Border closure complicates SFU sports
Clan teams that travel to U.S. for games await word from NCAA on possible return to play
Everything on the mountain is still up in the air.
The people running the athletics programs at Simon Fraser University are waiting with bated breath to see what decision the NCAA comes to at the end of the month.
The various committees and councils looking into the process of restarting athletics during the novel coronavirus crisis will make a recommendation to the Presidents Council — which consists of 16 presidents and chancellors at Division 2 schools — on June 29. The Division 2 governing body will render a decision on the immediate fate of athletics programs on June 30.
High atop Burnaby Mountain, SFU athletics director Theresa Hanson saw their Canadian counterparts in U Sports make the difficult decision to cancel all fall sports. The Clan are the only Canadian school teams competing in the NCAA, as part of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
“We’re in a unique position. (Being) Canada’s only institution competing in the NCAA is complex, and there’s 320 schools in Division 2,” said Hanson. “So the enormity of the discussion, the consultation and working through all these different options we’re exploring has been … a very open process, but it’s also been very complex.”
The GNAC has been weighing possible solutions, from delaying the start of the season or moving the fall season into the winter or spring breaks. Other conferences within Division 2 have already reduced their competition to strictly intra-conference games.
“Everything has been on the table,” Hanson said, adding the GNAC has already decided to reduce the number of games played for football (11 games to 10), soccer (18 to 14) and volleyball (26 to 20).
But the biggest issue affecting SFU is the border.
The current travel ban for non-essential personnel across the U.S.-Canada divide has been extended until late July, at which point it will be reassessed.
“It’s a significant factor,” said Hanson. “Even if the border restrictions ease and allow people to travel between the two countries, having a 14-day quarantine period is not a viable solution.
“I really think we’ve done a great job in B.C. under Dr. (Bonnie) Henry’s leadership of controlling the spread of COVID-19 and also flattening the curve. And I think we’re much more risk averse in B.C., in comparison to our neighbours to the south, and it’s served us really well.
“But the border restrictions is absolutely a factor in the decisions that will be made.”
SFU travels for far more non-conference games than its U.S. counterparts. The football team was scheduled to play two games in Texas and one in California against nonGNAC teams, although the two games in Texas are part of a scheduling alliance with the Lone Star conference.
The men’s soccer team was supposed to play its first six regular-season games on the road, with trips to Washington, Idaho, Texas and New Mexico.
The GNAC has teams as far afield as Alaska, Montana and California.
“It’s a significant amount of travel, really all over the U.S.,” Hanson. “It is quite a vast geographic map.”
Observers of post-secondary sports in both countries will easily identify a difference in the prioritization of athletics in a university setting. In Canada, they’re much ancillary to a school’s operation, while in the U.S., they’re seen as revenue generators.
The cancellation of the NCAA’s March Madness tournament had reverberations far beyond just basketball, as the money generated is distributed down the tree to smaller institutions, including those in Division 2. Several smaller colleges had to fold teams or entire athletic departments due to the reduction in funding.
“I do think that economic factors in the NCAA certainly play a role,” Hanson said. “I believe health and safety is a top priority for everybody. But when you look at Division 1 football and Division 1 basketball, and the revenue it provides to the NCAA, and in essence to a lot of our schools — not to mention their own schools — it’s a factor.
“(NCAA money) is how we fund our championships. It’s millions of dollars every year. Millions of dollars. So revenue plays a big, big factor in the NCAA.”
If the NCAA restarts athletics — the Division 1 and Division 2 decisions will be made independently of each other — SFU could find itself in a tough spot: stuck on this side of the border while everyone else is playing.
“If the season goes on, and we’re not able to participate because of the border restriction, then you know we would be in a pretty unique situation,” said Hanson. “So we would work with the NCAA on how we can best support our student athletes during that time. We would have to have more conversations, (ones) we haven’t had yet.”
CALL FOR RETURN OF THE SHRUM BOWL
With the U Sports fall campaign already cancelled, there had been a social media clamour for the return of the Shrum Bowl.
The crosstown rivalry game between UBC and SFU hasn’t been played since 2010 for a number of reasons, the most recent being the difficulties surrounding NCAA eligibility.
“Our rules, they are complex. There’s a lot of them,” said Hanson with a laugh. “Anyone’s who has looked at the NCAA rule book would know.”
The NCAA would have to issue a special exemption for the game to be played, but SFU would relinquish rights to any playoff game that season. This year, that wouldn’t be an issue, but it would mean that SFU players would burn a year of eligibility.
“If we don’t have a fall season, our student athletes will be able to train as per our protocols … but we aren’t able to participate in scrimmages or exhibition games. That’s not permitted by the NCAA. It will count against our athletes as using a year of eligibility. So that’s significant,” said Hanson.
“I also think that, should the season be cancelled, that we would work with the NCAA in terms of looking at some waivers or exemptions — like everybody did in the spring.
“Would we like to play the Shrum Bowl again? Oh yeah. I think the two universities, it would be great for our students and our community,” she said. “So I think the opportunity is certainly there to start having those discussions again.
“This year is not the year. I just don’t think we can do that, based on everything that we’re working through right now.”