University of British Columbia (UBC) coaches were heavily recruiting Marc Trasolini in 2007.  

Trasolini, a six-foot-nine Vancouver native, says coaches took him to dinner, spoke with his parents and told him he’d receive a basketball scholarship.

In the end, he chose to attend Santa Clara University in California on a full scholarship, because he says Santa Clara offers him a better opportunity to play professional basketball after he graduates.  

“I didn’t want to stay at home because I knew the good players go down south,” he says. “The talent level is so high. A lot of teams have NBA prospects.”

On the surface, Trasolini’s decision to play basketball in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) could be another example of Canadian inferiority and U.S. hubris when it comes to sport.

But it is more than that.

Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) cannot compare with the NCAA  economically, culturally and competitively, nor is it designed to.

Professional practices

“It’s a professional operation in Division I schools in the United States,“ says Darwin Semotiuk, professor of kinesiology and sports expert at the University of Western Ontario.

The NCAA has an annual revenue of $757 million, largely from advertisements and television broadcasts, according to their 2010-11 budget.

However, the budget doesn’t include jersey sales and other merchandise. This revenue is filtered to the schools based on success and the level of competition (Division I, II and III).

Large Division I schools like Ohio State University make the most money, pulling annual revenues of around $120 million, according to Semotiuk.

However, division II and III schools make a fraction of division I, and many of the schools are lucky to break even or are subsidized by the government.

The CIS model is completely different.

It’s about offering student athletes an academic environment so they can graduate with a degree.

The primary purpose is not to be a training ground for professional sport, it’s about responsible citizenry, Semotiuk says. He also says the CIS places the interest of the student first and athlete second.

Focusing on academics offers the athletes the ability to make a living once they graduate, and Semotiuk thinks the NCAA is different.

“If you are given the decision to go to chemistry class or practice at Ohio State,” Semotiuk says. “You’re not learning chemistry that day.”

Although, NCAA athletes rarely become professionals. It’s only the top-tier performers who can turn athletics into a career.

For instance, Trasolini, in his third year studying finance, hopes to play basketball in Europe when he graduates, and afterwards work in business. His degree offers him flexibility in the future.

Haves and have-nots

The financial disparity between NCAA division I schools and CIS means U.S. schools can offer their students more.

Trasolini says Santa Clara has the funding for state-of-the- art facilities and staff, including weight trainers, physical conditioners, nutritionists and academic support.

He also says recruiting is serious business in the U.S. and a couple of his coaches are gone every day to recruit high school players on the road.

Trasolini recalls being recruited by small U.S. schools and feeling like at times he was being stalked.

Schools he’d never heard of were calling at home and sending him letters and emails.  

Because college sports is big business, so is recruiting top talent. In fact, NCAA schools regularly start recruiting athletes in Grade 9, according to Kent Ridley, the head scout of Ridley Scouting, a service helping Canadian athletes promote themselves to colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The top U.S. high school athletes sometimes broadcast their decisions on national television, like the All-American Army game, where some of the top football players choose the colleges they will attend during the game.

Some U.S. athletes even sign letters of intent to commit to colleges before they begin their senior year of high school.

Top athletes help bring large profits to schools, but are barred from receiving any pay from institutions by the NCAA.

In turn, there are multiple NCAA violations a year given to top programs and athletes for breaking these rules.

The latest high profile controversy involves Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, who was aware that some of the team’s players were selling merchandise for tattoos.

He was fined $250,000 and suspended for two games by Ohio State University and the NCAA could penalize him further after they investigate the incident. In comparison, Ridley says Canadian universities don’t look hard at athletes until the end of high school.

Canadian schools do not offer full scholarships to students, although they can offer to pay for tuition and other fees.  

Another factor in the disparity between U.S. and Canadian schools is the size of coaching staffs.

NCAA teams have seven to eight staff coaches, in addition to  part-time workers to help with recruiting. This frees coaches to go on recruiting trips like Trasolini mentioned.

Ridley said Université Laval  is the only school in Canada with multiple full-time staff coaches.

Different leagues

“The whole American approach to sport is different,” said Mike Renney, associate director of athletics and head coach of the women’s softball team at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, B.C.

 SFU played in both the CIS and in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), a smaller American league.In 2009, they applied to become the first foreign school to play in the NCAA.

Renney says SFU applied to the NCAA because they wanted to reconnect with rival U.S. schools, who left the NAIA for division II in 1998-99, and playing in the NCAA cuts down expensive travel costs across Canada.

The level of competition was another reason, Renney says.

The good CIS teams can compete with Division II schools, but there is a big talent divide between the good and bad, Renney says. He also says the top athletes in the CIS will be top athletes anywhere, it’s just the NCAA has more top athletes.

“The unfortunate thing is there is not enough top teams to push us to the next level. It is a completely different world in terms of college sports,” says Renney.

U.S. schools are centred around their athletics. Many schools are in small college towns and the local newspapers devote numerous pages to their college sports. NCAA games are also broadcast on local television, generating revenue for the schools and most major sporting events like basketball and football are sell-outs during the season.

The Canadian collegiate game is largely unrecognized nationally or locally, in comparison.

“It’s frustrating when you end up in a gym or stadium and it’s basically friends and family. There is hardly anybody who doesn’t have a direct tie to a player on the floor,” laments Ridley.