Winnipeg Fury Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 There have been a number of people and groups that have approached me regarding various questions surronding the Voyageurs Cup. I had a brief discusion today with Joe Guest and Peter Montopoli of the CSA surronding this issue and wanted to share with you some of the information. Prior to this conversation with the CSA, I had spoken to reps from the RPB''s, U-Sector, Ultras Montreal, Southsiders, and NEE, all of whom are formally working with the Voyageurs in backing the national team. - Regarding the lack of weekend matches for the Voyageurs Cup, the CSA would have preferred to have all the matches on weekends, as that would have best served the tournament in terms of attendance and exposure. Unfortunelty, it simply did not work for the different clubs due to conflict with the various league (MLS/USL) schedules. - Many have complained that all the matches are not being televised. The CSA in selecting television exposure decided for 'maximum distribution.' The 4 Rogers Sportsnet matches have an approximate exposure of 8.7 million viewers per telecast, while the CBC BOLD distribution is approximately 800,000 per telecast. The CSA felt the Sportsnet option was the superior plan, particlarly as on-line options exist for the matches that are not included with Rogers Sportsnet. - In regards to the 3rd spot that was recently granted to Honduras, CONCACAF had outlined the procedure prior to our participation, that if a club can not meet the standards, the spot would go to another club in that general region. So the spot was never going to anyone in North America, but had to remain with a club in Central America. - The CSA is happy how the Voyageurs Cup (NCC) is progressing/growing, and while they would love to expand the tournament, they must also insure that high standards are met and the tournament is not 'watered down,' for the sake of growing soccer across the country at the elite and professional level. This was not a formal interview, just a brief discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 It's good to know they have the smarts to keep the Vs Cup limited, at least for the time being. I'm sure they will revisit everything in 2010 or once a 4th pro club is established, which ever comes first. Hopefully they are also allowing themselves flexibility when it comes to broadcast rights. I'd hate to find out that we have to settle for only having 4 of the 6 matches broadcast on a major sports network next year as well. Did they mention anything about the Vs specifically? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted May 16, 2009 Author Share Posted May 16, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Tuscan Did they mention anything about the Vs specifically? About us as a group ? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboAl Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 I'm not so bothered by the lack of weekend matches because of scheduling with the MLS or USL but the lack of TV coverage is unnecessary. It's likely been brought up in other threads, but is there a reason why all the V Cup matches couldn't be broadcast on one of the Sportsnet digital channels, like for the CNMT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 ^ because the Jays were playing the Yanks and that is guaranteed to draw big ratings from coast to coast (although it didn't draw any larger of a crowd at Skydome than the TFC v Impact game at BMO) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the biologist Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury The CSA in selecting television exposure decided for 'maximum distribution.' The 4 Rogers Sportsnet matches have an approximate exposure of 8.7 million viewers per telecast, while the CBC BOLD distribution is approximately 800,000 per telecast. The CSA felt the Sportsnet option was the superior plan, particlarly as on-line options exist for the matches that are not included with Rogers Sportsnet. I'm not convinced that "maximum distribution" is best achieved when you telecast only 67% of the games. When you're trying to get more people interested in your product, it's just like teasing them and be satisfied with that, acting like exhibitionists: "Look at that ! Do you see that ! Yeah baby... but you can't touch... and now it's over folks ! See ya next time, don't know when !" [] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianfoot Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 quote:"Look at that ! Do you see that ! Yeah baby... but you can't touch... and now it's over folks ! See ya next time, don't know when !" [] reminda me of my ex's younger sister.........[] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboAl Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 quote:Originally posted by VPjr ^ because the Jays were playing the Yanks and that is guaranteed to draw big ratings from coast to coast (although it didn't draw any larger of a crowd at Skydome than the TFC v Impact game at BMO) I appreciate the draw of the Jays especially with their excellent start. However, my understanding is that showing an alternative feed (say on Sportsnet Pacific) would only be applicable if you had all 4 SNets. If you were in Vancouver and only got the one Sportsnet, you would still get the Jays game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Why is TSN so completely out of the picture when it comes to Canadian soccer? I know Mother CTV has complete control over what they show, but they show UEFA games, and those can't have THAT much higher ratings than other programming they could show, so why not anything North American? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 quote:Originally posted by JamboAl I'm not so bothered by the lack of weekend matches because of scheduling with the MLS or USL Agreed. The term "Mid-week game" is genarelly understood by most soccer fans to mean something different from the saturday or sunday game. There is a prestige factor associated with it. Many other successfull competitions or leagues have predictable days for their matches. No one needs to ask on any given sunday in the fall is there is an NFL game on. Similarly, in the successfull competition overseas its either saturday or sunday (depending on the country) for league games and midweek for UEFA competetions. For V-Cup, i'd like it to stay in the midweek because of the familarity for the benefit of those who follow the club game at the international level. Besides, you would never be able to squeez all the V-games into weekends given the MLS and USL schedule. It would be worst IMO to have V-CUP matches played all over the calendar ( ie.: Some on saturday, some on sunday, wednesday ... etc). Assoscating a competition with a time and day of the week only adds and builds the recogintion of the competition. As it stands now, I noted that Alot people really dont know the difference between MLS games and V-cup games. Judging form from what I hear on the way home from the game. Playing V-cup games only at midweek only adds to the distinctiveness of the competetition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbital Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 tsn is a lost cause, when we got the mls franchise it was a 10 second footnote in their "need to know" segment, rubbish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 Maybe they should try to schedule matches better than that Montreal-Vancouver one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoccerfanatiQ Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 TSN are soooooooo lost ,that they prefer showing curling games instead