CPL new teams speculation

[Macksam]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

I can't remember the time lines but did they lose the EPL rights before or after the CPL deal was announced? 

I think it was before.

[narduch]

2 minutes ago, Macksam said:

I think it was before.

Thanks

TSN is mostly owned by Bell. I don't think we could ever accuse our telecom companies as being forward thinking or very innovative. They are more followers if anything. 

[Watchmen]

On 9/15/2019 at 5:19 PM, grasshopper1917 said:

That is a massive problem.

Also trying to charge people $11.50 a month (roughly the same as Netflix) to watch CPL games is something that need to be reconsidered in the off season. To me the subscription should be free and they should be trying to distribute highlight packages to any TV network willing to show it. 

You need to reach casual sports fans and if we are being frank it is not really happening. No one outside the base core of CPL fans are subscribing to the service and way too few outside that core is getting any exposure to the league.

You're right, but I think it's more likely to go the other way.  That the price will go up next year, now that onesoccer realizes how low their subscription base is.  They and mediapro have to recoup their money some how.

[Watchmen]

People can blame TSN and Sportsnet for not showing highlights if they want, but I don't think they can let the CPL off the hook here.  The CPL chose the money option with mediapro/onesoccer.  We all knew that this was a likely outcome, and if you didn't then you were incredibly naive.  It's not unprecedented.  The NHL chose the Outdoor Network (and then NBC Sports) after their lockout, and as a consequence ESPN stopped showing anything.

[Unnamed Trialist]

12 hours ago, narduch said:

Thanks

TSN is mostly owned by Bell. I don't think we could ever accuse our telecom companies as being forward thinking or very innovative. They are more followers if anything. 

Exactly, it is like communications companies in Canada, they are all forged in the CRTC regulatory web and are basically gifted near monopoly status by our system. 

My brother, who is a communications expert of sorts, once told me way back that the Griffiths family could not run a hockey team effectively (the Canucks at the time) for success because communications sector was all about getting licenses and maintaining a status--there was no winning involved. Maybe this has changed slightly, but still. The commment always stuck with me since he hates sports, he was just analysing what kind of business person is most appropriate for the ownership of an entity whose goal is to win over rivals and show leadership. 

You'd need to have someone at Bell who really wanted to think outside the box, or someone at TSN allowed to, but then: what benefit would that give to the business?

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Unnamed Trialist

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

6 hours ago, Watchmen said:

People can blame TSN and Sportsnet for not showing highlights if they want, but I don't think they can let the CPL off the hook here.  The CPL chose the money option with mediapro/onesoccer...

They were talking for a long time about changing the way soccer fans consume soccer so it looked like they were probably going to do the webstreaming thing in house before Mediapro came along, so it wasn't something that emerged completely out of the blue.

[vancanman]

On 9/16/2019 at 9:29 AM, grasshopper1917 said:

I have heard people say that but in fairness i'm not sure that's the case. I shouldn't just assume that.

However even on the local sports casts in Halifax I have never seen a Wanderers Hi-light. That is something they should be pushing hard.

That's insane, considering the following that team has for the size of the city.  Who do the sports media people in Halifax think those people are that march to the ground waving flags?

Edited September 18, 2019 by vancanman

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Maybe Onesoccer are asking too much money for other broadcasters to be willing to show them? I'm sure the local TV news outlets in Nova Scotia would want to show a goal or two when over 6000 are showing up. CSB signed over the rights so it might be more of a Mediapro issue than a CanPL one.

[narduch]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Exactly, it is like communications companies in Canada, they are all forged in the CRTC regulatory web and are basically gifted near monopoly status by our system. 

My brother, who is a communications expert of sorts, once told me way back that the Griffiths family could not run a hockey team effectively (the Canucks at the time) for success because communications sector was all about getting licenses and maintaining a status--there was no winning involved. Maybe this has changed slightly, but still. The commment always stuck with me since he hates sports, he was just analysing what kind of business person is most appropriate for the ownership of an entity whose goal is to win over rivals and show leadership. 

You'd need to have someone at Bell who really wanted to think outside the box, or someone at TSN allowed to, but then: what benefit would that give to the business?

