Canada West wants to see the money.
Jason Kerswill says it's there. So, when a special meeting unfolds Thursday in Victoria, the UNBC athletics director is hopeful the school will finally be welcomed into the Canada West Universities Athletic Association in the sports of basketball and soccer.
The money, in this case, is related to the Northern Timberwolves men's and women's soccer teams. At its annual general meeting May 3-5 in Saskatoon, the CWUAA deferred a vote on UNBC's membership application because it wanted to see "UNBC provide written confirmation regarding proposed changes in financial support for the soccer programs."
If that's Canada West's main concern, Kerswill can't help but be optimistic.
"The university is fully supporting [the soccer programs] so we'll see," said Kerswill, adding that one season of Canada West soccer, in men's and women's competition, would cost about $200,000. "It's exciting because we've basically responded to everything they've asked for and we'll just have to wait and see.
"It does come down to that vote, so we're doing everything that we possibly can to ensure that the membership knows that we're fully committed to both our sports at a Canada West funding level."
To gain entrance into Canada West, UNBC must get the nod of approval from 75 per cent of the voting members.
On Saturday, see The Citizen and pgcitizen.ca for more.
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