Kelowna taxpayers are helping to send the Okanagan Sun to Canada’s national junior football championship game this weekend in Windsor, Ont.
City council this week agreed to give the team $10,000 toward its travel costs, which Sun representatives will total about $60,000.
“We were obviously being very supportive of the football team and what they have done for our community,” Mayor Tom Dyas said in a statement to The Courier. “Their presence and participation in this year’s championship brings representation and recognition to Kelowna on the region on a national stage.”
“It’s not something we make a regular practice of, but they had forwarded a letter to the clerk’s office stating their cost to get to the Canadian Bowl was just slightly under $60,000 and asked whether the city would give some consideration to assisting with some of their cost to get to the game and back,” Dyas said.
The matter was not on the agenda for either the Monday morning or afternoon meeting. But it was discussed at the morning meeting, and approved by council.
The $10,000 came from a contingency fund that is dipped into at council’s discretion.
On Sunday, the Sun will face the St. Clair Saints in Windsor, Ont., for the national championship with kickoff at 4 p.m. PST. The game is not televised but it will be streamed at CJFLTV.com and broadcast locally on AM 12250 radio.
The two teams last met in the Canadian Bowl in 1999 when the Sun lost 32-29 to the Windsor AKO Fratmen, as the St. Clair Saints were then known.
This year in the regular season, the Sun had a 10-0 record, before winning the BC Junior Football Conference and then CJFL National Semi-Final last weekend in Regina. The team has won the Canadian Bowl three times, most recently in 2022.
