Why Canada Matters Right Now - Part One

Why Canada Matters Right Now

A simple guide to their football model

I have been reading about developments in Canadian football and at first it seemed distant from Tasmania.

But two things made me look more closely.

Canada is co-hosting the next World Cup.

And the chief executive of their commercial football company is James Johnson, who used to run Football Australia.

So this is not abstract.

It is part of the same global conversation about how football is funded and governed.

Before forming opinions, we need to understand the structure.

The key organisation

Much of the business side of football in Canada is handled by a company called
Canadian Soccer Media and Entertainment.

It works alongside Canada Soccer and the Canadian Premier League.

It also licenses content to the streaming service OneSoccer.

So one commercial hub sells media rights, sponsorships, and marketing for large parts of Canadian football.

Instead of many small deals, they bundle them together.

Think of it as the shopfront for Canadian football.

When and why this company was created

The commercial arm was created around 2018 as part of launching the Canadian Premier League and finding long-term funding for professional football in Canada.

Canada wanted a stable domestic league.

Bundling rights into one company was seen as a way to attract broadcasters, sponsors and investors.

That structure is now being expanded.

What rights does this company control?

The commercial company does more than sell league sponsorships.

It handles commercial activity for national teams and the Canadian Premier League.

It has agreements connected to competitions run by Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and content deals involving leagues such as the Bundesliga and the National Women's Soccer League all feeding into OneSoccer.

So it is not just a sponsorship agency.

It is a media rights hub.

That scale is what attracts investors.

Why they want investors now

Canada is hosting World Cup matches in 2026.

Participation in football is growing strongly.

The domestic league is still young.

So the company wants capital to:

• expand the Canadian Premier League
• buy more media rights
• grow its marketing arm
• build a larger streaming audience

That timing explains why a commercial structure like this becomes important.

Does Canada have promotion and relegation?

No, not at the top level.

The Canadian Premier League is a closed league of eight clubs.

There is no automatic promotion into it from lower leagues.

Below it are provincial semi-professional competitions but they are not connected to the CPL by pro-rel.

Canada is a huge country with very long travel distances.

Stability is important for investors and clubs.

So structurally Canada is closer to Australia than to England.

Canada’s clubs in Major League Soccer

Canada also has three clubs playing in Major League Soccer

• Toronto FC
• Vancouver Whitecaps FC
• CF Montréal

These clubs compete in the Canadian domestic cup, the
Canadian Championship, against CPL teams.

So Canada does not have one neat pyramid.

The Australia comparison

The A-League Men and A-League Women are also closed leagues.

They include New Zealand clubs such as
Wellington Phoenix FC
and
Auckland FC.

So Australia, like Canada, already runs a cross-border league structure.

Neither country looks like England.

Both are building football across huge geography with smaller football markets.

Not without controversy

The earlier commercial arrangement in Canada led to disputes with players over transparency and revenue sharing.

That is not unusual.

Any system that centralises money needs strong trust and clear communication.

Canada is still working through those questions.

Why this matters

Canada has created a company that bundles national team rights, league rights, and media content into one commercial platform.

Now it wants investors to buy into that platform.

That is a big structural choice.

It changes who holds power in football.

It raises questions about transparency, governance and how money flows through the game.

Those questions are not just Canadian.

They appear everywhere football is trying to grow.

Including here.

What comes next

In the next post I want to look at why an executive like James Johnson moved from a federation role into this commercial structure and what that tells us about where football’s power is heading.

Because understanding the model is only the first step.

Understanding who it serves is the next.

Continue Reading

If this piece resonated, you might also like these reflections on football governance and community life.

• Master and Servant – Paying to be Governed

Thank you for reading and for caring about football in Tasmania.