As the hangover from March Madness – the NCAA’s national college basketball championship – wears off, it’s hard for Canadian sports fans not to feel a little jealous.
The 64-team tournament is a North American sports phenomenon that garners more press attention than even the NBA.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) basketball championship game in Halifax between Carleton University and Trinity Western University attracted only 3,407 spectators. With numbers like that, no one would blame CIS athletes for feeling like Johnny Drama, the older brother character in the HBO series Entourage.
While he may be talented, his flashier younger brother gets all the attention.
The fact is that there is just no university sporting culture in Canada. Local fans might have followed the Ravens team as they captured their fifth national championship in seven years, but what about the sports that Ottawa-based CIS teams aren’t as successful at? Who won the recent CIS hockey championship?
If you can’t remember, you surely aren’t alone.
It’s not that Canadians don’t like university sports – it’s that we just don’t like our own. It’s not big business in Canada. Carleton University can’t even get the money together to field a football team.
Support for hockey – our beloved national sport – even pales in comparison to the Americans at the university level. The NCAA’s Frozen Four has sold-out 18 straight years. And in December of last year, an NCAA game played outdoors at Michigan Stadium set the world record for highest attendance ever at a hockey game with a whopping 113,411 people braving the frigid weather to watch the Michigan Wolverines defeat the Michigan State Spartans.
Meanwhile, hockey players at the University of Ottawa frequently grumble that the only people watching their games are their own parents.
And it’s not like CIS hockey players are no good either. Most CIS teams are filled almost exclusively with former major junior players.
Most OHL teams are multimillion-dollar businesses that attract thousands of fans to their games. But anyone who understands hockey knows that the best OHL team doesn’t stand a chance in hell against an average CIS team. In fact, respected Toronto sports radio host Bob McCown calls CIS men’s hockey the best amateur hockey league in the world.
So why don’t people care?
The biggest reason is the public Canadian university system. Universities rely on government funding. Spending exorbitant amounts of money on athletic programs would be viewed as unacceptable. This is in stark contrast to the system in the United States, where private universities with unregulated tuition fees operate on more of a private business model.
Canadian universities would be wise to slowly start building up their athletics department. Critics may argue that the money should be better directed at academics – but there doesn’t need to be a trade-off between the two.
A solid team in a premier sport can pay massive dividends if they are run like a business. Programs should be able to pay for themselves through ticket and merchandise sales.
Athletics department directors should have business backgrounds and be expected to run teams that at least break even.
Meanwhile, a nationally recognized sports team will enhance the reputation of the university and increase enrolment. Current and former students will get swept up in a tide of school spirit, building a lifelong allegiance to their alma mater.
With a strong existing sporting culture in Canada, our university sports already have the potential to grow in prestige.
But to help out, check out a University of Ottawa hockey game next season.
You know the players will be happy to see someone other than Mom and Dad in the stands.