SFU football alumni seeking injunction to reinstate axed varsity team

One week after Simon Fraser University announced it was eliminating varsity football, team supporters say they will ask the courts to revive the 57-year-old program.  

The SFU Football Alumni Society will file an injunction against the Burnaby, B.C., school to reinstate its football program. The litigation is scheduled to be filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday, with the society doing so on behalf of seven players on the team.

"There's a contract in place holding the university and student-athletes responsible through athletic scholarships," said SFU Football Alumni Society president Mark Bailey.

"The student-athletes have fulfilled their commitment to the university to represent and compete. We are essentially asking that the university follow through with the commitment they had with the contracts that were created through these athletic scholarships."

On April 4, school president Joy Johnson announced in a written statement that SFU was discontinuing its football program, effective immediately.

Johnson said the team would not play the upcoming 2023 season due to the "ongoing uncertainty" caused by the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference announcing it would drop SFU football beginning in 2024.

On the same day, SFU senior athletic director Theresa Hanson and vice-president and provost Wade Parkhouse met with players to deliver the news. Hanson told the team the decision to axe football was not financially motivated and called the process to join another conference "very complex." 

"The university made a very difficult decision and felt that it was in the best interest to announce it now," Hanson said to the players.

According to Bailey, alumni were "shocked" to hear the news because Johnson made no mention of it in conversations between the two parties a week before the announcement.

He also questions how diligent university officials were in their attempts to keep the program alive.

Bailey said an alumni committee struck to investigate places for the team to play next year and beyond — including the Lone Star Conference, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Canada West conference of Canadian University U Sports — has produced encouraging conversations.

"To say they've made a decision that's best for student-athletes is completely untrue," he said. 

"We're not satisfied whatsoever with the information — or lack thereof — that's been presented by the university as justification for the decision they have made. I don't think there's been a proper consultation. There's definitely been no transparency, in my opinion, and a lack of inclusion." 

There are also questions about what happens to the $2.5 million SFU football endowment fund, which provides about $125,000 to the program annually, if the team stays folded.

CBC has requested an interview with Johnson but has not heard back.

On Tuesday, officials from Canada West met and released a statement saying they are empathetic to those affected by the SFU decision to cut football.

"Canada West has an application process for considering new members... Canada West does not have any active applications for reviews," it reads.

Since the school's decision, there's been support for SFU football from the likes of SFU basketball alumnus and NBA coach Jay Triano, B.C. Lions owner Amar Doman, CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie and the CFL Players' Association.

Over its history, SFU has produced some of Canada's top football talent, including Lui Passaglia, Lemar Durant, Doug Brown, Angus Reid, Nick Hebler, Glen Suitor and Giulio Caravatta.