Less than one year after the opening of the state-of-the-art Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC), Ryerson Athletics has added another major weapon to its arsenal in its quest to attract the best young athletes to help them build top-level varsity programs.

Ryerson’s new sport media program, the first of its kind in North America, will help give the university a competitive edge in recruiting the best possible athletes in Canada. 

“A lot of our athletes want to remain working in sports,” said Graham Wise, head coach of the Ryerson men’s hockey team. “Anytime you offer a program that’s sports-related, it helps attract an athlete. It’s a real plus.”

Like Wise, Ryerson’s varsity coaches can sell prospective student-athletes on a bachelor of arts degree in sports media under the radio and television arts (RTA) program.  And unlike competitors’ programs that focus either on technical production, broadcasting or sport management, Ryerson’s sports media program — set to launch in Fall 2014 — offers a unique combination of all three.

“Ryerson isn’t just creating another program to combat other schools, they’re actually creating a niche in sport media,” said Scott McRoberts, director of athletics and recreation at the University of Toronto Scarborough. “If I’m an athlete and I know that I have the top facilities to train and compete in, I have the academic support at the university and the programs that are of interest to me, it’s very attractive.”

 Steven Ehrlick, assistant professor of RTA School of Media agrees.

 “What better program for a student-athlete to enrol into,” said the man behind the 120-page sport media proposal, approved a month ago by Ryerson’s senate. “Now your entire university environment and experience is related to the thing you do and love.”

Adding to the allure of the program, the MAC will play host to a number of the new courses. 

Ivan Joseph is Ryerson’s director of athletics and a founding member of the advisory board responsible for bringing the sport media program to Ryerson. He will put his own stamp on the curriculum by teaching certain courses personally from the friendly confines of the MAC’s vacant third floor offices, soon to be transformed into lecture rooms and control rooms for live sporting events.

“We’ve always seen this facility to be more than just varsity athletics and recreation,” said Joseph. “We want to bring (academic) life into it. We’ve built this building to accommodate it.

“If I can equate a quality educational experience (at Ryerson),” added Joseph, “then why not keep the best Canadian, student athletes here?”

Currently, RTA accepts 165 new students each year out of approximately 1,800 applicants. The projected 60 new first-year students enrolling in sport media in 2014 will account for a 36 per cent increase in RTA’s student body, necessitating the move to the Mattamy.

Despite obvious enhancements to the school’s athletic facilities and programs, Joseph’s theory may prove easier said than done. 

Ryerson’s high-profile sports teams remain chronic underachievers. Of the six Rams’ teams that called the MAC their home in its first year of operation (men’s and women’s hockey, volleyball and basketball), only one — women’s volleyball — made it past the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarter-finals, only to lose in the semis. The highly ranked men’s basketball team missed out on a golden opportunity to play as the host team at the Wilson Cup (OUA championships), held at  MAC, after losing to Ottawa in the quarter-finals.

Nevertheless, the OUA is banking on Ryerson and its new sport media program to help it overcome its biggest challenge, engaging top-level athletes to want to stay in the province.

“There are a lot of myths and rumours that exist out there that (the OUA) doesn’t offer athletic scholarships and athletes don’t get the coaching and the training,” said Ward Delse, executive director of the OUA. “In trying to dismiss those, you need champions, you need voices out there. Having a great program like this at Ryerson will help create more champions.”