There wonβt be CIS football at UQTR in 2017.
A two year process for UQTR Chairman and project lead Jean-Guy Pare came to a screeching halt last week.
At the conclusion of a 90 minute meeting, the schoolβs board of directors announced through their spokesperson, Bertrand Barre that due to the current status of government and educational cuts, the school will not go forward with a plan to add CIS football.
Citing financial responsibility, the UQTR board said at this point in time, supporting a football program would be inappropriate and they could not secure a guarantee that there would not be any costs associated for the 2017 season β the year a team would have been fielded should the proposal had been approved.
However, they have left the door open for a future reconsideration of another proposal of the football program and there are no guarantees.
For his part, Pare told Quebec media outlets that he was extremely disappointed with the boardβs decision.Β Earlier this month, Pare said to the board that there would be no costs associated to the football program in 2017.Β In the original proposal, it was cited that if approved, the school would contribute $150,000 to the operating budget.
While it would not be a similar CIS model such as Laval, UQTR would turn a profit with a $3 million dollar budget.Β Additionally, Denis Dusablon and his company Le Gros Awards committed to buying 3675 tickets per game for each of the first three seasons. Ultimately, the target goal of sponsors/investors was 100 and they had over 35 committed in early November.
One thing the school would have been part of is the contributing to the infrastructure of a new stadium, including a locker room, currently where CEGEP Division 3 Trois-Rivieres Diablos plays. The bill for this is projected to be $3.2 million dollars.Β The costs would be shared between the Quebec government, UQTR, the college and city of Trois-Rivieres.
Via incidental fees, students would have been contributing three dollars per school session in support of the team.Β The money from this would have been put towards 30 scholarships for students in exchange for free admission to games. However, 45 percent opted not to pay this fee in early November.
If it was approved, UQTR had to submit a letter of intent to the RSEQ by November 26thΒ if they intended to forge ahead and compete in the 2017 season.
To ensure the dream of CIS football is not dead yet, there is a petition going around in support for a program for the school. The goal of the petition is to demonstrate to the UQTRβs Administrative Council that there is tremendous support for the program,
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