‘Finances are brutal right now’

Universities sacking football this fall

Canada’s football community was reeling Monday as three of the country’s four university conferences cancelled their fall seasons.

It may be the default position for a long time yet, as the sport at all levels comes to grips with the logistical and financial realities forced upon it by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canada West, Ontario University Athletics and Atlantic University Sport pulled the plug on all fall sport, leaving only the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec considering its options. U Sports, the national governing body, cancelled the Vanier Cup, the university football championship game that has been played since 1965.

There is a chance that some conferences will try to kickstart football in the spring, but it’s only an idea at this point.

And it may well be overtaken by more bad news. Probably no later than early July, the Canadian Football League will be forced into making a decision on whether to play a truncated 2020 season capped by a December Grey Cup.

Some time after that, perhaps mid-august, the Canadian Junior Football League will have to decide its fate. Even if conferences go ahead with four- or six-game seasons, safety and financial concerns will likely restrict teams to intra-provincial play where possible and the league might have to scrap the Canadian Bowl, the junior football championship game that has been played under three different names since 1948.

The same basic considerations surrounding a return to play are holding sway at all levels of the game; the health and safety of players, coaches, officials, team personnel, fans and the community at large; and finances. On the latter point, trickle-down economics are a major part of the problem. Last year, the CFL donated $4 million to amateur football in Canada through in-stadium 50/50 draws and other initiatives.

That money won’t be flowing this year. The CFL will either scrap its season entirely or play games with either no fans or drastically reduced numbers. Both scenarios would have a debilitating impact on the massive 50/50 returns that have been so important to amateur teams like the University of Regina Rams and Regina Thunder, and the University of Alberta Golden Bears, Edmonton Wildcats and Edmonton Huskies.

U of A athletic director Ian Reade said the university’s internal spend on football is about $450,000 per year, while head coach Chris Morris and his fund-raising team generate another $600,000. But the pandemic already shut down most fund-raising and stands to shrink university revenues as well.

“Those (external) sources of revenue have been just completely decimated. Casinos shut down, golf tournaments shut down,” said Reade. “Most universities in western Canada were hard hit by the interpretation that students aren’t going to be on campus so they may not pay fees, which would take hundreds of thousands of dollars out of your budget. So, it’s compounded by that. It’s not just COVID. The finances are brutal right now.”