University football looks to bring back the Vanier Cup
Plans being drawn up for 2021 season, but no site determined for national final
Just 10 months out from its scheduled date of Nov. 27, the 2021 Vanier Cup doesn't yet have a home.
But executives from U Sports and its four conferences — Canada West, Atlantic University Sport, Ontario University Athletics and Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec — are working in consultation with Football Canada to get the ball rolling on regular-season schedules, playoffs, bowl games and the national championship, all of which were lost to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“We're hopeful that we'll have a season. Exactly what that looks like — number of games, start dates — that's still a little bit up in the air,” said Rocky Olfert, managing director for Canada West. “Having said that, we're planning for it, we need it to happen, and we're hopeful it will happen.”
It can only happen in concert with federal and provincial health regulations, so the conference executives have to be both patient and nimble; generating several return-to-play scenarios, knowing full well that all of them could fall to the virus.
That said, in a departure from the norm, U Sports won't seek formal hosting bids for its championship.
Instead, the football technical committee will be tasked with finding a workable solution, and one potential scenario has the winner of either the Uteck Bowl or the Mitchell Bowl acting as host for the Vanier Cup.
“We're considering that. Is it the winner of one of your bowl games that hosts? Those are just things we're throwing around right now,” said U Sports chief sport officer Lisette Johnson Stapley.
But Phil Currie, executive director of AUS, expressed concern that Atlantic Canada doesn't have an appropriate venue for the Vanier Cup, should an AUS team win a bowl game.
“There wouldn't really be an appropriate venue in Atlantic Canada that would allow us to host, unless we're under COVID conditions and no fans are allowed anyway. Then it's a different story,” Currie said on Thursday.
Another scenario has the Vanier Cup moving to a December date, giving the four conferences the necessary runway to start training camps later than usual and still have fulsome schedules. There is still much to be decided.
“A survey went out to all our members earlier this week; that feedback is due tomorrow, and we had correspondence with football coaches today, so it's time to roll up our sleeves,” OUA president Gord Grace said on Wednesday. “Having said that, one of the challenges we've got is that it's a moving target in that we're not sure where COVID is going to go. So the best intention is to put our plans together now, work on them, understand what the landscape is, but also realizing that things could change three months from now. I think most people agree the vaccination process will have a lot to do with university sport (in 2021) and the timetable for that.”
Olfert, Grace and Currie said they believe each of their conferences will have the full participation of all football programs, while RSEQ officials didn't respond to an interview request.
As for alignment between the Grey Cup and Vanier Cup, that's a goal shared by many conference, U Sports, Football Canada and Canadian Football League executives, but it seems unlikely to happen in 2021, given that the Grey Cup is set for Nov. 21 in Hamilton.
“I don't think it's (possible) because of the dates,” said Grace. “The math behind the dates doesn't work to plan it out. And again, with COVID, there is a degree of uncertainty of when we start and the games we play. It's somewhat fluid.”
And truth be told, alignment of the two championships isn't a priority for U Sports at this point.
“I don't know if I would say it's a priority,” said Johnson Stapley. “You've got to look at the challenges with your scheduling. We've got four conferences that have different schedules than the Grey Cup. It's challenging for our members to be able to finish their conference playoffs and get to a Vanier Cup during the same time as the Grey Cup is now hosted.
“We're still in conversations with the CFL, naturally. They are a key partner, a key stakeholder in the development of football in the country. We're also in conversations with Football Canada.
“We're still hoping to make a decision by the spring, (but there is) so much we don't know with the pandemic. We really want to keep the Vanier Cup alive.”