The New TV Contract...

[JohnHenry]

Those are some great ideas jc! I agree with the majority of your proposals. While I'd like TSN to remain as the primary rights-holder, they could parcel out a Sunday Game of the Week on CBC (or Global) in the late afternoon. TSN could still film and produce all the games but one game a week could be broadcast on another major network.

The Grey Cup could also be separated from the regular season TV rights and sold to the highest bidder. The GC along could bring in a tremendous fee, and the game could be "sponsored" bringing in more millions.

With regards to the halftime shows, it's my belief that some acts have paid to be on the GC halftime, like Blue Rodeo and BTO for instance, who conveniently had new albums released right around the GC. This would be a tremendous opportunity for a record company to reach 5 million listeners in one swoop. It was rumored that Beiber performed the GC for free...along with Carly Jepson who is promoted by Beiber's record label and tours with him. Not sure about Marianis Trench but I'd bet they were connected to Bieber in some way. So while those performers might seem an odd fit for the GC, they do draw eyeballs, with perhaps other artists chipping into the GC fund to promote their albums.

I have no complaints about TSN's coverage or broadcasts. TSN did "feature" Friday night football at one time, with more cameras and pizzaz , but I think they've brought up all their broadcasts to FNF level, so we don't notice anything special on Friday's anymore.

I like the ideas of a weekly CFL-magazine show and broadcasting games in ethnic languages catered to each market.

Hopefully the league TV negotiators will read your ideas jcalhoun, and the CFL continues to grow and improve!

[Toppy Vann]

I don't like the idea of two broadcasters and can't see the logic in that as it will get watered down.

It would be nice but I doubt they can get into the ethnic broadcasting until they start marketing to these communities at the team level. Generate some fan interest. Easier said than done. The idea of the commentaries in other languages is a good idea. Here in Hong Kong you get that with the Olympics with Cantonese and English.

They need more teams in Canada. I worry about a lot about Ottawa as that city for football doesn't inspire. They have Tor and Ham and they are not exactly the richest franchises nor the strength of the CFL now.

[cromartie]

Each league within the CIS negotiates it's own television contract, and none of them are with TSN. The CFL has little to no control over that. The Vanier is a separate property and that should continue to be on TSN and played in the same city, on the same weekend, as the Grey Cup.

If there's a network split, it should be on CTV. If there is a network split, CTV should air one game, in primetime every week. The issue with this, however, is that you're asking CTV to surrender revenue from airing American shows at a relatively low cost in exchange for producing a domestic sports property that's relatively expensive by comparison. I'm not sure you can make those numbers work.

But if you want to give it a try, my suggestion is to move Friday Night Football to CTV and give it an 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time start for all 18 weeks. That means a couple of 5:30 p.m. home starts for BC, on a Friday, so you guys would have to suck it up. If you don't treat it like a prime time property, stick it on the schedule and provide something on the same day and at the same time, consistently, then you aren't going to get a sufficient return. That's the lesson of Sunday Night Football on NBC.

For purposes of the value of the property, the remaining games, the playoffs and Grey Cup should remain on TSN.

We are fine without CBC. I don't miss them at all.

I'd also like Rod Black to serve the length of the next contract on the International Space Station, if that's ok.

You can argue the product isn't sold as well as we might like commercially. I find some of the commercials that air during CFL games...interesting to say the least. But you can't make businesses advertise with you that aren't interested in it. That is what it is. We have some great league sponsors. Rona, in particular produces adverts I find particularly entertaining, but you can't force the network to sell the product differently than they are.

[TheLionKing]

If it isn't broken why fix it ?

[Qman]

- never go back to CBC, broadcast quality was terrible and they have no money. plus when they lose HNIC next year they won't have sports department.
- only reason to split up coverage is they get labelled as TSN property and don't get good push/coverage on other carriers (ie. sportsnet which pushes their own content).
- current deal is $16 million per season. Blue Jays get $30ish million from sportsnet. CFL gets basically double the ratings for half the amount of games plus you get the grey cup game so I would assume it would be in middle $30s for season.

