Nuke Soccer - Pro Soccer Success, A Notion

Article Courtesy of: Gerry Gentile, Vaughan Soccer Club

Nuke Note: The CUSL Proposal, the Canadian United Soccer League Blueprint For Pro Soccer Success In Canada is available in PDF format here.

First a little bit of history. The CUSL committee was formed by the CSA as a result of a board meeting held on February 5, 2000 in Montreal, to discuss and debate the possibility of bringing back professional soccer to Canada. When KPMG revealed the results of their feasibility study to the board, many of us were disappointed, some of us were angry, and others felt that the report was very superficial. Regardless of how we felt, when everything was said and done, KPMG simply told us, that if we continued to do things the way we had in the past, then we were doomed to fail in our efforts to bring back professional soccer to this country. We could not argue with that simple fact.

Therefore a Working Group, which I was given the honor of chairing, was set-up to find a creative “new” approach to the problem. We were asked to review the findings of the KPMG report, to study the economics of soccer in Canada, and to provide a blueprint that would not only see professional soccer survive, but actually thrive in this country.

On November 15th we presented our blueprint, which the Board unanimously approved. However, another phase, called the pre-analytical phase, was recommended. In other words, the Board wanted another group to conduct a due diligence of the strategies, verify the major assumptions of the plan and to produce a target revenue and operating budget.

The due diligence report was presented on April 5th, and the green light was given to the working group to proceed with the plan’s implementation.

On December the 9th, we provided FIFA President, Mr. Sepp Blatter with a progress update confirming financial commitments made by firms to the CUSL project equaling an amount close to $5 million per year, providing we could deliver on our marketing proposal.

At this point I would like to clear up a popular misconception. Our main focus was not to create new teams and a new soccer league. No, our main focus was to create new revenue streams for our existing teams and leagues to enjoy, over and above traditional gate receipts. For this reason we had focused on the creation of a soccer specific marketing vehicle.

A marketing vehicle which Corporate Canada and other organizations would pay to use because it helped them reach and attract a demographic, which they had targeted and deemed strategically important. At the heart of the marketing vehicle was going to be a national database of registered soccer players, coaches, managers and administrators. From the marketing vehicle we would drive revenues from programs such as affinity cards, web portals, publishing rights agreements, sponsorship, promotions and merchandising.

These revenues could then be used to nurture, fund, grow, strengthen and most importantly, organize under one united structure, existing leagues and clubs into a pyramid of play which would include division one, two and three. As you can imagine this was not an easy task. Many levels of soccer, different geographies, a multitude of agendas both known and secretive, and literally a hundred different and passionate suggestions for how we should proceed came from the various associations, interested business organizations and existing clubs. Sadly, our inability as a soccer community to find a common ground and our unwillingness to work together and put a side personal agendas forced the project to come to a grinding halt.

So it was with sadness the other day that I read the Vince Ursini interview. Sadness because it is clear that our soccer leaders still cannot lead, still cannot provide us with a unified vision for the future of our game, and still refuse to work together. The CPSL and the USL franchise owners still seem to be fighting the battles to develop the pro game in Canada on their own. I agree with most of Vince’s ideas and suggestions. I feel his frustrations and share his notion that the USL and CPSL work together towards building a national division 1 and division 2 professional structure for Canada. The platforms are already in place, we do not need to reinvent the wheel, and should not waste time debating further whether or not we should have our own domestic or North American leagues. The USL and CPSL have the administrative infrastructure already in place which we should/could leverage much more cost effectively than creating a whole new entity.

Canada would be well served if it had 8 to 10 properly funded and supported A-League and W-League teams, complete with their own youth academy teams competing in the Super Y leagues. This should be our goal for division 1. Canada would also be well served if it had a CPSL West, East and Central League serving as our division 2. I would take it one step further and align each CPSL team with selected youth and A/W League clubs in their immediate districts. It is a simple but realistic plan, which could be implemented if we set proper objectives, strategies and tactics in place with specific time-lines with tasks assigned to people who would be held accountable.

Where will the money come from? Certainly not gate receipts. Let’s get that idea out of our heads now. A well respected data mining company recently studied and analyzed the demographics of soccer in Ontario and produced a document which confirmed that the purchasing power of soccer in this province alone to be in excess of $12 billion per year. If we could harness this potential, soccer would receive all the funding it needed to succeed from Corporate Canada … with or without packed stadiums. The longer we delay the more likely these potential revenues will be channeled to other sports and events.

In conclusion, once again, we need a Vision and a plan to see it become a reality by a specific date. We need cooperation from the associations towards building the incremental revenue streams through entrepreneurial partnerships. Lets embrace the USL and CPSL once and for all and develop a sense of urgency to help them not only survive but actually thrive nationally.