In a landmark decision the NCAA has voted to allow Canadian universities to apply for membership and the University of British Columbia is set to do so. The vote was 97% in favour (258 for, 9 against, 2 abstentions).
The move paves the way for Canadian schools like UBC to join the Division 2 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association within the next three years.
NCAA opens door for UBC
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ReplyDeleteBasically, this is like a white paper.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see where it goes. It's definitely worth looking into. If it's just a smokescreen so the CIS will allow more spending on scholarships, that wouldn't be such a terrible thing.
It will be interesting to see what will happen with this: as Neate pointed out, it's possible that the CIS will up the ante in terms of scholarships. I think it's more likely that some of the bigger schools will follow UBC and take this jump, though: even Division II has a fair amount of prestige in Canada, probably more than the CIS, and the ability of teams to play up a division in one men's and one women's sport is a huge bonus for schools that want to compete with the best in the U.S. in sports where Canada can handle that (volleyball's probably the best example).
ReplyDeleteWomen's hockey would be a better example... 13 of the top 20 scorers in the NCAA are Canadian girls and a well-run program could have comparable attendances most of the D-1 schools, which average 500-800 fans, save in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
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