Statement from the CHL
Calgary – Late last year, as part of the class action lawsuit, the court ordered the production of the financial documents of the teams in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). It is not ideal to have the finances of the mostly privately held organizations made public, while we respect the decision of the court, this does not change our position with regards to the class action lawsuit.
In terms of the financial information, we have known all along, that the plaintiff’s characterization of the team finances would be shown to be untrue and that our financial documents support our position. These financials and the analysis reinforce that overall the leagues are not overly profitable and in any given year, the majority of CHL Clubs either breakeven or lose money.
We believe that this class action lawsuit is fundamentally misconceived and misunderstands the nature of amateur sport, including junior hockey, in Canada. Our objective is to provide support to allow players to progress in hockey as far as talent and work ethic can allow while providing much needed financial support for an education.