Such is the future already now for those Thursday nights in the US, but it’s going to be quite a while before that’s the case on Sundays too.
It’s noteworthy that the quality of the games on Thursday nights is already better overall as well, not that there are not some stinkers especially in November and December.
I think next up is whatever the NFL will do for Monday nights for their next phase to attempt to gouge audiences via some new streaming service via Disney (one initiative called Venu is now blocked in federal court), which they did via ESPN since 2006 until 2022, when they started putting more of those games on ABC only after mass cord cutting and because ESPN’s coverage and that of Monday Night Football had sucked for a very long time until only recently once they got Joe Buck and Troy Aikman plus the Manningcast.
This is going to sound straight forward, but the first decision the CFL will need to make, in partnership with the teams, is what does it want to achieve?
More money? Better access to the CFL for fans? Multi channels doing different things? Higher quality support shows? More player led coverage? Better exposure for sponsors? Better promotion of the CFL (and teams)? A mix of all this stuff?
TV / media has its priorities. They are buying 81 season games plus playoffs and a bit of pre-season over 27 weeks (4 games most weeks in the regular season) with at least 1 team not playing every week - is that good enough? Can the CFL and TV/media come up with a better package?How much more would TV pay for 10 teams playing 90 games (5 games most weeks with every team playing) + playoffs + pre season with bye rounds in selected weeks?
Is the season in the right place for TV and fans.
A new set of media contracts is the chance to create a better product.
First there has to be a demand for the product and seeing how we are competing against the NFL NCAA UFL and all the other sports and entertainment dollars, it’s a hard climb.
The NFL in Toronto party line has been bantered about at least since 2010 when I joined the forum, so perhaps it’s been about 25 years now long before I began to follow the CFL?
Well, you can go ahead and wait that one out and other pipe dreams until many of us are too old to care any more if you wish.
It’s simply not on the NFL radar as we go into 2025 irrespective of what all these cheerleaders believe in Toronto, so you may as well carve that out of any MLSE or Rogers plans now.
I think the CFL broadcasting arrangement is going look a lot different than what it is today. I doubt we’ll see a TSN exclusive deal. Heck, TSN could ultimately even be the odd man out.
The CFL will surely separate the TV rights and the digital rights. Ditto for English and French rights. TVA Sports would be a logical choice for the French TV rights or at the very least Alouettes games.
I can see Rogers Sportsnet having at least a game of the week, as well. Maybe CTV/TSN have one or two games?
The streaming rights are going to get interesting. You’ve got to wonder if a Netflix or YouTube gets involved. Or, perhaps CFL+ becomes available for Canadians (subscription based)?
I just can’t see it being the same deal with TSN. Lots of change in the air.
I agree the streaming rights will be interesting … but Sportsnet and TVA are both encumbered by BlueJays games for most of the CFL season … and TVA is rumoured to be in HORRIBLE shape financially.
I think the CTV experiment shows that it is less accessable.
As we have discussed many times on these boards, the future is Streaming, so many people have cut the cord. You can watch TSN/RDS, Sportsnet on your iPhones, I pads etc anywhere. The CBC may be available over the air but not many people are going to go out and buy an antenae
Everyone has the Internet.
I don’t think CBC has a streaming app. CBC seems to be getting out of the sports business, they have hung on to HNC.
They do the Olympics but they just use the local feed
You just can’t see the same deal with TSN? A league and a network where “same old same old” has been the way forever, you can’t see them tacking on another couple years and doing the same thing they always do?
TSN pays for exclusivity. The second it isn’t they reserve the right to lower their bid, and Sportsnet will have ZERO interest.
Do you have any examples or a link to Rogers trying to get an NFL team in Toronto? or that Rogers booted the Argos out of the Rogers Centre. I have Googled it and can’t find it anywhere.
But it’s easy to make shit up and then do the juvenile name calling when you are caught out.
You seem to forget that it was Taanebaum bought the Argos and he was part owner of MLSE they had rights to BMO, it was a no-brainer to move them to BMO field.
Then MLSE bought the Argos and Rogers was a minority owner of MLSE for the past 8 years.
Rogers now owns 75% of MLSE, you should be thankful, they are saving the Argos
That aligns with what I recall … Rogers had PLANS to renovate the Rogers Centre to optimize it for their primary tenant, hardly an unreasonable decision … the plans included a grass field, which made sharing the stadium (even if a CFL field would fit in the reconfigured structure) impractical/impossible … roughly coinciding with the sale of the Argos to Tanabaum and Bell, the new owners decided to relocate.