Not sure how many are aware of this. There is NO SUCH thing as a live CFL TV broadcast.
Why ? Because every play you see on TV has taken place about 5 seconds ago.
How do I know this ? Because when my Stamps are playing, there are times when I do not want to listen to the TSN crew and need a break. So I turn down the volume on the tv go to the local QR77 Stamps Radio broadcast.
I will know if a pass will be complete or incomplete before it happens on tv because the radio guys are live and just said so.
What is the point of this ? The TSN broadcasters have just become bland. I have no problem with any of them.
It is hard to get new Play by Play men, but I would like to see different color men. Suitor sounds like he is bored after all these years, Forde is monotone and Dunigan stammers.
I know the odds of this to happen are next to none, because Bell / CTV has nothing to do with team Radio rights.
However , it would be great to have variety. If the radio broadcasts were on the tv.
Say a Lions home game on TV would be broadcast by the Lions Radio crew and for the crew each home team.
That way we would have 9 tv crews and not 3.
As for the 5 second delay. That can be adjusted from the radio side.
I know this because the after game call in show has a delay in case they need to cut off the odd idiot with inappropriate comments.
They could adjust the timing on the radio to the tv.
As I said, it would most likely never happen, but who would have guessed that Rogers Sports Net and CBC Sports would form a mutual broadcast on each others channels. ( Hockey and Curling )
Calling a game on radio for radio listeners is completely different from calling a game on TV for TV viewers. Good announcers on TV can be silent for several seconds and let the pictures tell much of the story. If you were to have a radio type broadcast while watching a game on TV IT WOULD DRIVE ME NUTS!
On radio they are trying to paint a picture by describing with lots of words what is happening on the field - because the anouncers are under the assumption ylou can't see what's going on.
When watching on TV I don't need somebody to try to be painting a picture for me. I can see it.
So a typical pass play on radio you would get something like this.
'Collaros lines up in the shotgun. 1st and 10 at the Lion 28 yard line on the left hashmark. Banks in motion to the right hand side, Tasker and Grant move towards scrimmage - and reset as Collaros audibles. Now Gable moves in next to Collaros for protection. There's the snap. Collaros under pressure - rolls to his right elludes the pressure - buys time looks downfield and has to outlet to Tasker at the 25 - he can't getaway from Elimnian and is brought down after a 4 yard pick up just inside the 25 almost to the 24. 2nd down and 6'
That same play on TV should be something like this.
'1st and 10 Cats. Thats Banks in motion. Collaros audibles. Pressure! He gets away! Goes underneath to Tasker and Eliminiam brings him down after a short gain.'
They are two completely different calls - and they should be.
And from the radio listener perspective it would sound stupid as the announcers describe the replays TV viewers are watching and the analyst saying things like 'freeze it there guys - OK roll it - you can see here how Banks eludes the tacklers with help of that one block - freeze it there - (and he circles it with the telestrator) right there'
None of that would make any sense to a radio listener. .
Chick Hearn used to do simulcast basketball games on tv and radio. Of course, he was by far the best play-by-play announcer ever in the NBA. People would turn off the national tv broadcast audio and listen to him on radio. Every once in awhile, a fan would say how great he was because he knew when there was a basket before it appeared on tv. Chick of course said that was due to a slight delay between the broadcasts medium.
A couple years ago I beta-tested an IPTV product that never came to market. One of the complaints was that a live event would happen seconds or a minute after they already happened on cable or satellite. Some people thought that was not acceptable because social media would be talking about something they did not see yet even though it was supposed to be live.
When you are at Jays games or Leafs games in a box and the game is on TV - the play is always 5 - 7 seconds behind what is happening live. So if you happen to be inside the box - or even sometimes in line at concession stands where TV's are in view you will hear the crowd react - look up to the screen and then see the play the crowd has just reacted to a few seconds after it actually happened. .
At exciting moments - when the crowd is going bonkers - you want the TV announcers to largely be silent - a few words will do in any sport - so that the TV viewer almost feels like they are at the game. Because they can see what is going on and the crowd noise is what largely creates the feel of being at the game and the pictures do the rest.
Only because it is fresh in my mind there was a perfect example of this the other night in basketball. I was watching the incredible Raps comeback on Sportsnet and non basketball fan roommate got home - so went to my bedroom and turned on the TV there - and the TV was on TSN and they were picking up the conclusion of the Raps game with the TNT feed because they were showing the 2nd game that night. Raps had the ball - all you could hear for the first 15 seconds I had that TV on was the defeaning crowd 'Let's Go Raptors!' DeRozan drove to the basket - passed off to Joseph in the corner and he hit a 3 pointer to put Raps up by 6. (They had been down by 15 earlier - so the place was going absolutely bonkers.
The only words the announcer on TNT - said were 'DeRozan - Joseph in the corner, OHHH! ANOTHER ONE FALLS! Time Out Pacers!' For the 30 seconds those were the only words spoken. The pictures and deafening audio of the crowd did the rest. Wide angle for when the shot went in so you could see much of the crowd go nuts, quick shot of the Pacer coach calling the time out, pan of the crowd jumping up and down - going absolutely insane, close up of the Joseph being shoulder bumped, high fived and hugged as he went back to the bench, five second shot from the camera out in Maple Leaf Square showing the thousands of fans out there going nuts and then a brilliant shot of Pacers executive Larry Bird with a distressed look on his face in the crowd with Raptors fans all around him jumping up and down cheering with huge smiles on their face as the picture faded to commercial. The juxtaposition was brilliant. Great sports TV - because the pictures and sound largely told the story.
For a CFL game - last minute of a game home team up by a field goal and the visiting team is facing a third down in their own end and the crowd is going bonkers - a TV announcer should maybe say something like '3rd and 8' and then be silent in the several seconds leading up to the snap as the crowd noise rises and even the play can largely unfold without need of the announcer saying anything. The next word you hear should be something like 'Incomplete!' and then the sound of the crowd roaring would take over and then the use of pictures tells the rest of the story. No more words needed on TV. So shots of players on the home team jumping up and down, happy coach, shots of the crowd going nuts, a few closeups of sad faces of the losing team. Announcers not saying a thing for upwards of 20 seconds while that happens - the audio flooded with crowd noise. That is sports TV at its best.
Radio announcers can't do that. They have to keep talking to describe everything. Hearing a radio type broadcast talking over all those great moments and pictures would in many ways largely ruin the moment for me.