OUT OF THE TUNNEL: A 2020 WITHOUT UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

We had a well-crafted insightful slice of CFL history ready to go for today but then just as we were about to hit send, the  news started to trickle in about the cancellation of the 2020 Canada West fall sports season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kudos to Global Edmonton’s Quinn Phillips and Radio NL’s Jon Keen for being two of the first to break the story. The Canada West fall sports season consists of: men’s and women’s soccer, women’s rugby, women’s field hockey and what we are most concerned with here at Out of the Tunnel, football.

This also comes on the heels of the Canada West announcing less than a month ago that there were plans in place for an abridged season. For football, that would have meant a five-game season. Now it appears that season is done.

It doesn’t feel surprising that there won’t be a season. There were already big questions whether or not students will be heading to the classroom in person in the fall. Many universities are already deep in the planning stages to go to almost exclusively remote learning for the 2020-21 school year. This of course would exclude lab work and other physically necessary classes.

So, if students are not allowed on campus, how in reality could one expect an athletic season to exist? Across the western provinces there are still the restrictions on the amount of people allowed in a certain space, so for football, to have over 100 athletes and staff in one locker room is a complete non-starter.

Without a season there are now a myriad of questions on what’s next for the athletes, staff and administrators for athletic futures.

We begin with those fifth-year players that were entering their final season of eligibility. In the technical sense, they would still have one more season of eligibility and would be able to return for a potential 2021 football season. But if you are able to finish your degree this year, why would you return?

There are also a finite number of spots available on Canada West football teams. There are currently 90 players on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies roster (a team is allowed 110 for training camp). In 2021 there will be a new crop of freshman football players that will want to play USports football. Will there be a roster spot to have two full sets of first year eligible players as well as a group of fifth year players?

What will happen to the coaches and staff? Will they be furloughed and return in 2021? Will they stay on the payroll at a reduced salary? Will they be outright let go by the penny-pinching universities that now have to look at a potential reduction in students and therefore dollars coming into the university? 

One option could potentially be playing a small spring schedule. If students return for the winter 2021 semester, this could allow a shortened five game schedule in late-April or early May. It would solve many of the eligibility requirements and keep many of the staff employed into a full return in the fall of 2021.

The next option would be an extended spring camp. Instead of a week-to-10 days of camp, you could have spring camps across the west finishing with the potential of playing a single game against another Canada West opponent.

Now if students are still not allowed to come back to class en masse, these options are not viable.

Will there even be the finances available to have football at the six football playing universities in the Canada West? Finances are tight already and most of the team’s funding outside of the university will be hard to recoup with the extremely difficult economic times. 

Let’s get back to the extreme ends of the eligibility spectrum. First to the potential first-year players coming in 2021. School boards across Western Canada are preparing for remote learning to begin the 2020-21 school year. This would also mean the elimination of fall sports and thusly, the elimination of the 2021 high school football season. 

This will lead to a lost generation of football players that lose one of the most crucial years of football development in their playing career. Their senior year is where a player is able to dominate, put quality play on tape, attend camps and play for provincial all-star teams. This all leads up to playing post-secondary football. In this whole situation, these are the group of athletes we feel the worst for. 

Next are those fourth year players that are eligible for the 2021 CFL Draft. Would there even be a 2021 CFL Draft without football being played at any level in the fall of 2020? We will find out more on this in the coming weeks as the CFL decides on whether or not a season will be played in 2020 but as the window begins to close, it’s looking more and more like there will not be a CFL season in 2020.

There are rumblings that football may be played at the NCAA level, but they are in a completely different football universe. The amount of money at stake there is in the hundreds of millions and unlike the mere millions here in Canada. They also have the support of state and federal officials to return to the field in the fall.

On the list of priorities right now, having football in the fall isn’t very high but this is an escape from reality for so many of us. We all know people whose livelihood depends on football being played at all levels. 

Now if it stings to see Canada West football being cancelled, just wait and see how it feels if, and when, the CFL season is cancelled.

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF/PHOTO: CBC)