 

If you think of TSN and even CTV, all they really do is bully their smaller competitors with their buying power.

[narduch]

I doubt One Soccer is asking for any money to show high lights on the local news.

Even if they are it would be at the going rate that other leagues charge.

The more likely scenario is dinosaurs in the newsroom.

Edited September 17, 2019 by narduch

[Winnipeg Fury]

On 9/15/2019 at 7:19 PM, grasshopper1917 said:

That is a massive problem.

Also trying to charge people $11.50 a month (roughly the same as Netflix) to watch CPL games is something that need to be reconsidered in the off season. To me the subscription should be free and they should be trying to distribute highlight packages to any TV network willing to show it. 

You need to reach casual sports fans and if we are being frank it is not really happening. No one outside the base core of CPL fans are subscribing to the service and way too few outside that core is getting any exposure to the league.

Don't forget, they are picking up other leagues now.  Mexican, Chinese.......they are trying to reach beyond this base core of fans.

Fantastic pick-up getting LigaMX.  My kid and I watch it often.

[SpursFlu]

I wonder also.. do any games get picked up by local radio? Just curious

[nighttrain]

I don’t think this radio station offers the  York9 games: http://1059theregion.com/

[Macksam]

46 minutes ago, Winnipeg Fury said:

Don't forget, they are picking up other leagues now.  Mexican, Chinese.......they are trying to reach beyond this base core of fans.

Fantastic pick-up getting LigaMX.  My kid and I watch it often.

OneSoccer should go after the Dutch and Belgian leagues. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

I doubt One Soccer is asking for any money to show high lights on the local news.

Even if they are it would be at the going rate that other leagues charge.

The more likely scenario is dinosaurs in the newsroom.

I am not sure about Canada, as the market has yet to turn into a dogfight, but in Spain certain channels do not show highlights, they show silly still images. Because I suspect they are unwilling to pay for highlight packages. I am talking about MediaPro controlled rights.  

You would imagine in a country where it would benefit you to grow the product that highlight reels would be made available at a lower cost.

[narduch]

2 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I am not sure about Canada, as the market has yet to turn into a dogfight, but in Spain certain channels do not show highlights, they show silly still images. Because I suspect they are unwilling to pay for highlight packages. I am talking about MediaPro controlled rights.  

You would imagine in a country where it would benefit you to grow the product that highlight reels would be made available at a lower cost.

This happens here as well for events like the World Cup or Olympics.

[Kent]

I doubt MediaPro is asking for any/much money to show highlights. People can watch them for free on the CPL youtube channel.

[Bison44]

14 minutes ago, Kent said:

I doubt MediaPro is asking for any/much money to show highlights. People can watch them for free on the CPL youtube channel.

So we are back to the question of why the other networks wont show them....having the highlights on CBC sports, or sports net would do a lot for the prestige, visability and profile of the CPL.  How does it hurt them...CBC actually has a dog in the fight and would probably love to have more viewers when they broadcast the CPL.  

[dyslexic nam]

46 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

So we are back to the question of why the other networks wont show them....having the highlights on CBC sports, or sports net would do a lot for the prestige, visability and profile of the CPL.  How does it hurt them...CBC actually has a dog in the fight and would probably love to have more viewers when they broadcast the CPL.  

Not sure about Sportsnet, but for TSN I suspect it is about self preservation and promotion of their footy property - MLS.  Showing highlights of another league that isn't available on their platform (and not so well known like the big global leagues or the CL that fans demand it) would generate interest in a league that represents a direct economic competitor to MLS in many areas. 

[red card]

TSN's Sportscentre & Sportsnet Central have become promotional venues for their own sports tv properties and properties owned by Bell/Rogers/MLSE. So, CPL is way down the pecking order for them.

But anyway these nightly highlight shows aren't seminal viewing anymore for many segments. You can watch any specific highlight anytime you want rather than waiting up. And certain leagues like the NBA are basically highlight driven - a core part of their audience rarely watches a game but do keep up the league highlights daily on social media.

