Damien Cox is a corporate shill and he smells like soup.
The possibility that bell and rogers might not be on the same page when it comes to the league might give a ray of hope if there is a conflict of interest .
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The CFL should never have went exclusively with TSN.
Eventhough TSN did stabilize the CFL they also have been under selling the league as well.
Sportsnet was actually a better network when CTV launched it back in October of 1998.
First event a 1-0 win by the Flyers over the Rangers.
Both networks leave a lot to be desired. Each has 4-5 subchannels and on most days it the same programming (!!!) on all of them (or Sportscenter / Best 50 NHL plays / 20 fantastic soccer goals that no one cares about / some dumb poker tournamentā¦ Iām all in!)ā¦ then of course the have their āsuper premiumā packages for which they charge additional fees.
Why does TSN even have a 4K channel for the 4 hours a week of programming that they show? The CRTC has a done a piss poor job of regulating and now Rogers and Shaw merger??? Less competition is never a good thingā¦ but I guess money talks as usual.
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No, it doesnāt work that way. The European sports business model works differently. The clubs are independent of the league so they can take their allegiance wherever they want. The league itself can kick them out (relegation) or let them back in (promotion). In North America, our business model is the franchise system and most leagues follow this. You canāt just take your team to another league. Itās against your franchise charter. This is proven in the CFL time and time again that if an owner wants out, the league revokes their franchise (takes ownership away from them). Then itās up to the league to fold it (original Alouettes, Rough Riders, American teams), suspend it (renegades) or run it themselves (countless times) until a new owner can be found. It happens this way every time and Cox of all people - a supposed veteran sports reporter - should know this based solely on the long history of CFL ownership issues.
Yet he still goes ahead and prints a lie.
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Why not? It made them the most money. Theyāve also been an extremely agreeable business partner over the years. The CFL has a terrific deal with TSN that they would have gotten nowhere else.
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I still believe that the current deal is below value by not allowing any bidding and giving TSN right to refusal.
Why do you think thatās not the case and why did the NHL go back to a multiple carrier (ESPN and TNT) for their national package when for so long they were only on NBC and their networks.
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I wonder when the Renegades will finally be released from their suspension and return to the league?
Legally speaking, are the Redblacks the reanimated Renegades or a new entity all together?
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Here's an article of the Toronto ARGOS day set for Dec 5th.
Strange that the mayor (former CFL Commissioner) John Tory mentioned the Argos are going for a record 9th win of the season.
Politicians arenāt sports fans normally. They usually donāt know what they are talking about at the best of times. 9 wins was their record but 9 wins is not the record 
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When the CFL had multiple carriers they were making a pittance compared to what they are making now. In fact, the CBC in its last few years of CFL coverage was so cheap that they were only handpicking games after labour day which were subcontracted FROM TSN. TSN was still the sole rights holder. CBC treated CFL like third class citizens when the the broadcasters went on strike. They let them walk and showed silent games for a couple of months, just to save some cash before settling up right before hockey season. 
They didnāt give a damn about the quality of the CFL broadcast and thatat pissed off a lot of CFL fans and rightly so.
Then just a couple of years after CBC was gone, the CFLās contract with TSN shot up from 10 million or so to about 40.
You think that opening up for competition will create a bidding war? Sometimes it does. The NFL has done well that way but in America there are piles of broadcasters and the NFL plays 12-16 games per week. In Canada there are maybe 3 options tops and the CFL only plays 4 games per week. Itās a totally different landscape and thereās not a ton of competition to bid it up.
Broadcasting rights and other things like sponsorships can often be more lucrative if they are granted exclusively, as the broadcaster or sponsor is willing to pay more to keep their rivals out. An example is the truly ludicrous amount of money that Pirelli pays to be the only tyre supplier in Formula 1. They do so to keep Michelin Bridgestone Goodyear Dunlop Yokohama etc out. If Sportsnet or CBC really was interested in CFL broadcast rights, TSN might be paying as much as they do simply to buy CFLās allegiance and keep the others out. Maybe not, we donāt know, but itās very possible because these sorts of deals go on all the time in other sports.
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Perhaps, but in this case John Tory had a (successful) stint as CFL commissioner. Heās a huge CFL fan.
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Typo then or grammatical error. Fire his speech writer.
TSN and MLSE have been great with the CFL. The Argos were purchased by MLSE even though they were a $$$ loser for decades. Still hoping for a miracle.
As for the Argo fans, I may boo them on game day; but I have a lot of respect for them as they keep supporting their team even though it is not cool to do so in that marketplace.
Toronto has been stuck in this murky situation for a while.....they feel they are too big for Canada but Americans don't even acknowledge their existence. Just look at the lack of coverage any Toronto sports team gets on American television.
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Just was curious thatās all.
Youāre correct in regards to Canadian TV deals.
I would prefer CBC to be privatized but that might get some opposition from the friends of the CBC group.
Not sure what that means.
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With MLSEs financial clout, Iām sure they could take it to court and challenge any CFL charter. Or they just dont renew the lease at BMO for the Argos, and get an expansion XFL team to play there.
I think MLSE was / is motivated to try and turn the CFL into a self- sustaining and successful entity, and I think they believe thereās one way to do that, and thatās partnering up with the XFL.
I think the apathy MLSE is now showing is a result of the rest of the CFL shooting down the XFL.
MLSE isnāt interested in charity, theyāre willing to put good money towards sensible moves, but I think theyāre of the opinion the CFL status quo isnāt that.
Itās a āhereās a solution to make this leauge workā āyou guys arenāt interested? Ok, weāre out and doing our own thingā.
I think the rest of the league would be wise to cooperate.
If it really is true that MLSE wanted to merge with XFL, it would be the end of Canadian pro football. Thereās no way in hell that the XFL would play 3 downs. So I do not agree that it would be wise to merge.
If that really is true that MLSE wanted a merger with the XFL, they would be knowing full well that it would be the end of Canadian pro football, which means that it would likely be a conspiracy by the Leafs/NHL to kill the CFL, which the distinct possibility of that happening was what I had warned everyone about when MLSE bought in. Iām not thorougly convinced of such a conspiracy, only the possibility of (as if they really wanted to kill the CFL they would probably have done so by now) but the angle that you present is the strongest support yet for that conspiracy. Therefore i donāt discount your theory completely, but it doesnāt seem terribly plausible that MLSE really wanted that merger with XFL as badly as Cox claims.
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Have all of the other franchises drop Canadian Football and bow to the almighty MLSE?
Kind of tough to cooperate with a gun pointed at your head.
If the MLSE wants the thatās there choice.
The city of Toronto owns BMO. The lease deal for the ARGOS would be more their thing wouldnāt it?
Still no NFL option available yet.
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I would think that any lease that the Argos have would not be transferable to the XFL, as the lease is between the stadium and the franchise. Since a CFL franchise is not transferable out of the league, the lease would die with the Argos (if they folded) or continue with the CFLās Toronto franchise (if the CFL revoked the franchise and kept it running without MLSE).
"I think MLSE was / is motivated to try and turn the CFL into a self- sustaining and successful entity, and I think they believe there's one way to do that, and that's partnering up with the XFL.
I think the apathy MLSE is now showing is a result of the rest of the CFL shooting down the XFL."
I agree with some of this but I have to think Montreal and BC were open to the merger talks. I'm not sure that MLSE is going to give up on it. I also agree with Prairie Dog that a merger will be the death of Canadian Football. In the old days when people read newspapers, this opinion piece would most likely line a few bird cages. MLSE isn't going to deny anything because it might give them an edge while attending BoG meetings.
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