Canada Soccer sponsor offers financial support to resolve dispute with women’s team

GE Appliances says it’s offering sponsorship money in hopes of helping resolve the labour impasse between Canada Soccer and the ladies’s national team.

The corporate sent a letter to interim Canada Soccer president Charmaine Crooks expressing its “deep concern” regarding the dispute between the 2 sides and said it’s prepared to place up $100,000 “in incremental sponsorship activation funding, explicitly targeted to support the ladies’s team program.”

The quantity is additional money to GE Appliances’ existing sponsorship of Canada Soccer.

“I believe this dispute between Canada Soccer and the ladies’s national team had gone on for a good period of time,” chief brand officer Bob Park told The Canadian Press. “We actually desired to become involved, really to be a positive force in soccer.

“We’re really in soccer for one big reason, and we would like to be often known as a real corporate supporter of the sport in Canada. In an effort to do this, we would like to align with a partner, on this case Canada Soccer, and we expect that our brand values are shared they usually exhibit those values of their actions.

“Of late, that’s been just a little bit more of a challenge, so we desired to offer up some solutions.”

The move comes 4 days after Canada Soccer and the ladies’s team agreed in principle upon an interim deal on compensation for 2022.

The edges have been at odds for a while, with the ladies’s team happening job motion in February before quickly returning to the pitch on account of Canada Soccer threatening legal motion. The team competed on the SheBelieves Cup in protest shortly after.

Crooks was named interim president on March 1 following Nick Bontis’s resignation from his post, acknowledging “this moment requires change.”

With the ladies having said more must be done to realize labour peace and the Women’s World Cup coming up in July, Park believes the time is now to settle things.

“The time for us all to point out up, for our sport and its players, is now,” he said within the letter. “Our players and our teams have never seen more success. And the chance to grow the gorgeous game in Canada has never been greater.”

Park, who said he spoke with Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane regarding the financial offer and it being directed to the ladies’s team, hopes other sponsors could take part to assist.

“(It’s) really to encourage other sponsors or potential sponsors or current sponsors to come back forward and pitch in as well.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2023.