NCAA taking vote on Canadian members

Monday is D-Day for Simon Fraser and UBC, the Canadian schools who are exploring joining NCAA Division 2. As the Van Province reports, that's when the NCAA will take a vote on the schools joining.

Time was, I would have been dead-set against this, but not anymore. Canadians as a rule, unless it's curling, aren't so big on watching our own compete against each other. Speaking strictly in the abstract, what could be better for raising the profile of university sports in this country than to have a Canadian school join NCAA D-1 and be competitive? There's certainly some opportunities in hockey, both men's and women's, plus baseball in UBC's case and women's fastpitch in Simon Fraser's case. (The Clan have been national title contenders in the NAIA on the ball diamond for several years with Canadian talent.)

A couple key points are that it could happen within three years and that UBC is seeking to be full-fledged D-1 school (as it stands, D-2 schools can move up for a limited number of team sports), but it can't happen until at least 2011.

Related:

Canadian universities watch NCAA voting (Marc Weber, Vancouver Province)