Canadian Soccer Business (CSB) and Mediapro have terminated their agreement for the rights to broadcast Canadian soccer.
This means the Canadian national soccer teams, Canadian Premier League (CPL), Canadian Championship and CONCACAF Champions Cup do not have an official broadcast home in the country.
The two sides initially signed a 10-year deal in 2019, giving the Barcelona-based company Mediapro exclusive rights to broadcast Canadian soccer. With this, Mediapro created OneSoccer, an exclusive subscriber-based channel for soccer in Canada.
CSB filed a notice of action against Mediapro on Jan. 25, saying the latter failed to deliver on contractual obligations.
These obligations include defaulting on rights fees in 2023, and “failure to secure” bigger audiences for the Canadian national teams, CPL and Canadian Championship.
“Our decision to pursue legal action was not one we took lightly, but we felt it was necessary to protect the tremendous investments we have made to build the game in Canada,” CSB said in a statement.
However, Mediapro filed a statement of claim towards the CSB, saying the company is “unable” to support its side of the agreement.
“We have made our best efforts to work with the CSB on a constructive path forward, but have come to a position that we have no choice but to seek to terminate our agreement,” Mediapro said in its statement.
Mediapro said it believes “no entity” has put more investment into Canadian soccer than itself.
This move leaves Canadian soccer without a broadcast rights holder, but CSB said it will “immediately” look for a new broadcaster.
“By taking back full control of our rights we will immediately have the opportunity to do so with new partners who have the ability to reach large audiences,” the CSB statement said.
Canadian soccer fans are unsure on whether this move will be an immediate success.
With no known broadcaster immediately lined up, there’s still potential for Canadian soccer games to not be aired anywhere.
With both national teams having games in the early spring, as well as the CPL and Canadian Championship starting soon after them, there’s the possibility that Canadian soccer fans could be unable to watch these games.
Additionally, these programs have long-term viability concerns if the CSB runs into issues finding a new broadcast rightsholder, as both rely heavily on the funding that a broadcaster gives them.
Canadian soccer supporter Evan Robinson said he’s not sure how much of an effect the move will have on Canadian soccer, but remains optimistic.
“I did read that the CSB has a plan in place,” he said. “So to me, I see that as a sign that the CPL will continue.”
Mediapro has previously run into issues with broadcast partnerships, as in 2020 the broadcaster failed to pay its rights fee installments to the French Football Federation.