Along with basketball and rowing, the sport of rugby has contributed more national championship teams and Olympians and World Cup players to University of Victoria sporting history than any other sports.
So perhaps it鈥檚 only fitting UVic has been acclaimed the venue for the 2016 CIS national women鈥檚 rugby championships and is bidding for the 2017 and 2018 CIS national women鈥檚 basketball championships.
UVic鈥檚 was the only bid received for the 2016 women鈥檚 rugby championship, so it appears to be a mere formality.
The women鈥檚 basketball bid, however, is up against the University of Alberta鈥檚 Saville Centre, which recently hosted the FIBA Americas women鈥檚 Rio 2016 Olympic qualifier, the University of Regina, Queen鈥檚, and Ryerson, the last which hosted the 2015 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 Toronto Pan Am Games basketball competitions in its gym located in the old Maple Leaf Gardens.
UVic鈥檚 women鈥檚 hoops bid has in its favour the new gym in the state-of-the-art $77-million CARSA building, which opened in May. The CARSA gym features large video screens at both ends and seating right up to the court lines and seats behind the baskets.
The UVic women鈥檚 CIS basketball bid is for both 2017 and 2018, or for one of the two years, should the CIS choose to award them to different venues.
The CIS announced its 2016, 2017 and 2018 national championship hosting bids for several sports Tuesday. The most high-profile was for men鈥檚 basketball. Carleton and Ottawa, in a joint bid with the Ottawa Senators, are after both 2017 and 2018, as is Dalhousie and Acadia for Halifax and Ryerson for Toronto.
The CIS said all hosts will be announced by mid-October.
