The Bills-Seahawks game was played in Toronto and the commentators were pretty bad. That started me thinking. Did they use the only announcers that had work permits for Canada. Of course that raised the further question that if associated with a sports league that has international games, how does that work for players, coaches, support staff, network broadcasters, team reporters, etc. I imagine it’s differenst for let’s say Kobe Bryant to go to Toronto versus the reporter Vic Jacobs which is different from Stu Lantz calling the game for the Lakers as opposed to Brent Musburger calling the game for ABC.
Does everyone need work permits. Is there an agreement between the governments and the league and/or the networks and all an employee needs is a passport. How does it work for the one-off games in London or Tokyo?
Interesting question. I was under the impression that many countries are so happy to be getting sports events in their country that they will up and give work permits or visas to everyone on the team more or less automatically. Is this actually the case? What happens when athletes or sports staff have criminal trouble that leads to inadmissibility issues? I understand that Canada has a rather strict position against people with DUI’s entering their country, even stricter than the US’s policy on foreigners with DUI’s. Do immigration officials generally waive these rules for sports purposes, or are there problems where some team members are barred from some countries and so they need replacements or have to play with an incomplete roster?
You can get P-1 visas for coaches and other staff. (I think these are P-1S visas). From the CIS website, “Essential Support Personnel who are an integral part of the performance of a P-1 athlete (team) and who perform support services which cannot be readily performed by a U.S. worker, are eligible for P-1 classification. Support personnel may include coaches, scouts, trainers and other team officials and referees.”
Visas for sports teams can be a touchy subject. There have been several cases in recent years of team members, or in some cases entire teams, overstaying and/or applying for asylum when attending international tournaments. It happened recently with the Eritrean soccer team.
From what I can tell, no work permits or special visas were needed by anybody involved with the Bills-Seahawks game.
See this link from the Canadian government. It exempts athletes, coaches, referees, and media (i.e. broadcasters and crews) from needing a permit. Note, however, that the media who cover the event must not be planning to enter the Canadian labour market.