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Quebec loses bids for Vanier Cup football championship
2004-05 McGill Athletics Press Release #119
Quebec universities lose bids for Vanier Cup football championship in 2007 and 2008
MONTREAL -- The Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference has lost its bid to host both the 2007 and 2008 Vanier Cup games at McGill University and Université Laval, respectively.
Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Tuesday that the national championship football contest has been awarded to the Ontario University Athletics conference for both years.
"I am extremely disappointed with the decision," said Robert Dubeau, director of athletics at McGill, who spearheaded the project. "This is a setback for football in Quebec, a province which has developed a voracious
appetite for the sport in recent years. Both McGill and Laval put forth detailed and comprehensive bids. We were confident that both games would be sell-outs."
As part of the bid, the Montreal Alouettes had committed to be a managing partner with McGill, lending its marketing and event management expertise to the project, to ensure that the 2007 game would be a true community event.
Since its creation in 1965, the Vanier Cup game has never been hosted by a Quebec institution. In fact, the contest has always been played in Ontario -- 21 times at Varsity Stadium, 16 times at the SkyDome, three times at CNE
Stadium and once at McMaster Stadium in Hamilton (last year). The 2005 game is scheduled to be played at Hamilton followed by the 2006 contest in Regina.
McGill, which played Harvard in the first-ever game of North American football in 1874, was prepared to meet all CIS guarantees and provide significant incentives to the participating teams for the 2007 game at Percival Molson Stadium. Laval made a similar financial commitment for the
2008 game at PEPS Stadium in Ste. Foy, Que.
"I am very disappointed to hear the news," said Gilles D¹Amboise, director of athletics at Laval. "We we¹re very confident in our bid and will consider submitting another in the future."
With the addition of three new football programs (Laval, Montreal, Sherbrooke) in Quebec over the past decade, the conference has had significant increases in fan support and media coverage.
Quebec teams have reached the Vanier Cup game seven times, including four of the last seven years, with Laval winning the CIS championship in 1999, 2003 and 2004. The Redmen have had three Vanier Cup appearances, winning the
national title in 1987 after losing the final in 1969 and 1973. Concordia was a Cup finalist in 1998.
McGill, a founding member of the CIS (then known as CIAU) in 1902, has successfully hosted nine CIS national championships in various sports over the past decade.
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman, Communications Officer, McGill Athletics (514) 398-7012
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