Northern 8

Northern Football Series (Northern 8/Northern 10)
Association	U Sports (then known as CIS)
Sports fielded	Football
Region	Canada

The Northern Football Series (a.k.a. Northern 8) was a proposed sub-conference and competition for Canadian university football teams which was submitted to all Canadian university football schools on January 5, 2015. It would potentially involve the top two teams from the CWUAA, which covers Western Canada, four teams from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), and the top two teams from the Quebec Student Sport Federation (RSEQ). A team from Atlantic University Sport (AUS) could qualify in the second year of operation.

The series would have been managed as a football-only conference by U Sports, then known as Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), which would provide direct oversight.

The Northern Football Series was a creation of Saskatoon-based businessman L. David Dube and Vancouver-based broadcaster Jim Mullin. The objective was to create a televised game of the week for Canadian college football to expand and grow the game in Canada. The proposed model was a non-profit business with Dube investing the full-cost of television production and administrative functions. Participating schools would split the cost of air travel equally between participants.

The investors in the conference would have held 51 per cent of the vote on a board of directors, with the other four conferences possessing a vote proportional to the number of teams they have competing in U Sports football.

Any profits from the operation of the conference would have been redistributed to non-participating teams.

The first season would have featured two draws of four teams each side.

The following games would count in a Northern 8 standing, and in the regular season standing of the team in their native conference. The schedule would be as follows:

There is a provision for an additional two non-conference games to complete the competition cycle. These games would not count in conference standings for the Canada West or RSEQ but they would count within a Northern 8 standing. These games would be played before the start of the regular season of CIS Football:

Games played in-conference (Canada West, OUA, RSEQ) against common opponents would create a five-game sub-conference standing for the Northern 8. For example:

Teams would have been selected in cooperation with all stakeholders. The primary means of selection of a team will be based on the previous season's regular season record. However, other variables would be factored into selection. There would be annual promotion and relegation from the series.

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