Canada's lone NCAA football team moves home games due to COVID-19 vaccine entry requirement

A somewhat surprising sports entity has been impacted by the mandate that requires visitors to Canada to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Per The Associated Press (h/t CBC), the Simon Fraser University football program based out of Burnaby, British Columbia, announced Tuesday that it has relocated four home games for the upcoming season to Blaine, Washington, due to coronavirus-related entry requirements. 

Simon Fraser is the only Canadian member of the NCAA and competes at the Division II level. Per the program's official release, the Oct. 1 game versus Texas A&M-Kingsville, the Oct. 22 matchup against Western New Mexico, the Oct. 29 contest against Angelo State and the Nov. 12 game versus West Texas A&M will now take place at Blaine High School. 

Blaine's venue features artificial turf and covered seating for 2,000 spectators, and the town is the last in the state before drivers hit the Canadian border.

Additionally, Simon Fraser said that a nonconference game against Montana State-Northern originally scheduled for Sept. 10 has been canceled. Simon Fraser will welcome Central Washington to Burnaby on Sept. 17 and will also host the University of British Columbia at its campus on Dec. 2. 

"We are all looking forward to a time when the impact of the global pandemic will be behind us," Simon Fraser athletic director Theresa Hanson said in the release. "This news is especially disappointing for our student-athletes, but we continue to support them and advocate for ways to ensure they can train and compete. We are looking forward to creating a home-field atmosphere in Blaine for these games."