Nationality quotas and wages in professional sports: evidence from the Canadian Football League

This article examines how nationality-based employment quotas affect wages using player-level data from the Canadian Football League (CFL), where teams are required to field a minimum number of Canadian players. Using salary data from 2021 to 2025, I find that Canadian players earn approximately 9–11% more than comparable American players on average. Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition shows that although American players possess stronger observable performance characteristics, Canadian players receive higher returns to these characteristics. I further validate these findings by showing that Canadian all-stars receive a premium relative to their American counterparts, especially in positions with a lower supply of domestic labour. These findings contribute to the literature on labour market regulation by illustrating how binding employment quotas shape wage determination in highly specialized and skilled labour markets. The results inform policy debates about employment protections, visa restrictions and local hiring requirements.