U SPORTS kicks off 2025 football season on road to the historic 60th Vanier Cup in Regina

The Road to the 60^th Vanier Cup begins this weekend as the 2025 U SPORTS football season kicks off, with nine games across the Atlantic University Sport (AUS), the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conferences. Canada West begins the season next week. 

The season begins Friday when the Acadia Axemen travel to Halifax to face the Saint Mary's Huskies (6 pm ET, AUStv) and culminates with the 60th Vanier Cup, set for Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. It will be the first time the championship game is staged in Regina. 

The Vanier Cup has crowned the best in Canadian university football since 1965 and returns this fall with defending national champion Laval Rouge et Or entering as the team to beat following last year's 22–17 victory over OUA champion Wilfrid Laurier.

"The 60th Vanier Cup is a milestone for our sport and a celebration of generations of student-athletes, coaches and communities," said U SPORTS CEO Pierre Arsenault. "With more than 200 U SPORTS alumni playing in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the 2024-25 Lois and Doug Mitchell Award winner (U SPORTS male athlete of the year) Taylor Elgersma continuing his quest to become an NFL quarterback with the Green Bay Packers, the pathway from our fields to the pros has never been stronger."

Pre-season ELO rankings

The pre-season ELO rankings have the defending Vanier Cup champion Laval Rouge et Or at number 1, and the Vanier Cup finalist from last season, the Laurier Golden Hawks, sit at #2. The first AUS entry is the Bishop's Gaiters at number 5, while the Manitoba Bisons are the highest ELO-ranked Canada West team at #8.  The Vanier Cup host, the Regina Rams begin the season at #12. 

Opening ELO Rating calculation: (Last ELO Rating * 0.667) + (1500 * 0.333)

The weekly Combined Media-ELO Top 10 poll and full U SPORTS rankings are released every Monday, except holidays, when they are moved to Tuesday. The first Top 10 will be released Monday, August 25, on USPORTS.ca, with the complete ELO rankings being published at USPORTSMedia.ca. 

Digital innovations for 2025 

U SPORTS is launching two major fan-facing initiatives this season: A new cloud-based football statistics program and U SPORTS App. 

The new U SPORTS cloud-based football statistics platform powered by PrestoSports delivers live stats, play-by-play and post-game reports to fans, media and coaches. 

Designed over two years, the system builds upon PrestoSports' university football 1.0 platform with modifications to accommodate Canadian varsity football rules. The system replaces the previous system that U SPORTS has been using for the past 20 years, providing modern integrations and faster delivery of information to fans. 

"We needed to replace the previous DOS-based football stats platform, and over the past 24 months, we have worked with PrestoSports to build an affordable Canadian football stats system to meet our current and future needs," said John Bower, U SPORTS Director of Marketing and Communications. "As the platform evolves, it will become a robust system that serves our outstanding U SPORTS fans for years to come."  

"Football 2.0 marks a major step forward for PrestoStats, and we're excited for U SPORTS members to be among the first to use it," said Brad Cygan, Director of Marketing at PrestoSports. "Their feedback helped shape the new design and features, making this upgrade especially meaningful."

Announced earlier this week, the new U SPORTS mobile app centralizes live scores, schedules, news and championship content, including personalized alerts so fans can follow their favourite teams from kickoff to the Vanier Cup.

"These upgrades are about meeting fans and media where they are — mobile, real-time and nationwide," said Bower. "The combination of a unified stats backbone and a refreshed app experience is a big step for U SPORTS." 

Broadcast coverage

Canadian fans can follow the season across U SPORTS and conference platforms and national partners. The AUS, OUA and Canada West provide coverage of all regular season and conference playoff games on their respective digital platforms (AUStv, OUA.tv and CanadaWest.TV) while TVA Sports provides weekly television coverage of the RSEQ conference beginning Saturday when the Concordia Stingers travel across the Décarie Expressway to take on the Montréal Carabins at 2 pm ET. CBC Sports provides wall-to-wall coverage of the Uteck and Mitchell Bowl on CBC Gem and the Vanier Cup on CBC TV. Full details on schedules and games are listed on USPORTS.ca.

Countdown to Regina

As the season opens, attention turns to Nov. 22 at Mosaic Stadium, where Regina will welcome the country's top student-athletes and supporters for a landmark championship on the Prairie stage. Tickets are available at USPORTSTickets.ca and through the U SPORTS app.

U SPORTS Football Schedule (Week 1)

Friday August 22

Acadia @ Saint Mary's, 6 pm ET (AUStv)

Sherbrooke @ McGill, 7 pm ET (McGill Sports) 

Saturday August 23

McMaster @ York, 1 pm ET (OUA.tv)

Concordia @ Montréal, 2 pm ET (TVA Sports)

Bishop's @ Mount Allison, 3 pm ET (AUStv)

Western @ Queen's, 3 pm ET (OUA.tv)

Toronto @ Carleton, 4 pm ET (OUA.tv)

Ottawa @ Waterloo, 4 pm ET (OUA.tv)

Laurier @ Guelph, 6 pm ET (OUA.tv)

Click here for the full 2025 U SPORTS regular season schedule.