Canada’s university sports system gets makeover, no more CIS acronym

The CIS, short for Canadian Interuniversity Sport, rebranded to U Sports on Thursday.

Canada’s governing body for university sports, including cross-country and track and field, has been known as CIS since 2001. The “U” in U Sports foremost stands for university while also incorporating the terms united, unbeatable, unsurpassed, undaunted and unrelenting. The organization notes that the name is identical in both French and English.

U Sports eliminates the need to memorize an acronym unlike the CIS. Although there is no reference to Canada in the new name, the logo incorporates a maple leaf, an iconic Canadian emblem. U Sports says that the rebrand was done to “give our student-athletes and national championships the visibility, appreciation and reward they deserve.” The logo incorporates bold lettering found on many university logos and varsity jackets.

The name change will not affect the fall championships, which includes cross-country, according to U Sports. The event will remain the “CIS Cross-Country Championships” until 2017.

RELATED: Queen’s to host Canada’s first-ever university cross-country meet with equal distances for men and women.

Between 1961 and 2001, U Sports was known as the CIAU, the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union.

New logo

The transformation of university sport is here! Introducing #Usports pic.twitter.com/as5zSRCf9E

— U Sports (@USportsCA) October 20, 2016

Unveiling video

The transformation of university sport is here! Introducing #Usports pic.twitter.com/LXqMI8qwN3

— U Sports (@USportsCA) October 20, 2016

Some Canadians have noted that the acronym for U Sports is U.S. The governing body for university athletics in the United States is the NCAA, an organization that brings in up to US$1 billion in revenue annually.

What was formerly known as the CIS website is now www.usports.ca. All social media channels have the new handle and a new website will be launched in early 2017. According to U Sports, there are 12,000 student-athletes, 500 coaches, 56 universities, 21 national championships and 12 sports under the nation’s governing body.

The Canadian university cross-country championships are being held in Quebec City on Nov. 12. The national university track and field championships are slated for March 9-11.