Following a lost year for amateur sports in Canada, a coalition of sports organizations wants help from the federal government to rebuild programs lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canada Soccer, Curling Canada, Hockey Canada, Rugby Canada, Skate Canada and Tennis Canada are asking Ottawa to include $75 million in the April 19 federal budget to fund a sports recovery program to support grassroots initiatives.
“A partnership between the government of Canada and eligible NSOs [national sports organizations] will ensure the grassroots sport development programs that our organizations operate can be sustained when the safe return to sport is permitted,” the coalition said in a statement this week.
“Without federal support, these programs face grim prospects,” the statement says.
With the federal budget set for April 19, Canadian national sports organizations are hoping for some positive news. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Ulan)
Members of the coalition are optimistic about their chances of winning the funding, according to a report by Neil Davidson of The Canadian Press.
“We believe they’re hearing us,” said Peter Montopoli, general secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association.
Montopoli said the money would be used “for the development of sport to ensure we continue to invest in sport at the community level.”
The sports organizations say that collectively they had more than 100 events in 2020 cancelled or “at risk.”
They say the recovery program would be accessible to other national sports organizations, “provided they can demonstrate that cancelled events or operations due to COVID-19 public health restrictions has resulted in substantial lost revenues that are relied on to fund grassroots sport programming,”
“It really is about how do we get sport reactivated in Canada,” said Rugby Canada CEO Allen Vansen.
Brooklyn Peyton, centre, a high school rugby player with the Nova Scotia Keltics, is pictured during a 2018 tournament, (Larry Peyton Photography)
“It’s not about necessarily supporting our national team activities or events of that nature. We’re going to do what we have to do to make those programs work,” he said.
“It’s really about getting our registered participants back playing the game and getting more and more Canadians playing sport and active in sport again. And I think as a society and certainly as sport organizations we see that as a considerable risk for the Canadian society moving forward.”
Canada Soccer’s Montopoli said registration in his organization’s programs across the country fell approximately 80 per cent in 2020.
“That’s had a significant impact on our sport but more importantly [on] the communities,” he said.
Canada Soccer says registration in programs across the country fell by about 80 per cent in 2020. (Romrodphoto/Shutterstock)
“Basically no registration means no activity and no activity means no programming,” he added. “And we’re trying to reverse that.”
He said Canada Soccer lost $12 million to $14 million in revenues last year, a drop of 50 to 55 per cent.
Vansen said Rugby Canada’s gross revenue dropped some 50 per cent in 2020.
Gross revenue, he said was $8.7 million in 2020, down from just under $15 million in 2019 and $16.5 million in 2018.
The coalition says that while the six organizations have been impacted in different ways, they all rely predominantly on events, registration and commercial operations to fund sport participation programs.
With files from The Canadian Press (Neil Davidson)
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