CPL Announces 25% Player Salary Deferrals, Staff Wage Reductions

The Canadian Premier League was due to kick off its second season this past weekend, but like other sports leagues around the globe, the league has found itself put on hold amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted life for all. With the virus causing unprecedented financial burden on individuals and companies alike, Canadian Premier League commissioner David Clanachan has just announced the tough decision to implement salary and wage reductions on a league-wide scale.

Today, David Clanachan has announced that the league will be deferring 25% of player wages until an undetermined date, while coaches, technical staff, club and league employees will take undisclosed wage reductions while the season remains suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

The reductions, he says, will mean that the league can continue to retain employees rather than having to undergo a round of layoffs.

Here’s the official release from the Canadian Premier League itself:

The Canadian Premier League and its member Clubs have been working hard to minimize the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our business. We were scheduled to start our season on April 11, but were unable to do so. Despite our best efforts, we are now having to make adjustments to our operations including the wages of our hard working and passionate players, coaches and employees. Players will have 25% of their contracts deferred, while coaches, technical staff, and Club and League employees will take wage reductions during this challenging time in order to keep as many people as possible employed.

David Clanachan

Some players have told Northern Tribune that they were not informed of the wage deferral until a few minutes before the announcement went public, while others who missed the memo found out over social media.

Clanachan closed out the somber statement by reiterating the same reassurances from last week, stating that the Canadian Premier League will still be standing when the pandemic situation resolves, and that brighter days would be ahead for Canada’s only domestic professional football league.

We thank our dedicated players, coaches, and staff for helping us share the weight of these difficult challenges and we look forward to starting our season and welcoming back our amazing fans when authorities say it is safe to do so.

David Clanachan

Canadian Premier League clubs had been a few weeks into their preseason training camps when the Canada Soccer Assocation ordered the immediate suspension of all sanctioned soccer activities, effectively postponing the season until further notice.

It’s still ultimately unclear when a sense of normalcy will return to Canada, which is expected to hit its peak of COVID-19 cases in mid-April. The months afterward will likely involve a slow and meticulous reduction in distancing, which leaves plenty of uncertainty as to how the 2020 season schedule could be amended to make things work.

In the meantime, the league has been engaging with fans through the digital medium: this past weekend the CPL hosted a livestream of the inaugural match, with several high quality YouTube productions also being published of late. There’s also a new version of the eCPL which features rostered CPL players and eSports athletes, along with plenty of OneSoccer interview coverage occurring, too.

Earlier today, York9 FC also announced a unique Healthcare Heroes initiative that allows fans to purchase official York9 FC kits with a specialized healthcare-related emblem attached, with proceeds of such kit sales going to the Mackenzie Health Hospital’s COVID-19 Response Fund.