UdeM still huddling about football
University wonders if there are enough fans, players for team

By Dwayne Tingley
Published in the Times-Transcript on Tuesday May 3,2011
Appeared on Page C3

It may be another year before l'Université de Moncton completes its study on the viability of operating a team in the Atlantic University Sport football conference.

The university launched the study after last year's successful CFL regular season game at the new Stade Moncton 2010 Stadium on the UdeM campus.

Linda Schofield, UdeM's executive-director of university relations, and athletic director Marc Boudreau have submitted a preliminary report to university president Yvon Fontaine.

Schofield and Boudreau attended last year's Vanier Cup national championship game as well as games at Université Laval in Quebec and the University of Ottawa in order to get a better understanding of what it takes to operate a high-profile football program.

They also interviewed as many other people involved in university football as possible. In total, they had more than 70 submissions to review for their report given to the university president.

Schofield said yesterday no formal meetings have been held with possible financial backers. However, she said there appears to be wide support in the community for a university team.

Schofield studies show the team would have to attract 3-4,000 spectators per game in order to be viable.

"We will get a clearer picture this fall," she said. "We want to see how many university football fans there are in this area. Are there enough to make it work (at UdeM)?"

Moncton has been selected to host the Uteck Bowl, the national university semifinal game, this November at the new stadium. The response to that game will help UdeM measure support, Schofield said.

The university's biggest concern, though, revolves around the availability of players. A varsity team requires a 45-player team and a 45-player practice roster.

"The players on the practice roster are not eligible for scholarships," the UdeM official said.

"Would we be able to attract players (from Quebec) to the practice roster when the tuition in Quebec is about half of what it is in Moncton? That's a question we don't have an answer to at this time."

The university will try to come up with an answer when a contingent visits CEGEPs (junior colleges) this fall to talk with football players.

"There's still a lot of work to be done before our final report," Schofield said. "We don't want to rush this and have a team just to say we have a team."

The AUS currently has four teams in its football conference - the Mount Allison Mounties, Saint Mary's Huskies, Acadia Axemen and St. Francis Xavier X-Men. In recent years, there have been some efforts to bring football back to the University of Prince Edward Island, Dalhousie University and the University of New Brunswick.