Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “.
Yesterday we talked about the latest lawsuit facing the Canadian Hockey League which in essence claimed Junior players spend years playing for ” nominal sums of money, all to the financial advantage of the defendants.”
I don’t have all the financial figures at my finger tips, but allow me to do some guesstimating.
Every year that a player competes in the Ontario Hockey League, he’s compensated with books & tuition at the post secondary institution closest to his home.
We’ll ball park that at $ 9,000 and multiply that total by the number of years the player competes, which for some could boost the total in excess of $ 45,000 over the course of a Junior career.
There are also considerations in place for OHL Priority Selection first round draft picks, who essentially get double that amount; so that could be anywhere from $ 40-90 grand, again depending on the years of service.
My understanding is that every player receives a stipend in the neighbourhood of $ 500 per month. Multiply that by 7 to 9 months a year and what’s the total there ? Somewhere between $ 3,000 and $ 5,000.
If you’re an overage player, the monthly compensation in your final year is almost double that amount.
So again, ballparking, a first round OHL pick who played an overage season, for example Markus Phillips, by my rough calculations would have made close to $ 130,000 between a school package and monthly compensation.
By the way, the players also get $ 1,000 per Summer for development costs like a fitness trainer or special camps.
Plus, the player doesn’t pay for skates, in some cases an elite player, like Petrus Palmu or Nick Suzuki, would easily burn through a pair in a season.
Nor does the player pay for equipment, lodging, transportation or basic food needs; breakfast, lunch and supper.
You may consider this payment structure ” nominal “.
I don’t.
And if I’m even close to being accurate with the numbers, I think for a gifted teenage hockey player it’s a pretty sweet deal.
In fact, maybe, just maybe, the CHL and it’s member leagues would be better off paying the players minimum wage and then thrusting all the expenses onto the players, their families and their lawyers.
I’m Fred Wallace