McGill University's decision to cut 25 sports teams called 'unfortunate' by U Sports CEO

U Sports chief executive officer Pierre Arsenault says McGill University's decision to cut 25 sports teams following the 2025-26 season is "unfortunate."

The Montreal school said it "carried out an extensive review process that involved discussions with internal and external stakeholders" before coming to its conclusion last Thursday.

"We spend all of our days celebrating just how complicated it is to be a student-athlete and just how significant the performances and the accomplishments of student-athletes are just to even manage that double life of being high achieving students and high achieving athletes at the same time," Arsenault said.

"And so we have no doubt that it's difficult news for both student-athletes and coaches and we understand that whenever an institution makes choices like this, it's because that's down to the options that they had, that ultimately there weren't other viable options."

McGill stated an audit in 2024 and an independent external review in 2025 made it clear the current structure in place "was no longer sustainable."

The school said it reviewed all clubs and teams over the past several months using multiple criteria, including the RSEQ sport model — the framework used by Quebec's governing body for school sport — as well as competitive viability, recruitment pools and resource requirements.

The programs being cut for 2026-27 include track and field, women's rugby and men's volleyball. The full list also includes badminton, baseball, fencing, field hockey, figure skating, golf, lacrosse, logger sports, nordic skiing, sailing, squash and tennis.

In addition, McGill said the return of its cheerleading and women's flag football teams depends on whether the RSEQ grants an exemption for