SFU moves on from football after protracted dispute

It’s been a long, drawn-out saga – which even saw the matter taken to court – but Simon Fraser University has made the final decision that its football program is not coming back.

The Red Leafs had been competing for the school since the 1960s, but as of this week, SFU says it will not bring back the program it axed in 2023.

“It’s not fair,” SFU Football Alumni Society president Mark Bailey told CTV News. “It’s not fair to the youth, whether they be football student athletes, or any other in my opinion – student body or community members who benefit from either community, culture, engagement, inclusion – all those things that come with football.”

Adding to the frustration was what former players and others in the football community say was a lack of willingness to try and discuss possible solutions.

“They’ve never really given us an opportunity as an SFU alumni to really engage with them,” said Farhan Lalji, a BC High School Football board member and SFU alumnus. “The last couple of years, it’s been a frustrating exercise because they keep pushing things down the road.”

The school has pointed to the lack of a league for the team to play in – and the costs.

Bailey insists there was money available from business groups and the local football community.

“We had confirmed, it was going to be $3 million over five years,” Bailey said. “And that’s without us pushing the envelope forward – because we had nothing to ask for aside from the initial investments that were coming through business people within our football community.”

But SFU says even that amount wouldn’t be enough.

“The university sector in general and SFU, we’re going through very difficult financial times right now,” said Dilson Rassier, vice-president, academic at SFU. “It has actually been quite challenging for us to balance our budgets over the past years.”

As for the costs of the football program, the university told CTV News it cost $1.2-million to $1.5-million in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which was nearly double what the school had budgeted for it.

But the school acknowledges this isn’t easy for students who went to the school expecting to play football.

“All I can say is that I understand and I don’t blame anyone – any student athlete – to be disappointed with this,” said Rassier. “What I would like to tell everybody, including the student athletes and the football players: The main mission of the university, the main mission that we have (is) an academic mission.”

The football alumni association estimates there are around $2-million in football-related endowments – the school says it will work with donors to ensure their wishes are followed.