As of Oct. 1, the OUA and U Sports are both partnered with CBC Sports for coverage of select collegiate sporting events from now until 2025.

 

The agreements—which were signed on Sep. 20 and Oct. 1 for U Sports and the OUA, respectively—have notable differences in scope, but both ultimately mean digital broadcasting services for championship-level tournaments that take place within provincial and national divisions of play.

 

CBC Sports is a division of the CBC which publishes regular news content on a vast range of sports, in addition to streaming services for specific events. They were Canada’s primary sports broadcaster during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

 

The U Sports partnership, contracted until the conclusion of the 2024-25 academic year, specifically advertises that CBC sports will be the exclusive English-language digital broadcaster for every U Sports national tournament for the next four years.

 

Though only recently announced, this partnership comes off an agreement from the 2019-20 school year, in which U Sports and CBC Sports agreed on a broadcasting deal for coverage of six of that year’s 13 national tournaments. This partnership expands on that previous agreement, encompassing all 13 of U Sports’ annual national tournaments for the next four years.

 

In their press release outlining the partnership, U Sports said this coverage will debut on Dec. 4 for the 2021 Vanier Cup—the national championship for Canadian university football.

 

The OUA’s partnership deal with CBC Sports—announced just days ago—encompasses broadcasting coverage for varsity sports in the province of Ontario alone. The agreement signed will only last for two academic years, until 2022-23.

 

Much in the same fashion as the U sports partnership, however, the CBC Sports coverage for the OUA will only extend to championship level tournaments, of which there are 13.

 

U Sports reported in a press release the scope of sports covered by CBC Sports for the OUA will include men’s and women’s soccer, basketball, hockey, and volleyball, as well as football, swimming, track and field, wrestling, 

and women’s rugby.

 

No further details provided on other coverage of non-championship level events, although the inaugural event for the CBC’s coverage of the OUA occurred over the weekend for the Panda Game—an annual football game between the University of Ottawa and Carleton University—in Ottawa.

 

In a email statement to The Journal, Athletics and Recreation commented they are excited to collaborate with all three entities in the future.

 

“As an organization that takes tremendous pride in producing the highest quality webcasts possible each week for our students, alumni and supporters around the world, we are looking forward to working with CBC Sports, U SPORTS [sic] and the OUA to bring the incredible student-athletes and coaches taking part in our championships to viewers across Canada for years to come.”

 

Streaming of these sporting events is available on three platforms: cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports App, or on the streaming service CBC Gem.