What’s happened?
Canadian Soccer Business (CSB), the commercial arm of Canada Soccer, announced an update of the governing body’s commercial rights after receiving a raft of questions from media and stakeholders about the pair’s agreement.
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The mounting enquiries followed the Canadian national men’s and women’s soccer teams' public questioning of the arrangement between the two parties, culminating in the Canadian Soccer Players Association (CSPA) filing a $40 million lawsuit against Canada Soccer’s board members in February 2024.
The lawsuit centered on Canada Soccer’s controversial 10-year deal with Canadian Soccer Business (CSB), a new entity established in March 2018 to represent the commercial assets, including sponsorship and broadcast deals, for the national teams through 2028.
Since CSB began handling commercial properties for Canada Soccer, high-profile companies including Carlsberg, Visa, Canadian Club, Gatorade, and GE Appliances have been added as partners.
Canada Soccer does not hold an ownership stake in CSB but was paid a set amount each year, around $3 million to $4 million, with the rest used by CSB to help fund the growing top-tier Canadian Premier League (CPL).
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By GlobalDataThe lawsuit said that the yearly fee increased “only slightly over the initial nine years of the CSB agreement and not at all during the 10-year renewal period,” while “all other revenue generated by CSB in respect of the national teams is retained by CSB.”
The men’s and women’s teams only found out about the deal the year prior when negotiating their respective collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), with the players stating they were never formally informed about the initial deal or details of its financial arrangements.
Explaining its role last week, CBS said the partnership represented a “third-party rightsholder relationship” whereby it shares revenue gained by selling sponsorship and broadcast deals, adding its arrangement is not dissimilar to the deal between the US Soccer Federation and Soccer United Marketing that ran from 2004 to 2022.
Citing questions being raised about the deal’s fairness and viability, CSB said it has now entered “good faith negotiations” with Canada Soccer to hash out a new agreement “that better reflects a fair and appropriate sharing of the value of Canada Soccer’s commercial rights.”
It added: “We are not able to mention the specific deal points at this time. In general, topics being discussed include how the partnership is governed, how revenue is shared between the parties, the breadth of rights and assets that comprise the partnership, and ways to increase broadcast distribution and visibility of the national teams.”
The wider picture
Canada Soccer has had a tumultuous relationship with its men’s and women’s national teams, with both sides embroiled in bitter labor talks at various points in the past five years.
What started as bubbling tensions behind the scenes turned into a public spat in June 2022 when the men’s team boycotted a planned friendly against Panama, citing “unnecessarily prolonged” talks over their new CBA.
At the time, players said they wanted 40% of World Cup prize money, a friends and family travel package, and an “equitable structure with our women’s national team that shares the same player match fees, percentage of prize money earned at our respective FIFA World Cups, and the development of a women’s domestic league."
The men’s national team subsequently formed a players’ association, the Canadian Men’s National Soccer Team Players Association (CMNSTPA), to continue the negotiations. The new body covers players who have been called into any men’s national team camp since January 2021.
The women’s team followed suit a year later, threatening to strike during the annual SheBelieves Cup due to budget cuts, equal pay issues, and an overall lack of support from Canada Soccer.
The women’s team, represented by the Canadian Soccer Players Association (CSPA), ended up calling off the strike but were supported by the men’s team, who piled on the pressure by calling for a change of leadership if “Canada Soccer is not willing to take immediate action to respond to the players’ demands and concerns.”
In isolation, the threats and callouts were a normal part of labor negotiations, with far worse seen in higher-profile sports leagues, including basketball’s NBA and WNBA.
Canada Soccer ended up reaching an interim funding agreement with the women’s team after an escalation between the two parties saw Nick Bontis resign as president of the national governing body.
However, far from the issue being put to bed, the negotiations unearthed the agreement between Canada Soccer and CSB, leading to the women’s union digging deeper and filing its lawsuit.