I think they should stay with TSN.
- Everyone watches TSN, no one really watches sportsnet except for Canuck games.
- good quality broadcasts
- everyone knows what channel the game is on



The reason the grey cup is on TSN and not CTV is so bell/ctv can maximize viewership ... Football on TSN and chick flick type program on CTV. They can't do that with the superbowl because need CTV to block US channel (simulcast) ... would probably want to do the same if they could.

[bc49]

I often think the work TSN has done with the CFL broadcasts is underrated. I am of the opinion the CFL on TSN is a major reason the CFL has been on a popular upswing the last 6 years. Honestly the league could not have asked for a better broadcasting partner. The rise in popularity of the CFL on TSN has clearly benefited both organizations: the first year of TSN's exclusivity (2006) the average viewership per game was 400,000. In 2012 that number was 730,000.

Despite commissioner Cohon saying all the right things to the media regarding TV contracts I suspect he knows the right fit is to renew with TSN.
And TSN hasn't put in 6 years of building a brand to let someone else share it. So both sides want to renew the deal. The only major issue is money.
As part of the fine print in the last broadcasting deal TSN has an exclusive window to negotiate a renewal before January 2013.
The current contract is worth about $16 million a year.
I would not be one bit surprised if the CFL starts the process wanting twice that amount in a new 5 year deal.
The viewership numbers are almost twice what they were at the beginning of the current contract, the ratings are on the rise (after a slight drop in 2011) the Grey Cup is a broadcasters wet dream and a 9th market is soon to lift off.
A $160 million five year sounds pretty sweet and a serious revenue pad for the member clubs.
But we will see what TSN/CTV/BELL has to say about that.

I am down with Cro's idea to send Rod Black to the space station. When they sent Blacky off to do the Olympics TSN used the Raptors PxP guy (forget his name) and I thought he did an excellent job.

I would really like to see 'Thursday Night CIS Football on TSN' and I hope everyone can work together on that project and roll it out soon.

[Hambone]

The Vanier is a separate property and that should continue to be on TSN and played in the same city, on the same weekend, as the Grey Cup.

Wholeheartedly disagree with the Vanier being in the same city on the same weekend as Grey Cup. That should only happen in the biggest cities. Regina is already looking like a Grey Cup disaster in the making for rooms. There aren't near enough rooms there to handle a normal out of town contingent of Grey Cuppers. Toss in the Vanier and you'd effectively turn the Grey Cup into an event strictly for Regina. The only thing that might make sense there is if the Vanier is held on the same weekend but up in Saskatoon. Otherwise outsiders need not bother attending. Winnipeg is generally taxed to the max for Grey Cup accomodations too. Even in Calgary and Edmonton Grey Cup demands alone pretty much take care of every available room within a $40 cab ride of downtown.

[Mane]

Agree with most that has been written so far. New play by play commentators are badly needed as are non biased colour commentators. Only major change I would like to see is a short post game show. Drives me nuts when the final whistle blows and we are in sports center in nano seconds. Also been curious for years why the radio feed does not make any effort to sync with the tv game.

[cromartie]

The Vanier is a separate property and that should continue to be on TSN and played in the same city, on the same weekend, as the Grey Cup.

Wholeheartedly disagree with the Vanier being in the same city on the same weekend as Grey Cup. That should only happen in the biggest cities. Regina is already looking like a Grey Cup disaster in the making for rooms. There aren't near enough rooms there to handle a normal out of town contingent of Grey Cuppers. Toss in the Vanier and you'd effectively turn the Grey Cup into an event strictly for Regina. The only thing that might make sense there is if the Vanier is held on the same weekend but up in Saskatoon. Otherwise outsiders need not bother attending. Winnipeg is generally taxed to the max for Grey Cup accommodations too. Even in Calgary and Edmonton Grey Cup demands alone pretty much take care of every available room within a $40 cab ride of downtown.

Then the proper answer is to not hold the Cups in towns without the infrastructure to support it. If they have to be decoupled in Regina and Winnipeg, fine, but they should be held together otherwise.