"I'm a man of two hats," Tomasz Skublak said after scoring in Inter Toronto's 4–1 win over Atlético Ottawa. That's underselling it. The man reached into his sock mid-celebration, pulled out a business card for his real estate agency, and held it up to the camera with a "call me" gesture. It's gone viral. It also tells you everything you need to know about where the Canadian Premier League is right now.
Skublak, 28, is a full-time CPL striker and a full-time Toronto-area realtor. He's been licensed for three years, building the business while playing in the Ontario Premier League — Canada's second tier — before returning to the CPL this season for the first time since 2019. He's not hiding the side hustle. He's advertising it on live television.
The math behind the business card
The CPL's minimum senior salary sits at CAD $30,000 — roughly USD $22,000 — in 2026. The entire league-wide salary cap per club is CAD $1,217,500. These are not numbers that let you turn down a second income, particularly in Toronto, one of the most expensive housing markets in North America. Skublak spending his own money on real estate marketing and then seizing a free broadcast slot to advertise isn't quirky — it's rational.
For context, that CAD $30,000 floor is roughly where MLS sat around 2005. MLS minimum pay has since grown to $109,000 in 2026. The CPL is nine seasons old and still climbing that same curve. Former D.C. United goalkeeper Troy Perkins made the 2006 MLS All-Star team while moonlighting as a mortgage loan processor — D.C. fans made him a banner that read "Troy saves and loans." History rhymes.
What this means for the CPL's bigger picture
The league is testing Arsène Wenger's daylight offside rule this season, pushing for expansion franchises coast to coast, and riding the visibility wave of Canada co-hosting the 2026 World Cup. All the conditions for growth are there. But a viral business card celebration is a useful reminder that the league's players are still living in the gap between ambition and economic reality.
Skublak said the CPL is "definitely a bigger time commitment" than the second tier — daily training, video sessions, recovery. Doing all that while managing a real estate client list on the side is not a lifestyle, it's a grind. The goal celebration was clever marketing. The story underneath it is less glamorous.
"I spend a lot of money on marketing for my business outside of football," he said. "So I got some free marketing in here." Hard to argue with the logic. The card's already doing more work than most press releases.
