CHL : Does League Take Advantage of Players?

[Chef de Cuisine]

What do you guys think of this?

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[DiggerD]

They get $200/mth spending money, they also get room and board paid for ($500) get their equipment paid for ($450/mth avg out), sticks paid for ($400-500/mth), meals on the road, transportation, books, etc., and many get their education paid for. If the CHL is ripping them off, what are leagues like the GMHL, CPJHL, etc doing? Not only are the players there not getting their $200/mth, they are paying to be there.
Yes, there are teams with rabid fan bases making big money, but there are also CHL teams that struggle to make ends meet. A team like Owen Sound may bring in $1.9M per season if they sell 2500 tickets per game, but they are spending $100000 on room and board, $75000-100000 on ice, $25000 on game officials, $55000 on sticks, $100000 on equipment, $300000 on coaches and team staff, add buses, hotels, advertising, education, insurance, office staff.......and the $35000 in allowances.... My kid is currently playing Junior (not in the CHL), and talking to an executive member opened my eyes. We were discussing budgets, and what it would cost to pick up another player for playoffs. He informed me that it cost them $350/player for league insurance, $500/mth for room and board per player, $5000 for jerseys, $25000 for sticks, $5000 for trainers supplies, $70000 for ice. When they sign a player, they pay for a release from a team above, or pay a fee to the organization below that he came from. A Junior C team runs on a budget of approx. $175000, a Jr B team $250000-300000, a Jr A team $300000-500000, and he said the CHL Budget is $1M-1.5M.
So, they currently pay $200 each month in spending money and another $1500/mth in expenses. The claim is that is a little more than $1 an hour. Paying these guys minimum wage adds approx $45000 in expenses each month per team, over $300000 a year. That kind of additional cost could ruin 10 OHL teams that average 3000 fans or less, would put a cramp in another 8 budgets for the teams that average 3000-5000 fans a game. Kitchener and London would average enough that it would have little affect on them. In the WHL, Kootenay would be destroyed, since they average under 2200 fans per game. 4 more teams are in that under 3000 range, 12 teams sit in the 3000-5000 fan range, teetering on financial success, and 5 average over 5000.

 

[BadgerBruce]

If you read the court documents filed in Alberta and Ontario as part of the 2 court-approved class action lawsuits (no ruling yet in Quebec), you will be able to see that the single largest expense for every single WHL and OHL club that provided financial documents is executive salaries.

In several cases (e.g., Brent Sutter in Red Deer), the reported club attendance figures are far below average but the Team President (aka the owner) draws an annual salary substantially higher than most university presidents. Generally, money losing businesses do not pay 7-figure salaries to anyone, but the CHL clubs are clearly not typical businesses.

All of which does not mean that the players are being taken advantage of. Please note that I did not write that. But when 1 individual draws an annual salary greater than the total annual expense for 23 carded players, there’s no question that the CHL does not take advantage of Team Presidents.

 

[Savard18]

I get it. I also get the executive pay angle. I'd ask though, of all the legitimate, realistic routes to an NHL career is a kid better taken care of and taken advantage of less?

 

[BadgerBruce]

I get it. I also get the executive pay angle. I'd ask though, of all the legitimate, realistic routes to an NHL career is a kid better taken care of and taken advantage of less?

That’s a fair question to pose.

In my experience, the answer is that the Canadian Hockey League (the umbrella corporation) consists of 3 regional leagues with 60 total franchises located in 9 Canadian provinces and 4 US states.

These 60 franchises are commercial entities and no two are exactly alike. Some have lengthy records of developing players for the professional game, some have not developed a single first round NHL draft pick in over a decade.

Some have well-earned reputations for treating players like gold, while others have released players via text message. Some have skills coaches on staff who are highly respected and successful, while others refuse to pay goalie coaches more than a token amount.

So, it seems reasonable to suggest that playing for the Calgary Hitmen, Quebec Remparts or London Knights will be an experience quite different from playing for Kootenay Ice, Acadia-Bathurst Titan, or North Bay Battalion. If one wishes to eventually play in the NHL, there are USHL and European teams with stronger track records of success than several of the CHL teams I listed.

No two CHL teams are alike, and to my mind individual organizations do (or do not) offer the most realistic opportunity to advance to the professional level.

 

[Al Camino]

Why didn't the reporter as why Lucas Walter went to camp a CHL team a) without a parent and b) signed a CHL player agreement without knowing what would happen if he did.

Couldn't decide where to go to school after 18 months??? He had 3 years to figure it out. Something tells me he probably wasn't going to go regardless.

 

[e14]

Just to add a different angle... Would any other business get away with saying they pay room and board plus $200 per month for full time work?

If my reason for allowing this was I provide work experience to get to next level and I can't afford to pay any more?

If this was a farm with immigrant workers we'd shut them down.

Take off the hockey dream googles and view this like a judge might

Just my 2 cents... Fyi I prefer life with hockey dream googles on!