of the most watch sport trough the world. Wake up TSN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyam Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 quote:Originally posted by SoccerfanatiQ TSN are soooooooo lost ,that they prefer showing curling games instead of the most watch sport trough the world. Wake up TSN! I believe TSN was the last sports Broadcaster to create a Toronto FC section in their Soccer News. They didn't show anything about TFC's expansion until they saw the crowds and the ratings were good else where. Even after Dichio's first goal, they were more worried about teams being relegated in Europe that a big TFC moment. The website is now paying for the "lateness" in responding to MLS, cuz CBCSports and Sportsnet Soccer Sections both have high levels of participation in their comments and forums than TSN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Tuscan Why is TSN so completely out of the picture when it comes to Canadian soccer? I know Mother CTV has complete control over what they show, but they show UEFA games, and those can't have THAT much higher ratings than other programming they could show, so why not anything North American? They recently lost the rights to the UEFA Champions league when FOX in the US won the right from the current holder ESPN. I am sure that they will long regret it given UEFA's recent decision to plan a move to broadcast the CL final on a weekend date rather than the current midweek date. That was basically it for TSN coverage of soccer. They have not been good for the game in Canada and this is shown through the great lenghts that they have taken towards alientating the domestic content to the detriment to the Euro content. Thus, furthering the myth that domestic soccer is not worth supprting; or perhaps, that domestic soccer should not be supported. The fact that they have exclusivity to CFL games only furthers the suspicions. At no time was this phenomena more apparent when the news of the Beckham signing broke. They spent thier entire coverage of that story denigrating the player the and league. Odd, given that Toronto had been just awarded a new franchise in that same league. Furthermore, most of denigrating of MLS came from Vic Rauter, the same guy who once did play by play of the defunct Canadian Soccer League. Compared to the CSL which amongst MLS and CSL is/was more bush league? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 And they are the more widely watched of the three all-sports networks on regular cable. When they have "general discussion" type shows (ie. Off the Record, The Reporters etc.) they have rarely, if ever, discussed MLS since Toronto since they began play - I think the Beckham signing was the last time I can recall these types of TSN shows discussing domestic soccer. Sportsnet has been a bit better at that - even Prime Time Sports has done the occasional soccer discussion with a notorious soccer-hater at the helm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.T. Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 I've been told by people that work at TSN that the anti-soccer sentiment runs deep.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 quote:Originally posted by L.T. I've been told by people that work at TSN that the anti-soccer sentiment runs deep.... A far cry from the days when Graham Leggat used to dub it "The Soccer Network".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john tv Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Wow just happened to read this,yes they have a big anti soccer group at TSN.Even our dearest media department at TFC are very upsett with these yo yo's.We can change this in many ways,phone calls,e-mails,letters and even a march if we have to.Hey Rudi you are good in marches want to organize this one. I remember when Canada played in the first game in the WC and yes these yo yo's were watching basketball.Nothing has changed and I really believe that the TFC media department needs some real fan support.This crap has to stop and stop it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tintin Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 TSN aren't the only ones (Don Cherry's horrible for this sort of thing), but they are by far the worst. Beyond ignoring the game, they even poke fun at it sometimes. I would love to hear Craig Forrest say after an uninspired match between a couple of unglamourous clubs "God, that was like watching baseball". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 What action, aside from sending emails to obviously def ears, can we possibly take to rectify TSN's complete disregard of the North American game? Mother CTV has majority control, and unless it's the World Cup, soccer has never graced any of their stations. Personally, I think any action we choose to take to confront this would do nothing more than alienate our requests and worsen TSN's view of the matter (which they probably don't care about anyway). We've made progress with both CBC Sports and Rogers Sportsnet, and while neither is the #1 sports channel in Canada, they are major networks who have cared enough to bother dealing with our requests at all. Hopefully we can continue to push forward their respective coverage of our club and national teams. If we can continue to be relevant stakeholders with influence over their decisions, every game of the Vs Cup and CONCACAF Champs League will be broadcast nationally sooner rather than later. We just need to find the most powerful avenue of exerting our influence, be it through the CSA, by engaging the networks directly, or through another avenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Tuscan What action, aside from sending emails to obviously def ears, can we possibly take to rectify TSN's complete disregard of the North American game? Any accusations made to them that they are anti-soccer will probably be deflected with responses that they have shown Champions league & World Cups. The way to hit him would be to accuse them being a bunch of unpatriotic bastards! [}] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 After just seeing that Sportsnet has pushed their coverage of the Vancouver - Montreal game tonight to a primetime 10:30 p.m. start [] has me eating my words about progress in regards to Sportsnet's dedication to showing games. ^ Colour them unpatriotic... interesting tactical position. Now if we could somehow get that message out to all other networks and those who care, we could really have a PR war on our hands! [][}] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nazzer Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Tuscan After just seeing that Sportsnet has pushed their coverage of the Vancouver - Montreal game tonight to a primetime 10:30 p.m. start [] has me eating my words about progress in regards to Sportsnet's dedication to showing games. ^ Colour them unpatriotic... interesting tactical position. Now if we could somehow get that message out to all other networks and those who care, we could really have a PR war on our hands! [][}] Isn't that the live game time? Colour me confused or I'm not catching the sarcasm or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 quote:Originally posted by nazzer Isn't that the live game time? Colour me confused or I'm not catching the sarcasm or something. I'm not sure either...all I know is this sportsnet move has been ridiculous, I watched on the computer, and listed to one on the computer... Whereas with CBC, I would have watched it, who cares if it was tape delayed sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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