The lack of funding that limits Canada Basketball’s ambitions could end the participation of players from the NBA after the 2024 Olympics.
This is what the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) David Shoemaker explains.
The Canadian men’s basketball team has qualified for the 2024 Olympics since last September, and it will count on several players from NBA teams.
After this summer’s Olympic tournament, the federation will have difficulty retaining them.
You have to train like the best to attract the best and then become the best, said Canada Basketball President and CEO Michael Bartlett. If we cannot invest the funds in training camps and the necessary resources before the competitions, we will not be able to attract the best. It is reality.
The COC and the Canadian Paralympic Committee have made a joint request for funding from the Canadian government for $104 million, after revealing the results of a study on the financial health of Canadian federations.
If we continue to rely on federations that are underfunded, and ask for more, without increasing their budgets, it will not be sustainable in the long term, said David Shoemaker.
The two organizations say that it is urgent to refinance the national federations so that they continue to supervise athletes and support the provincial federations.
David Shoemaker also specifies that national federations must meet new requirements, in particular to comply with the most recent policies regarding the protection of athletes, while funding has stagnated since 2005.
With information from Canadian Press
2024-03-07 00:04:44
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