Iam two weeks removed from spending a Sunday afternoon poring over McGill University’s financial reports after the school’s announcement that they are cutting their track and field program.
Now, here I am again, digging into finance reports, except this time I have tabs bookmarked to both Simon Fraser University’s general budget and their report delineating their decision to move from the NCAA Division II back to the Canadian university sports league, U SPORTS.
An unfortunate consequence of the move is the termination of the outdoor track program starting in the 2027–2028 season due to it not being offered in U SPORTS. This change alone is surely disheartening for anybody involved in the program, but it’s not only their outdoor season being threatened.
According to the university’s official announcement, “The university will also take this opportunity to review the impact of this decision on indoor track.”
I’ve translated enough PR-speak to human-speak in my life to know what that means. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there are people who have likely never been involved in sport looking for ways to save money, and where executive committees are looking to penny pinch, sports like track and field become vulnerable.
The timing couldn’t be worse.
McGill’s decision to cut its track team, which dates to the 1800s, seemed unfathomable to me a month ago. But now in this uncomfortable period of silence, other schools in Canada and beyond may be questioning whether they can cut their programs too.
Simon Fraser’s Decision to Leave the NCAA
Simon Fraser University is the only university in Canada to compete in the NCAA. It originally competed in another sports league in the United States, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), from 1965 to 2001. After a brief interlude in which they returned to Canada, they left again for the NCAA in the 2010–2011 season, following changes to NCAA Division II bylaws that allowed international membership.
I must admit, when news broke about Simon Fraser’s decision to join U SPORTS, I was still focused on the developments at McGill University. In my periphery, the situation didn’t seem as dire as the situation in Montreal, where the track team was cut entirely.
However, now that more details have been released, and I’ve had time to review them, it’s clear to me that the university may use the recent decision to move back to Canada as an excuse to cut its indoor track program, since no university in British Columbia has a proper facility for hosting an indoor track meet.
I can empathize with everybody affected, in both the cases of Simon Fraser and McGill University. I have no particular connection to either school, but I understand what type of impact the announcement would have on my life if I were currently competing for either school. If it were me, I would feel angry, frustrated, and hopeless.
As Zach Jeggo, current student and defending Canadian Champion in the Under-20 400-meter hurdles, told me:
“The team is pretty shaken by the news, and a lot of people genuinely don’t know what to do next … Most of us are very disappointed with how the situation was handled, especially regarding the investigations and the reports the school released. Overall, there’s a strong sense that the process lacked transparency and left the athletes feeling overlooked and unheard.”
So, what prompted the decision to move Simon Fraser University from the NCAA back to Canada? According to the university’s official announcement:
“A critical aspect of the decision-making process was related to financial and logistical sustainability. As the university continues to experience financial challenges, a return to U SPORTS—and thus a lower-cost competition framework—would create stability for the SFU Athletics & Recreation program and contribute to a sustainable athletics model while offering a high-quality varsity experience for student-athletes. Competing against local Canadian universities will also enhance natural rivalries and the fan experience on campus for all SFU students, leading to a deeper sense of SFU community.”
That’s a lot of fluff and a lot of bull. As a writer, I feel physical pain trying to read a convoluted paragraph like this when five words would do: “We want to save money.”
Even two words might work: “We’re broke.”
Is Simon Fraser Broke?
It’s no secret that universities across Canada, as well as abroad, are facing problems such as funding cuts. For example, schools in Ontario are expected to lose $2.1 billion amid federal cuts to the international students in the province. The losses included $300 million in 2024, $700 million projected for 2025, and $1.1 billion projected for 2026. My own alma mater, Dalhousie University, is also projecting a more than $20 million shortfall in 2025–2026.
According to Simon Fraser’s full budget plan for this upcoming year, they project an $18 million operational deficit, with about 85% of this linked to unexpected changes in immigration policies, international student enrollment, and visa regulations. A one-time divestment gain related to the decarbonization of fossil fuels of $22 million will help offset this shortfall for the first year.
So is Simon Fraser broke? Well, no, a more than half a billion dollar endowment says otherwise, but it’s fair to say that they do need to reduce spending if they aren’t expecting international student enrollment to bounce back.
And it’s also fair to assume that no matter where this money is taken from, somebody will be unhappy with the decision. To the university’s credit, unlike McGill University (which I unsuccessfully reached out to for a copy of their sports and recreation budget), Simon Fraser has made their Sports and Recreation budget publicly available.