The furor that ensued led to the Canadian government’s Heritage Committee wading in, with senior executives from Canada Soccer hauled in front of the committee to explain how the organization is governed and its opaque contract with CSB, while also hearing testimony from four women’s national team players.
Along with questions over its transparency, CSB was accused of failing to canvas the market for competing bids, failing to conduct appropriate diligence concerning the fair market value of Canada Soccer’s media and sponsorship rights, and failing to make adequate disclosures to the membership of Canada Soccer.
It was also claimed that the board failed to follow necessary approval processes after members retroactively approved the CSB agreement in February 2019, leading to five members reportedly voicing concern over the process.
Following the hearing, the CSB expressed its willingness to amend its deal with Canada Soccer, with CSB’s then-chief executive Mark Noonan saying the company was being proactive in engaging the governing body to renegotiate the contract.
What’s next?
To reset its relationship and reputation, CSB appointed former Football Australia head James Johnson as its new group chief executive in May 2025, to replace outgoing Mark Noonan, who doubled as commissioner of the CPL and chief executive of CSB.
Johnson now heads up both the CSB and CPL, while also sitting on the board of OneSoccer, the soccer streaming service that was set up as a joint venture with sports rights agency Mediapro and CSB.
Last month, Canada Soccer’s chief executive and general secretary said the governing body had reached a “framework” for its long-awaited labor agreement with its men’s and women’s national teams, but stipulated that officially signing off on the new deals is contingent on a reworked agreement with CSB.
Shortly after, Johnson said the reworked deal was close to completion, adding: “We're in a great spot. We're not there yet, but we're not too far off. [An agreement] will definitely be in place before the World Cup. I'm hoping it's much earlier than the World Cup.”
As a co-host of the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside the US and Mexico, Canada has been awarded automatic qualification into the tournament, which is due to run from June 11 to July 19.
The men’s national team are currently sitting at 26th in FIFA’s global soccer rankings – the highest the team has ever reached – with highly regarded coach in Jesse Marsch and players that compete in top European clubs, including Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Jonathan David (Juventus), Alistair Johnston (Celtic), Stephen Eustaquio (Porto) and Tajon Buchanan (Villarreal).
Canada’s women’s team won Olympic gold in 2021 and is ranked ninth in the world. The team’s talisman, Olivia Smith, became the first £1 million signing in women’s soccer after joining Arsenal from Liverpool last year.
Soccer, meanwhile, is the highest participation sport in Canada, with almost one million registered players, and CSB will be looking to capitalize on the upcoming men’s World Cup, as well as the women’s edition in 2027, to grow the domestic game and increase its revenue.
Its full ownership of OneSoccer after the Mediapro agency departed in 2024 has been cited as one of the ways CSB is looking to capture new domestic audiences and increase its income.
That service has rights to Canadian national team matches in Concacaf competitions such as the Nations League and the Gold Cup, as well as the CPL and, most recently, Germany’s top-tier Bundesliga, but is looking to increase its portfolio with more premium competitions, including rights to the English Premier League currently held by Fubo TV.
Canada Soccer’s long-term deal with Nike, meanwhile, is due to expire this year, with CSB confident of its position ahead of negotiations. Back when the pair’s original agreement was struck, the men’s team was ranked 78th in the FIFA rankings, while the team’s visibility at the upcoming World Cup and star players will give CSB a strong platform to increase its fees.
In October, CSB published its vision for the future of the game in Canada, citing Johnson’s arrival 100 days prior as “a moment to reset direction, strengthen collaboration, and define how the organizations that best contribute to the game’s next chapter.”
Touted as a ‘living document’ that will continue to evolve through consultations with the Canadian soccer stakeholders, the CSB plans to launch an updated version later this year to serve as a framework for how CSB operates and how its impact can be assessed going forward.
Johnson said of the document: “It sets out who we are, what we stand for, and how we can be measured as we move forward.
“This is just the beginning,” Johnson said. “We want to listen and learn. This Vision is about transparency and partnership, about inviting others to help us shape how CSB can add the most value to Canadian soccer’s future.”
