Northern Super League players to receive lodging support through multimillion-dollar partnership

Stephanie Labbe remembers arriving at a new club abroad and having to start from the ground up in building a home.

"So many times when I was an athlete and I was playing in Sweden or in the U.S. or France, you're showing up to this apartment that doesn't really feel like home," said the former Canadian international goalkeeper who is now sporting director of the Northern Super League's Vancouver Rise. "It feels like you're living in someone else's space."

Canadian Tire is giving players in the new NSL a helping hand on that score.

With a multi-year, multimillion-dollar partnership announced Wednesday, the company will support players as they settle into their new environments with "funding and resources."

Canadian Tire was one of the first corporations to jump on board when former Canadian international Diana Matheson and business partner Thomas Gilbert announced Project 8, the precursor to the new league that is set to kick off in April.

The new sponsorship deal was announced at an NSL panel discussion Wednesday, part of a Sports Marketing Canada Council event. It will also see Canadian Tire displayed at stadiums and on broadcasts with the company's red triangle logo displayed on the left sleeve of every club jersey.

The panel featured Labbe, Helena Ruken (AFC Toronto), Isabele Chevalier (Montreal Roses), Gilbert (Ottawa Rapid), Courtney Sherlock (Halifax Tide) and Deanna Zumwalt (Calgary Wild) with Canadian Tire's Ashley Curran, Canadian Tire's associate vice-president, community Impact and sport partnerships, serving as moderator.

"I would say everybody that's involved really believes this is about elevating a generation of female leaders on and off the pitch," Zumwalt told the audience. "We know that one per cent may