CFL and TSN Re-Up TV Deal to 2018

[Lions4ever]

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=418717

[zark]

TSN has done a great job of building the CFL. But did CBC or CTV get a chance to bid? I've always liked the CFL on a public channel. TSN is a private channel. There's alot of people out there that don't get TSN. So maybe , the play offs can be on a public service.
Lots of questions from me on this point. Some games have only been shown on TSN2. I don't like monopolies!
Do I have any worries about this?

[Centrum22]

Some more details:

Deal Reportedly Worth Around 200 Million For Five Years

CFL, TSN agree to multimillion-dollar TV deal

By Kirk Penton,Winnipeg Sun


TORONTO - CFL commissioner Mark Cohon called it “momentous.”

Toronto Argonauts general manager Jim Barker used the word “unbelievable.”

Winnipeg Blue Bombers president and CEO Garth Buchko said the league is now playing a “whole new ball game.”

Those were just some of the comments coming out on a banner day for the three-down loop after it announced a new five-year broadcast agreement with TSN and RDS. Simply put, it will provide financial stability for a league that had nothing of the sort as recently as 15 years ago.

The official financial figures weren’t released Thursday, but sources indicated the new deal, which begins in 2014, is worth between two and three times the current one — and closer to the latter. That would put its value in the neighbourhood of $200 million.

Subtract league expenses and divide by nine teams since Ottawa is joining the fold in 2014, and organizations will be getting more than double what they received over the course of the current TSN contract. Today teams get $2 million, and starting next year they will be pocketing around $4.3 million.

The impact will be massive in a league where some teams will make $500,000 one year and lose $500,000 the next.

“It’ll be significant,” Cohon said. “Teams that weren’t making money will now be making money, but there will be opportunity to recoup some historic losses. It’ll be an opportunity for them to invest in new facilities and invest in new things they want to do for the fans.”

The timing couldn’t be any better for Buchko and the Bombers, who have to begin paying back an $85 million loan for the new Investors Group Field, coincidentally enough, in 2014. The new broadcast deal helps ease some of the stress the organization might have been feeling about paying back the Manitoba government over the next 45 years.

“It’ll certainly help us to achieve our long-range business plan,” Buchko said. “It’ll certainly help us to invest greater dollars into football operations in the future, and it’ll certainly help us to make sure that we can be a sustainable business and franchise for a lot of years.

“… It shows how important broadcast television is to our league, not only to showcase our games but to generate additional revenue for each of us, including our football club.”

Every franchise will benefit in different ways. Hamilton and Toronto are believed to be the only two franchises that didn’t make money in 2011, and newfound income will help the Tiger-Cats and Argonauts in their southern Ontario marketing efforts. The financially stable Montreal Alouettes, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Eskimos can enjoy some more spending money, while B.C. Lions and Argos owner David Braley can be rewarded for his relentless support of the league.

And hopefully the real stars of the show — the players — can be rewarded for putting their bodies on the line week in and week out. The CFL’s current collective bargaining agreement expires after this season, and the CFL Players’ Association will no doubt be looking for a nice little increase from this year’s $4.4 million salary cap...

Full story here: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/21/cf ... ision-deal

This is not too far off from the NHL's deal with NBC.

[TheLionKing]

A win-win for all concern

[cromartie]

In a way, what's more interesting to me is this. Unlike the old days, when the CFL was B roll on regional sports channels, the US now has five sports network options: ESPN (and ESPN2), CBS Sports Network, NBC Sports Network, Fox Sports 1 and NFL Network.

As ESPN is unlikely, the odds are better than they have been since the late 1990s that the league could attain some legitimate season long carriage on a network as a non incidental program component. Not that American exposure is the be all end all, but the league would be wise not to screw this up if they at least want to regain their place on the periphery of the sports fans awareness in the US for the first time in nearly a generation.

[Centrum22]

Due to the Summer Olympics, the NBC Sports Network didn't begin showing CFL games until August 27th. Without the Olympics this summer, I could see the network picking up many more games this season.

But regarding the CFL's 200 million deal with TSN, this is a real game-changer. It will be interesting to see over the next five years what the CFL can do with this new money. This is an incredible opportunity. Let's hope the CFL makes the most of it, including setting the stage for a 10th team by 2019.

[MexicoLionFan]

More than anything, teams will use this money to stabilize their operations for the next decade. That means quiet, calm patience in their football decisions. Which is also good for the product. More patience in coaches and players, means less turnover, and better younger players in the long run. TSN and the league can better market "returning faces" than they can wholesale changes...a little change is VERY good for both the teams and the fans, but wholesale changes are a mess and bad PR.

The CFL has hit's it ZENITH as a league, IMO. Look around from franchise to franchise. Solid ownership, excellent stadiums (new ones in BC, Winnipeg and Hamilton...huge upgrades coming in Calgary, Saskatchewan, Ottawa and Montreal), passionate fan bases, big crowds, and OUTSTANDING TALENT...most of it young. Think of Adam Bighill, Travis Lulay, Soloman Eliminian and Jovan Olafoye on the Lions alone.

Canadian talent is better than it has ever been. CIS programs are producing consistent talent pools to fill the drafts...Canadian kids at US Colleges are excelling. US Colleges continue to produce a plethora of smaller, but extremely talented players who's destiny it is to play in the CFL. As a result, as good as the talent is right now, it will only get BETTER, especially considering the massive improvement in the CIS game.

Finally look at coaching across the league and team management. The Lions have Brailey, Buono and Benevides (our Coordinators are Stubler and Chaps)...look at what Hamilton has now put in place...look at what Montreal had for almost a decade. Edmonton made important changes. Hufnagel is NFL quality in Calgary. Paul LaPolice is an excellent coach and he doesn't have a HC gig as of yet. The league brought the genius of Kent Austin back to the CFL, hopefully for the rest of his career.

The Lions traded Geroy Simon and released Arland Bruce because their in house talent was so good it had to play...when can the league boast that kind of progression? Finally, yes, there are great rivalries between teams, but there is a real family feel amongst ownership and management. They all realize they have to succeed together, and not apart. All this bodes incredibly well for the CFL moving forward. In my opinion, the CFL is the best, purest professional sports league in the world...and the best athletic entertainment that money can buy!

A Great Day!