Canadian Soccer Business has been ‘misunderstood’

Canadian Soccer Business, the little-known entity that represents Canada Soccer’s corporate partnerships and broadcast rights among other assets, is tired of getting slagged.

And it says it wants to help the Canadian men’s and women’s teams, who have lambasted both Canada Soccer and its deal with CSB during increasingly testy labour negotiations.

“CSB has been misunderstood,” said Mark Noonan, who doubles as CEO of Canadian Soccer Business and commissioner of the Canadian Premier League.

“Probably we haven’t done a good job of telling people what CSB is all about — the ways that we are contributing to the growth of soccer in Canada and the investments that we’ve made. It’s time for us to do a better job of telling our story in a very transparent way.”

CSB essentially markets Canada’s soccer product, on the field and off, via broadcast and sponsorship agreements. It pays the governing body a set amount each year with the rest helping fund the Canadian Premier League.

CSB issued a rare public statement Monday evening, presenting its case. It said its investors — the owners of the eight CPL teams — have invested close to $100 million “in the development of the game.”

“No investor in CSB has ever taken a distribution,” it added.

And it said it has offered “several times over the past year, and as recently as last month,” to provide “incremental” resources to Canada Soccer.

“We want to solve problems,” Noonan told The Canadian Press on Tuesday.

“We want to be an ally for the success of our national teams. When our national teams do well, it’s good for business.”