Gentile’s Vision For Soccer In Canada
By Gerry Gentile
In this four part series, the former chair of the CSA Working Group and the man who presented the CUSL Blueprint to Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, speaks out for an alternative vision for soccer in Canada. Gerry Gentile has co-founded 5 successful high tech businesses which have sold over $10 billion worth of products and services globally.
The 5 Step Strategic Plan – Always qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals
• HIRE a world class CEO with a brilliant resume of corporate success and a rich knowledge of soccer.
Sounds like I’m dreaming, however, during my 20 year involvement in youth soccer I have met many top notch executives and CEO’s passionate about the game and with children participating at elite levels. I would look for a CEO thinking of a career change. A CEO who is already financially independent and would take the job not for the money but for the challenge.
• ALLOW the CEO to assemble his or her own non elected business board to function parallel to the executive board Another committee.
Another white paper, another resolution, another strategic plan or another $10 million will not change the results we’ve been achieving in Canada until we find a way to attract the business knowledge and resources the CSA requires, without needing them to spend 10 to 20 years getting elected from the club board to the district board and then to the provincial board and eventually the CSA’s board.
These highly successful people who want and could help the CSA cannot afford the time required to become elected members of the CSA board, nor will they have the patience to deal with all the nuances of volunteer boards and the bureaucratic way they get things done.
We need to recruit experts in marketing, sales, finance, merchandising, facility development, and government lobbying; people with networks of influential contacts which could be leveraged to assist the CSA’s business objectives.
• ESTABLISH a network of 20 low cost national training centers over a five year period — 10 in Western Canada and 10 in Eastern Canada.
By building new facilities, by leveraging existing facilities or by a combination of the two, the CSA needs to build a national infrastructure of linked training centers designed to expose our brightest talent at the youngest possible age to best in class coaching and training techniques in best in class facilities and tested with against best in class competition.
These centers can be built for $2 million or less and I recommend building them in partnership with high schools across Canada, who can use the facilities by day. This would allow for the eventual coordination of day time training for national youth players encouraged to attend those schools.
• HIRE 20 UEFA “A” licensed international coaches to administer the national player development curriculum at each of the 20 national training centers.
Replacing Dale Mitchell, one man, with another person, and to expect results to change simply makes no sense and has been proven to be just a short term solution and a long term failure.
We need a team of professional international coaches across Canada, not one, to train our brightest young talent 5 days a week. Bonuses should be paid to the staff of training centers when their players sign professional contracts.
Each facility’s international technical director would be required to train 20 of the best Canadian apprentice coaches from clubs or academies surrounding the national training center.
These apprentices would also be required to scout the areas they serve for new young talent and insure those players are identified and exposed to the national training curriculum. The apprentice coaches would also be required to conduct regular coaching sessions for club and academy youth coaches across each province.
With this plan Canada would develop an additional 400 world class coaches in less than 10 years.
• ESTABLISH a fully funded National Amateur Soccer League.
Borrowing from the French association’s example, this league would be restricted to national training center teams, reserve teams from professional clubs or elite leagues (CSL) and youth club and academy programs who meet a high standard of imposed and audited requirements. American teams in close proximity to national training centers who meet the league’s high standards should be admitted as well.
Following Houllier’s theory of developing world class youth players so they can play in professional leagues in North America and around the world should be the main goal of the training centers, the international coaches and the NASL.
How to Fund the Strategic Plan
Corporate Canada Market Background
Two thirds of the Canadian economy relies on consumer spending.
Corporate Canada invests over $1.2 billion per year to influence that spending in hopes of creating buying habits and brand preferences for their company’s products.
50% of all advertising in Canada is directed towards those 25 years and under because studies have shown that buying habits and brand preferences are solidified by age 25.
Prior to the web, satellite/digital television, personal video recorders (PVR’s), video games, MP3 players, handheld consoles, smart phones and social networks, Corporate Canada could reach this valuable demographic by simply advertising on a handful of popular television and radio programs.
However with the vast amount of entertainment choices available today, the target market has become very fragmented, and more difficult to reach through all the digital noise and less predictable in their whereabouts.
The predictability, repetitiveness, passion and loyalty of the soccer demographic, combined with its size and purchasing power make it very desirable for Corporate Canada to direct a significant portion of their advertising budgets towards youth soccer.
The $25 Billion Demographic
In December of 2003, a data mining company was hired by one of my companies to conduct a database mining exercise on the Ontario soccer community. The goal was to determine its purchasing power and to develop a detailed profile of the demographic.
We were surprised to learn that the blue collar image of the soccer market was nothing more than a myth in Canada.
Not only did the marketing research confirm that the Ontario soccer community had a purchasing power of $14 billion, but that the soccer demographic was above the national average for education, disposable income, home ownership, senior executive positions, size of household, and techno savvy.
When the information was extrapolated for all of Canada it was safe to assume the national purchasing power of the soccer demographic exceeded $25 billion.
This market, with its Cana-code 1 “Top Gun” rating and high degree of predictability and reachabilty (club locations, practice and game schedules), is a corporate partner’s dream opportunity — if only a marketing vehicle existed to help leverage that market for increased market share and brand recognition, through various marketing initiatives.
This is a revenue stream that has been totally under valued by the soccer associations and the CSA, especially when you compared to the Chinese demographic in Ontario.
The Chinese demographic has a purchasing of $9 billion in Ontario, $5 billion less than Ontario soccer.
Yet while soccer enjoys very little corporate Canada support, companies spend close to $20 million in Ontario to reach the Chinese demographic via their 3 daily newspapers, 5 Chinatown billboards, 2 television channels, and the many award ceremonies and banquet functions.
This presents soccer with a major opportunity for additional revenue.
Revenue Streams
• CREATE a CSA Marketing Vehicle
Corporate Canada had already confirmed to the CSA Pro Soccer Working Group (which I chaired) that they would be willing to provide soccer with all the funding they required as long as soccer could demonstrate how the companies could increase their market share and brand awareness within the valuable soccer demographic. The purpose of the Marketing Vehicle would be to create programs where the membership, the CSA and Corporate Canada all win.
· Affinity Programs (discount, prizes & points card)
· Advertising properties
º CSA Web Radio Broadcasts
º Facility naming rights
º Field signage
º Jersey
º Merchandising
º Web site
· National soccer raffle/lottery
· Product placement & sampling
Many of the CUSL’s marketing ideas would still be relevant. Rather than repeat them, you can view the Blueprint here (pdf).
• USE the $10 Registration Levy Increase to create a $75 million Capital Fund with a financial institution.
The $8 million increase would support a $75 million mortgage amortized over 25 years, for the construction of the 20 facilities and infrastructure. This amount could go higher if partnered with matching funds from local and provincial governments.
At today’s rates, interest and principal payments would be approximately $6 million per year for a 25 year term. The additional $2 to $4 million should be kept in a separate capital account as a backup for any shifts in registration forecasts.
A project such as this would create legacy facilities which will benefit all levels of soccer for many decades.
