🤝 Meet Kevin Blue. He’s the CEO and General Secretary of Canada Soccer, the sport’s national governing body. He took time out of his hectic World Cup schedule to field some questions about what his role entails, how he got into sports administration, and how to grow soccer in Canada.
What are the main roles of being CEO and General Secretary of Canada Soccer?
General Secretary is the international term in soccer and a few other sports for the person that's in charge of the operation, and it's distinct from the board chair. So that's more of a nomenclature thing than anything. But my job is, essentially, to be the chief executive in the organization and work with and lead the staff who carry out the responsibilities of Canada Soccer — which are broad in terms of its oversight and leadership of the sport in Canada.
How does one get into sports administration? It feels like a rather unconventional career.
I think that sports as a career on the business side is increasingly popular as the industry modernizes, and there are a number of entry points. There are specific post-secondary education programs now that train people specifically for sports business. [My path] is a little unconventional; I went to school to be a sports psychologist and ended up being better at the business side, and that's what I ended up doing.
You were a collegiate level golfer, the captain of Stanford's team, no less, and used to work at Golf Canada. Were you also a soccer fan before coming to Canada Soccer?
I was a follower of teams, but I'm definitely unconventional in the sense that I come from outside of a high-performance soccer environment. My training was developed in U.S. college sports where I learned a lot about how to lead an organization that operates in sport and capably manage the business side of it. I think I'd be the first to tell you that I'm not a high-performance technical soccer expert, and that's why we have very capable sporting leadership and head coaches.
Canada Soccer recently received $9.8 million from the federal government for a National Training Centre. Can you tell me the significance of this investment and the project?
In general, there's opportunity for the infrastructure of high-performance sport across Canada to improve, and specifically in the sport of soccer. While many Canadians may feel like, ‘Hey, there's a soccer field at every school,’ there's a significant difference between a soccer field at a school and a pitch and training facility that is suitable for playing the sport competitively. And the federal government, through the Build Communities Strong Fund, has expressed its support of our National Training Centre project, especially the planning and development stages of it.
That project is going to be a legacy of the federation being a part of the hosting responsibilities of the World Cup, and we're excited to build that project in the next few years as we execute a request for proposals process and move down the path of getting the project funded and constructed.
What do you see as the biggest challenge right now to growing the sport in Canada?
It’s already the biggest sport in the country in terms of participation, which is highly positive. For there to be further growth, there are a few things that need to happen. One is, as I mentioned, the facility and infrastructure supply at every level continues to increase so there's enough volume and quality facilities to further foster participation. Second, from a commercial and cultural perspective, soccer's still maturing, meaning that compared to the participation levels, it's still a sport that is underexposed in the Canadian media. We’re hopeful that the World Cup this summer will be a catalyzing event to help grow the penetration of soccer from a media and cultural perspective.
Can you tell me about the Canada Soccer House initiative in Toronto and North Vancouver?
Soccer House is the free-to-access location for Canadian fans to gather in the cities where the World Cup is being played. There's also a satellite location in Halifax, so it'll be coast to coast, as it were. These events are open starting on June 11 and it should be a super fun gathering place for Canadian fans to come not only support Canada but enjoy broadcasts and gatherings for all the games that are available on the days that the facilities are open to the public.
Are there any lessons that you learned as a high level athlete you’ve taken with you into the business world?
Preparation. Consistency. Understanding that there are things that you can control and there are things that you can't, and acting accordingly.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