The McLaren Report
On September 17, 2025, Simon Fraser University hired an independent consultant firm, McLaren Global Sport Solutions, to examine the impact of moving the varsity athletic program from the United States back to Canada.
They published the results of their examination on November 17, 2025.
According to the report, the university is projecting a $20 million deficit in 2025–2026 (perhaps a rounded-up figure from the $18 million in the general budget report), and the Department of Athletics and Recreation is facing a $1 million annual budget cut. To re-enter CanWest and U SPORTS, Simon Fraser University will have to pay a one-time fee of $990,000 and a recurring fee of $109,987 per year (increased from approximately $56,000 per year currently).
The report then goes on to highlight the potential savings of leaving the NCAA, which Simon Fraser University used as the basis of its decision to leave.
Competing in Canada means no more outdoor track season, women’s softball, or golf.
The removal of golf and softball is estimated to save $575,690 in operational costs. Additional savings, largely made up of more efficient travel within Canada, are predicted to be around $337,090.
The school will also save $250,000 in annual mandatory requirements imposed on the NCAA for accreditation through the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. This brings the total yearly savings up to $1,108,798.
The operating cost of the school’s men’s and women’s track and field program is estimated to be $449,087 for U SPORTS, compared to $534,087 per year in NCAA. The number of competitions with the removal of the outdoor season would be reduced to six, down from a minimum of eight and a maximum of 18.
How Accurate Is the Report?
After reviewing the report myself, I’m left with the impression that certain sections, namely travel expenses, are overly optimistic in savings. To me, it reads like a report that knew the answer it wanted to find before the investigation started.
The move to Canada will put Simon Fraser University into the CanWest conference, Canada’s westernmost sports conference that spans from Victoria to Winnipeg, about 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles).
According to the report, “Universities in British Columbia comprise 41% of Canada West members, and the addition of SFU would bring this to 44%. Based on the membership of the GNAC versus Canada West, the average travel distance is approximately 12% shorter in Canada West vs. the GNAC.”
However, this is misleading since two schools in Alaska, approximately 3,377 km and 3,559 km away from Simon Fraser, drag the average up. At least for track, I couldn’t find any evidence of the these schools hosting a home meet in at least the five years I reviewed.
Taking these two schools out of the equation, the farthest school (Montana State University Billings) is 1,534 km away, nearly 1,000 kilometers closer than the farthest CanWest school, the University of Manitoba.
Saying that 41% of schools are in British Columbia is also misleading since many of these schools are small and have limited athletics programs. No school in British Columbia has an indoor track facility capable of hosting a full indoor track and field competition. And the schools in the CanWest conference that host most of the meets are in Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Saskatoon.
My initial skepticism of some aspects of the report seems to be echoed by at least some of the athletes on the team. The report even notes that student-athletes almost unanimously prefer to stay in the NCAA.
Again, according to Zach Jeggo, “They hired an investigator to produce a report that ultimately came across as biased and lacking a genuine athletic perspective. Instead of offering a balanced view, the report seemed to overlook key factors that matter to athletes, which made the final decision even harder to accept. When the news finally came, it was delivered through an email, which added to the feeling that the process wasn’t handled with enough transparency or respect.”
Is Indoor Track Next?
As of now, Simon Fraser University is only slated to lose its outdoor season, which will save the university a paltry $85,000 per year, give or take.
But the university is currently internally reviewing the viability of the indoor track and field program. I fear that the university commissioned a report that effectively echoed what they wanted to hear, and that they’ll use this as an excuse to continue cutting.
Perhaps ironically, they may point out that the move to Canada will create too much travel, despite one of the selling points in the McLaren Report being that the move would cut down on travel.
When I reached out to Brit Townsend, who’s been the head coach of the track and cross-country teams for three decades, she told me that some of the information the school found in the McLaren Report raised concern for them.
She also told me that she had submitted a report and proposal for the indoor program, highlighting their recruiting strategies, history of indoor success, tradition of excellence, and proposed schedules. The report is now with the athletic director, who plans to hand it to the provost by the end of the week.
No timeline for the announcement of the fate of the indoor program has been made, but it may come sometime in early 2026.
Sign the Petition
A petition to retain the indoor track program on Change.org is being spearheaded by Lindsey Butterworth, an alumnus of the program and a member of Canada’s 2020 Olympic Squad. You can find and sign the petition here.
Whether you have a connection with Simon Fraser University or not, I encourage you to sign the petition and offer your support. If the day comes when your program is in trouble, I hope others offer the same support to you, too.