding for the right to host the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and developing and investing in better methodologies to train footballers aged 16 and under. By any measure, the plan and its execution have been a success. The number of total Canadians registered to play organized football now ranks tenth in the world (roughly doubling Canada’s hockey registration), the bid to host the women’s World Cup has been won, and there has been a significant increase in resources targeting under-16 programs.
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