The arrival of the new professional soccer team takes place in a context of real growth in women’s sport in recent years.
“The mission of the league is not just to develop players,” maintains Jean-François Crevier, co-founder of the Montreal club, ahead of The Press. But all women’s sport. The structure around. Give opportunities to referees, coaches, sports management professionals. »
“We would have tried to do this five years ago, I don’t know [si ça aurait fonctionné], adds his partner Isabèle Chevalier, at his side. But today is the time. We feel the momentum. There is enthusiasm, receptivity. People are ready, they want to support, to get on board. »
So, how does this project translate financially? In another text, we talk about the acquisition cost of a million. We are talking about the voluntary contribution of supporters, whose survey to determine their interest begins this Tuesday.
Diana Matheson, CEO of the six-team league that will begin in April 2025, says each team will have a payroll of $1.5 million. That’s more than the 1.2 million in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) for men’s soccer.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Diana Matheson
It is, however, a little below the 1.3 million US (1.7 million CAN) of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF).
In the NWSL, the American women’s soccer circuit, the payroll increased from 1.4 million US to 2.75 million US (3.7 million CAN) in 2024. The league has only grown since 2012, and can thus inspire its new Canadian counterpart.
“Above all, we want to create value,” says Mr. Crevier. […] So that women can earn a good living, and earn even more money. We want to create a business model that works and is sustainable in the future. That’s our challenge. That’s a bit what got us started with the project. »
On the podcast show The Pivotlast week, Mme Matheson indicated that investments, in addition to the acquisition cost, will need to be around 8 to 10 million to operate each of the teams over the next five years.
“It’s a ballpark [une estimation] which is not very far, confirms Mr. Crevier when asked about this. But we still keep our investments confidential. »
“10 years ahead”
In North America, according to Diana Matheson, there is the Canada–United States dynamic. The comparison with the NWSL is mentioned to him regularly. But the former player believes that Canada must compete with all countries on the globe for this global sport.
If she is well aware of the “weaknesses” of the Canadian market, she has also identified the major “strengths”.
“We don’t currently have a media market that pays a lot for broadcast rights,” says Matheson. She specifies that the league will take care of the production itself for the broadcast of the matches, then will find partners to broadcast them “to as many Canadians as possible”. An announcement on this subject will be made “in the coming weeks”.
“The country is big, there’s a lot of travel,” she continues. But we have the third largest pool of players in the world. »
We have sponsors from the business community who are ready to invest in women’s sports right now. This is a great asset for us. We are 10 years ahead of the rest of the world on this.
Diana Matheson
“It’s investors like these people,” she said, looking towards Chevalier and Crevier, “as well as the sponsors who make it possible to get started. There are no other avenues. It’s through them that it happens. »
For Isabèle Chevalier, the impression is that “everything is there”, that “we just have to leave it”. “It’s like we need to tie some strings to get it off the ground.” »
A presidency and sports management
The two co-founders of the Montreal club have not yet made a “formal approach” to repatriate players to Quebec. So it’s not today that you’ll read that striker Evelyne Viens, for example, is coming to wear Montreal colors!
On the other hand, they are in an “advanced process” to announce the structure of the club.
“There will be a presidency,” confirms Jean-François Crevier. We will be able to announce the sporting direction in the coming weeks. There will be the more corporate, administrative part. It’s a pretty standard structure. We worked with soccer experts. »
Amy Walsh, a former Canada player who is now a media personality also working with the CF Montreal women’s academy, was involved “personally” in the project, indicates the press release published this Tuesday morning. Advisor Patrick Boivin also took part in setting up the league and the team.
You will have noticed that there has still been no question of the name and identity of the club. It will come “in the coming weeks”, we are confirmed.
Help from Canada Soccer
Canada Soccer plans to help finance the league as the federation did for the PLC, indicates Diana Matheson. And this funding will be “fair”. “Kevin Blue, in his new role as general secretary, has been fantastic,” she said. They said they would help us no matter how. Blue is working hard to get this organization back on track and on solid footing. It’s a good partnership for us. »