Athletes devastated as Simon Fraser University ends its football program

It's four downs and out for Simon Fraser University's football program.

The Burnaby, B.C., university announced Tuesday that it would be discontinuing its varsity team, effectively immediately, ending a 53-year tradition at the school.

In a statement, SFU President Joy Johnston said the decision was prompted by the Lone Star Conference not inviting them to continue playing in their conference for the 2024 season.

"The ongoing uncertainty creates an unacceptable experience for students. The university has carefully considered all available options, and as a leadership team, we concluded that football is no longer a feasible sport for SFU," she said.

Simon Fraser University is the only Canadian institution to play in the American-based National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), moving there from the Canadian-based U Sports in 2010.

In the NCAA football system, most teams play in conferences and compete with their conference's teams for an end-of-season championship. SFU was added as an affiliate member to the Lone Star Conference, which primarily consists of Texas-based teams, in 2021.

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NCCA participation a draw for students

One of the reasons for the university's move to the NCAA was the ability to offer more scholarships for athletes, and Johnson said the school would honour those commitments for those who choose to remain at SFU and meet eligibility requirements. On average, the university gives scholarships to around 100 students for the football program.

SFU provost and vice president academic Wade Parkhouse told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko that having a varsity team playing in an American league has been a draw for students.

"It's a long, storied history, and it's automatically a draw for players. They're interested in the NCAA experience or interested in coming to Canada and still playing in the NCAA."

While SFU has had success in several sports in the years since, they had struggled to be competitive in football, finishing with an overall record of 18 wins and 99 losses.

Parkhouse said there was a team meeting Tuesday morning, and players raised concerns about what this meant for their athletic and academic careers futures.

"One of the reasons that we made the decision now was to create opportunities for those players who wish to continue to play football to explore options at other schools while we can still enter into the transfer window," Parkhouse said, adding that SFU will continue to honour scholarships for the next year for those who choose to stay at the school.

Parkhouse said it's unlikely that the team will ever return to the NCAA.

Theresa Hanson, SFU's senior director of athletics, said the decision largely came down to logistics — the school didn't meet any of the membership bylaws for alternative college sports associations, including U Sports, and it would have been "unprecedented" to get an exemption for just one school.

"Today, we've got to focus on where we're at," she said when pressed whether the football program could return. "I can't speculate on what might happen five years down the road or 10 years down the road."

Athletes devastated over news

Student athletes say they are devastated by the news, which was essentially delivered to them at the same time that it was made public Tuesday morning.

Kristie Elliott, who made history as the first Canadian woman to score in an NCAA football game at SFU and now serves as the team's director of football operations, said the timing of the announcement was particularly disappointing.

"Now it's too late for lots of the players to try and find a new school to go to," she said. "Like September's only a couple months away. There's not a big gap to try to figure all that out."

Drew Lirag, a defensive back, said the team was trending in an upwards direction, and a lot of players were excited about the upcoming season.

"Football is my life, essentially, at this point," he said. "When you dedicate the amount of time that the athletes on this team dedicate, it's impossible to separate the sport from the person."

CFL team expresses shock

The province's Canadian Football League team, the B.C. Lions, says it's disappointed the program will be discontinued.

"Today's news impacts several dedicated individuals, in particular the student-athletes, coaches, staff, countless volunteers, parents and, of course, alumni, who tirelessly dedicated themselves to the SFU program," the Lions said in a statement.

"The B.C. Lions will continue to do everything we can to support amateur football at all levels in this province."

Members of the SFU Football Alumni Society said they would meet to consider options to save the program.