Industry

Scoring in the Sports and Recreation Business

The sports and recreation industry performs in Canada.

Much of this industry is non-profit. According to the 2003 National Survey of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations, Canada’s 33,600 non-profit sports and recreation organizations report $6.1 billion in annual revenues. These organizations employ more than 130,000 people and have about 1.7 million volunteers.

Many non-profit sports and recreation organizations rely on donations and grants. The government of Canada, for example, invested $123.3M in Canadian sports programs in 2004-2005.

Professional sport is also big business in Canada. Professional franchises, such as teams in the National Hockey League, are bought and sold. And salaries make regular headlines. Some of Canada’s professional hockey players make millions.

According to Statistics Canada, spectator sports (including professional and semi-professional sports clubs and teams and horse racing) reported operating revenues of almost $2.3 billion in 2004.

Sports are a growing part of Canada's tourism, according to the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance, estimates Canada’s sports tourism industry is worth $2 billion a year.

This section is about the business of sports and recreation in Canada.