THUNDER BAY --- Like most of the sporting world, the Lakehead Thunderwolves are stuck in a holding pattern.
Athletic director Tom Warden said unlike Canada West, which on Tuesday announced it was slashing games from team sports schedules in 2020-21 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as limiting travel, Ontario University Athletics is taking a wait-and-see approach for now.
Canada West plans to drop its hockey schedule to 20 games from 28, its volleyball schedule from 24 games to 16, and its basketball schedule from 20 games to 16 next season, while limiting travel where possible.
Warden said he thought it was a bit early to be making decisions like that, with hockey not slated to resume until the end of September and the other sports to follow in October.
“The OUA is a bit more cautious on an approach. It’s a bit more wait-and-see,” Warden said, reached by phone on Wednesday.
The league, which oversees university sport in Ontario, is looking at a number of different scheduling options, but isn’t close to making any firm decisions like the ones announced by their Canada West counterparts.
“We have to be responsible and do that, but I think we have to wait for the sciences and the legislation to dictate where we’re going to go,” Warden said. “We’ve got a model for different types of schedules and start dates.”
Under the state of emergency announced in March, crowds of more than five people were banned, with some exceptions.
While many southern Ontario university sports teams don’t necessarily rely on attendance levels to cover their expenses, Lakehead employs a different model. The hockey team, in particular, has always been one of the highest drawing teams in Canada and remains so, despite a dramatic drop in attendance over a year ago.
Basketball games are also routinely tightly packed affairs.
Corporate sponsorships are another large source of revenue for Thunderwolves teams. The team derives a large chunk of the advertising revenue at Fort William Gardens. Other schools use student fees to help cover the cost of delivering varsity athletics.
All this is in flux because of COVID-19.
“It’s really difficult to say what our business plan and what our plan looks like moving forward for any of this stuff,” Warden said.
For now ticket sales have been halted, with too much uncertainty hanging in the air surrounding schedules and how many fans – if any – will be allowed to watch in person. The province has also yet to firm up if students will even be allowed to attend classes in person on campus, which could also have an impact on student availability.
Warden is holding out hope the seasons can proceed.
“Sports and recreation, all those things are going to be super-important once we get out of this thing,” he said.
“But we’ve also got to know where our place is and where we fit into that.”
