Spruce Meadows and Cavalry FC: Inside the Southern-Heathcott empire
Linda Southern-Heathcott is well-known within the Canadian sporting scene. She discusses her empire, the iconic Spruce Meadows and its Masters show jumping event, and one pretty noisy neighbour from the USA.
“The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State.” Those were the words of one President Donald Trump earlier this year at the height of his tariff spat with the rest of the world.
The sentiment wasn’t echoed north of the border, however, with Canadian politicians and citizens rallying around an anti-America sentiment at hockey matches, baseball World Series events and beyond.
But the reality is that the US is in fact spreading north into Canada, and across the pond to Europe too. Half of the Premier League clubs boast of significant US ownership, while multi-club groups under North American control are springing up across the continent.
Patriotic Canada
“It is difficult to swim upstream with the salmon, it is easier to swim downstream,” Linda Southern-Heathcott tells Morning Wire when asked why her family – with their multi-billion dollar business empire – are very much staying put in Canada.
“We believe in Canada. We believe in being in Canada and investing in Canadians, and we believe in that but that doesn’t mean it’s just limited to Canadians,” she says in a hearty statement of patriotism, while acknowledging the need to be globally outlooking.
Southern-Heathcott bucks the trend of wanting to up sticks and dominate European sport, despite her Cavalry FC Canadian Premier League side, founded in 2018, narrowly losing out on a place in the CONCACAF Champions Cup after a 2-1 loss versus Atletico Ottawa, owned by the eponymous LaLiga giant, in the league finals in a blizzard this week.
But football is a somewhat modern addition to the Southern-Heathcott empire, which is actually dominated by equestrianism.
Spruce Meadows staple
The 1996 Olympian is chief of Spruce Meadows, one of the premier stages on the equestrian calendar. Southern-Heathcott likens her Spruce Meadows Masters, presented by Rolex – which is part of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping – showpiece to golf’s Open, where the majority of the sport’s majors are overseas and her’s the outlier.
Spruce Meadows turned 50 this year, having opened in 1975, with 20 of its founding partners maintaining ties with the Calgary jumping event, something its chief says is partly down to believing in the product, supporting Canada and a history built on a foundation of trust.
On doing deals on a word and handshake Southern-Heathcott strikes a refreshing tone, insisting “we have to fight to keep that and get that back”, adding that, “trust is everything and it’s very hard to keep, and you have to fight for it – the trust and the respect.
“It’s so easy to lose. And so you always have to be mindful of that.”
That attitude has led to Spruce Meadows working to become a 365-day venue to secure a future, with equestrian and football (soccer) joined by retail and eateries. Southern-Heathcott says, after 20 years in charge, that she’s turning her thoughts to a legacy project. “A concert hall, hotel or Nordic spa” might be next, though she’s conscious the city is building up around Spruce Meadows and space is now at a premium.
The sports hub tried to become one of the team base camp hosts for next year’s Fifa World Cup – co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States – but the economics did not fit the reality.
Southern-Heathcott an impressive figure
Southern-Heathcott cuts a revitalising tone. Her family empire could easily acquire a football dynasty on the European continent – the associated publicly-traded ATCO Ltd has a market cap of over $6bn – but they’ve instead invested into Canada, bucking the North American trend that has dominated sports acquisitions for years now.
Asked about the wider Canadian rebuke of their noisy neighbour from the south, Southern-Heathcott insists that “adversity helps people rise to the top”.
“The challenge of some of the things that have happened south of the border by our neighbours has really had all of Canada say that we can stand up for ourselves, and we are.
“We’re a sovereign nation and we will stand alone, thank you very much.”
It’s a sentiment that’s proved successful for Spruce Meadows, which is seemingly stronger than it ever has been across its half-century existence. And it’s a sentiment a new-found vocal patriotic Canada can get behind. Spruce Meadows is a Canadian staple, part of the sporting fabric, and those roots are only going to get deeper. And that, it must be said, is energising.