The big news in sports this past week was the decision to allow Canadian universities and colleges to apply for NCAA membership passed with a 97 per cent approval vote.

As much of a fuss as the announcement has made, it's very important to stress that not only is it a 10-year pilot project, but there's no guarantee that any Canadian institutions will be accepted. The universities, or college's, not only need to get the OK from the NCAA, but they then need to be accepted into one of the associations conference, otherwise they'd be forced to compete as an independent, which is no easy route.

There are of course good and bad sides to every story. The good in this project is that it would help our universities draw from a larger market of students in North America and, if the teams perform well, the positive attention would be a definite marketing bonus for the institutions.

Athletes will also then be able to get the ‘free-ride' benefits that American colleges offer their top athletes (though I'd like to point out that the CIS athletes are eligible to receive full tuition scholarships if, and only if, the player maintains a minimum 80 per cent average academically).

One of the first negatives to arise from the deal has a direct affect on each prospective schools hockey teams. Most university teams tend to have at least a couple former CHL players on the roster who represent the core of the team, however under the NCAA rules, these players would be ineligible to play.

Also, what about sports the Canadian universities offer that aren't found in the NCAA?

The partnership may mean that the schools rugby, and in certain NCAA conferences, even football teams won't be able to play in the NCAA, and ineligible to play in the CIS.

Either way, until a university or college gets accepted, it's all conjecture - and a pilot-project is just that, a project. No guarantees.