Stingers Recruitment Budgets Revealed

Football and Women’s Basketball Receive Highest Amount

SportsVince Morello — Published December 1, 2015 | Updated December 1, 2015 at 5:32am

In total, the Stingers spent $58,150 on recruitment of players for their sports teams in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. This is a roughly 8 per cent increase from last year’s total budget of $53,729. This raise in budget comes amidst an approximately $30 million cut since 2012 in Concordia’s operation budget and after the $160,000 rebrand of the Stingers.

“Recruitment budgets are established with the coaches on a yearly basis, based on recruiting needs,” said Patrick Boivin, Concordia’s Director of Recreation and Athletics. “It’s a two-way conversation [with the coaches] and the budgets will vary from year to year based on the needs.”

The football program receives the highest amount at $28,700, and women’s basketball receives the second highest amount of $6,950.

“Football has 100 players and the department has approximately 350 athletes total. Their budget is proportional,” said Boivin.

The team with the lowest budget is the men’s rugby team—winners of the Réseau de Sport Étudiant Quebec championship in 2014—receiving only $650.

“When you have a team with such a solid reputation, players flock to us. So, our need to spend on recruitment is limited,” Boivin said.

Some teams have received a boost in their budget unlike previous years. The men and women’s soccer teams only received $222 and $284 respectively during the fiscal years of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.

This year, the men’s team budget increased by about 576 per cent, and went up to $1,500 for this year, while the women’s team budget saw an increase of about 217 per cent, growing to $900.

Most of the other teams hovered around the same numbers as in the last two years. Men’s basketball went from a budget of $6,812 to $6,400 and men’s hockey went from having $3,800 to $5,000. Women’s hockey also went up from $3,366 to $3,750. Women’s rugby saw their budget increase from $3,775 to $4,300.

With files obtained by Tristan D’Amours