Ok, the CFL always gets poor coverage in Canada, but this year seems especially bad, especially in light of last year’s good viewing numbers and positive attendance in many venues. TSN, who carry the games, are pathetic in off-season coverage–every day there are NFL stories and yet they chiefly ignore our game. Sportsnet…forget it. CBC…nada. Come on! You want to “grow the game” start by covering the game. So frustrating.
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This is a great point. I will share some perspective on enhanced sports coverage, and hopefully more live sports when also not on the main media channels, as we are seeing all the more in the digital space.
Now here in late April there is merely another month before there will be more coverage in Canada and perhaps also in the US beyond the live games.
Also to your point, some preseason segments certainly would help greatly!
Down here in the US at least one can hope via CBS’ excellent digital platforms including CBS Sports HQ on 24/7 including via the CBS website.
Aside - too much of the media industry must have some really dated and ancient heads in charge, for they have been behaving as if it has been a novel concept since at least 2005 to put more live coverage on simply the internet. Such is only recently being done far more by companies with cable TV interests well behind the curve like Disney/ESPN and Comcast/NBC, to put what looks like a cable channel on the internet for access 24/7 instead of one of their stupid home-grown attempts at “regional sports networks” and the like still on cable systems with subpar coverage by homer talking heads and production quality that just might have been mediocre in about 1998.
There is plenty of airtime for CBS to fill down here for example, and based on some of the other reporting on various niche sports, we know they are filling time via Paramount’s digital platforms as noted in the thread linked below and in the streaming thread here.
Will there be any routine coverage of the CFL via FAST channels and other digital platforms in Canada, or will there be merely any given random channel on YouTube, on which last season Paul LaPolice did excellent breakdowns, for example?
In Canada of course TSN and RDS are aboard for coverage this season, but as noted also in the link, CTV coverage will be back for its second season.
But not exposing your league all over the digital space with live content, which is then run later after recording to be accessed on demand (i.e. YouTube or more on the league website) or on a loop accessible via a TV remote for when people are watching big screens late at night or when people are at work (we just got a new TV set up in our break area for example, and CBS Sports HQ can be accessed there as well), is a massive missed opportunity to expose and grow your league and brand!
The CFL does have a link via its website to its YouTube channel, but I think exposure must go well beyond merely on demand in the currently saturated and consolidating media market in 2025.
I would note that the channel has merely only 66K subscribers, and sure I will sign up now too.
That’s a solid number for any given independent content creator’s channel, but for a major professional league that’s below average in exposure on YouTube.
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Used to enjoy watch old CFL games on YouTube but they locked that down…so i locked them down lol. Anything on YouTube doesn’t exist for me any longer. TSN streaming keeps games for a week on TSN+ Essentially i need to crawl the web for my fix and most people can’t be bothered. It is an effort rather than easy.
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But the CFL does have an expanding channel on YouTube, so you will be missing that, but to your point, the CFL has to be in far more places and more easily accessible in modern digital media, including via FAST channels like most other pro leagues now.
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The problem is that it’s off season and there is nothing to cover. about the CFL. TSN or Sportsnet is covering the NHL playoffs, the NBA playoffs, MLB.
There will be a little bit of coverage of the Canadian draft but that isn’t big news and it’s not going to be big coverage when there is so much more going on.
Give it another month, in the mean time you can read 3D Nation or go on to YouTube and watch old games.
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I’m in the States and would pay to easily access to every CFL game. Instead, I can watch half to a third of the games, and often requires working through an awkward process.
Let me pay for what I want.
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To your point and as is one that has become well-known for access to sports, often resulting in piracy, the fundamental matter is a service issue and not a pricing issue any more.
They’ve screwed up TV so badly that it’s harder to get to what you want to watch whether you pay for it or not, and as I remind some of the technical types who think current streaming technology is somehow magically better simply because we have so many more choices and features than ever, most people are NOT going to pay very long or at all to wait every time after pushing a button when what we already had before to click and watch was better.
“Reverse improvement” it all was, as cited by Bill Maher.
That’s why overwhelmingly the streaming business has failed to tune of losses in the billions, but for Netflix and free YouTube, and continues to lose hundreds of millions.
But as most people clearly agree, this is not better for the customer but it’s still better than what we had for cable that has sucked almost all along.
The massive failure of paid video streaming or streaming for live sports, even for free much of the time, is also yet another historic example of the failures of groupthink, which would have been from 2019 to 2021 most especially, in any given corporate conference room.
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I am in the States too and I can watch ALL games on CFL+ it’s not awkward at all. I also use a VPN if the games are on CBSSN and not available on CFL+
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Maybe spend some money and time on the draft. If GB can.put in 125,000 for draft day, cant we can get 1250 people show up for dfaft. Make a event of it. Bring in family and friends of the players.
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The CFL Draft should be the unofficial kickoff to the season. Remember the “CFL Week” from a few years back. That whole concept should be brought back with the Draft being the highlight.
Fly in the top prospects, fill up a smallish theatre-style venue, and make the whole affair feel like an event. The CFL Draft is never going to be as big as other leagues’ drafts, but surely they can step this up a notch or two.
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Anything we can do to make our media presence more attractive would help. Perhaps the new commish will have an open ear.
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Fantastic points.
Absolutely criminal the CFL week was allowed to wither on the vine by the previous administration. And as you say, aligning the draft with same would go a long way to helping the league raise its profile.
The league did have cameras set up in the homes of top prospects for a while but like many things under Tandys leadership, that fizzled away. Tres sad
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