Leagues grapple with ways to play

Josiah Joseph is prepared to live a monk’s life to quarterback the University of Calgary Dinos this year.

Canadian universities are rolling out plans to restrict student access to campuses and increase online learning for the fall semester in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

But what does that mean for the roughly 20,000 studentathletes at U Sport’s 56 schools across Canada?

They need to be in the gym and on the field, in physical contact with teammates and opponents, to pursue their sports.

“If U of C is kind of shut down for the fall and we’re in online courses, maybe we put the players in a residence, maybe sign contracts and restrict outside access to prevent the spread,” Joseph mused.

“It would take a lot of individuals to buy in and kind of seclude themselves for the sake of a football season.”

The pivot from Peachland, B.C., says he’s willing to do that to play his fifth and final year of eligibility, and pursue a second straight Vanier Cup.

The U Sports landscape will likely be uneven in 2020-21 as each Canadian university grapples with the public health situation in their respective jurisdictions and the financial impact of the pandemic.

U Sports is also a major employer of coaches with about 900 from coast to coast.

Canadian university athletics is largely funded by student fees, ticket sales, sponsorships, facility rentals and summer camps. All face reductions because of the pandemic.

“Everyone’s been impacted financially. What that is, I don’t think we’re aware yet,” U Sports chief sport officer Lisette Johnson Stapley said.

“What if some institutions choose not to have on-campus activities, so then they don’t have sports but other institutions do? “What if one conference chooses to not go to a national championship, but the other three are going to go?”

Canada West, the largest geographic conference encompassing the four western provinces, has announced competition modifications for next season.

The football schedule will be reduced from eight regular-season games to five. In other sports, schools will compete against others within their province or geographical area.

“It means B.C. schools will be playing each other predominantly in sports like volleyball, basketball and soccer where there’s a large threshold of teams,” Canada West president Clint Hamilton said.

“We’ll be limiting air travel as much as possible for hockey and football. To be clear, they are formats for one season. Our intent was to relieve financial pressure on members.”

The changes could save each Canada West school between $300,000 and $500,000, he said.

“I think it’s important to show that there’s a plan and there’s hope that this is all going to happen,” University of Manitoba football coach Brian Dobie said.

The heads of the Atlantic, Quebec and Ontario conferences say they’re not yet ready to say under what parameters U Sports will happen next season.

“We know there’s going to be less games and less travel next year because of the budgetary impact already,” the OUA’s Gord Grace said.

“What we don’t know is, of the 20 schools, which ones are going to play their particular sports?”