Simon Fraser University’s football program is in jeopardy after the school announced its immediate termination due to the Lone Star Conference, a Division 2 NCAA entity based in Texas, not renewing its affiliate agreement after the 2023 season. However, the SFU Football Alumni Society has vowed to fight for the team’s future and find a new home for the team ahead of the 2024 season.
The alumni society, which includes influential figures such as CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie and B.C. Lions owner Amar Doman, has called on U SPORTS and the Canada West Conference to help find a new home for SFU. Despite conversations with officials from both organizations, SFU leadership decided not to pursue the “very complex” application process since SFU participates in 18 other NCAA sports, making it unlikely that a successful application would be approved since the current policy requires schools to compete in all sports offered by U SPORTS.
Reacting to the news, the alumni society said they were not briefed on the school’s plan and would challenge the process through a partial injunction. Alumni society president Mark Bailey said the group’s priority was to have SFU play the 2023 season in the Lone Star Conference while they work on finding a football home for 2024 and beyond.
The Lone Star Conference commissioner, Jay Poerner, said their institutions have moved on and are working to fill the voids left in their 2023 schedules. The alumni society says it is taking legal action to challenge the process that led to SFU’s football program’s termination, claiming the school did not communicate properly with key stakeholders such as themselves.
The SFU football program has been in existence since 1965, and its termination has sparked uproar among the school’s alumni and supporters.
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