But local sports tv like in HFX not showing match highlights seems strange. Even more than sports network highlight shows, local tv sports reporting has become less relevant. So if you're not showing local sports, why even bother?

[MtlMario]

And all this time I thought it was their ( TSN, Sportsnet, etc) job (purpose) to cover/report sport in this country. Especially Canadian leagues. I guess I was wrong all this time.😡

[Stouffvillain]

48 minutes ago, red card said:

TSN's Sportscentre & Sportsnet Central have become promotional venues for their own sports tv properties and properties owned by Bell/Rogers/MLSE. So, CPL is way down the pecking order for them.

But anyway these nightly highlight shows aren't seminal viewing anymore for many segments. You can watch any specific highlight anytime you want rather than waiting up. And certain leagues like the NBA are basically highlight driven - a core part of their audience rarely watches a game but do keep up the league highlights daily on social media.

But local sports tv like in HFX not showing match highlights seems strange. Even more than sports network highlight shows, local tv sports reporting has become less relevant. So if you're not showing local sports, why even bother?

Exactly.  Not sure why so many smart people on here seem to be confused about this.  SN and TSN are only interested in their products unless it is too big a story for them to ignore.

The CPL has to fight a lot of the same battles that the CFL does every year.  The CFL also has a 100+ year history behind it that the CPL doesn't have.  SN has ignored the CFL for years and often when they do get mentioned it is in a negative way (though the negativity is because who does own it).    

No matter the score or highlights it is still going to be viewed as an inferior league to other comparables.  Until the country decides that they are going to care about this league en mass or the traditional broadcasters have something to gain financially don't expect things to change.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

16 hours ago, Stouffvillain said:

...The CPL has to fight a lot of the same battles that the CFL does every year...

Not sure that's a good analogy. The CFL seems to always get a certain level of coverage in London, Ont even though there's no team locally and nobody I've ever met (admittedly somewhat skewed towards recent immigrants involved with soccer) seems to care about it to any huge extent relative to the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. A better comparison might be NLL lacrosse that draws reasonable crowds in certain cities but doesn't seem to be viewed as part of what always merits a default mention no matter where you are in Canada.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Stouffvillain]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Not sure that's a good analogy. The CFL seems to always get a certain level of coverage in London, Ont even though there's no team locally and nobody I've ever met (admittedly somewhat skewed towards recent immigrants involved with soccer) seems to care about it to any huge extent relative to the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. A better comparison might be NLL lacrosse that draws reasonable crowds in certain cities but doesn't seem to be viewed as part of what always merits a default mention no matter where you are in Canada.

That's exactly the point, people don't seem to care as much about the CFL even though it is a Canadian league (and has a rich history). 

There are millions of people who follow each of the sports in Canada and the CPL and CFL are both offering their version of the sport in a Canadian league for Canadian consumers.  Both leagues have to fight to get eyes (both media and spectator) on their league while there is a superior product of each variety widely available. 

The CPL will have to get people who don't seem to care about it to pay attention to it when there is superior product (Champions League, EPL, MLS etc.) easily available.  Much like the CFL is viewed as an inferior product not worth many peoples time and money when there is easy access to the NFL.   

Where your analogy falls short is that the NLL is the cream of the crop available to people and it is the sport that doesn't have as much interest. 

[dyslexic nam]

44 minutes ago, Stouffvillain said:

There are millions of people who follow each of the sports in Canada and the CPL and CFL are both offering their version of the sport in a Canadian league for Canadian consumers.  Both leagues have to fight to get eyes (both media and spectator) on their league while there is a superior product of each variety widely available. 

The CPL will have to get people who don't seem to care about it to pay attention to it when there is superior product (Champions League, EPL, MLS etc.) easily available.  Much like the CFL is viewed as an inferior product not worth many peoples time and money when there is easy access to the NFL.  

This is the part that I think is a bit interesting.  With due respect to Canadian MLS supporters, it is not one of those leagues that draws people in because it is a clearly "superior product".  Yes, it is above CPL in the pecking order, but it is well down the tiered structure of global footy.  And yet I think people are watching it (at least the Canadian teams) in pretty respectable numbers.  Insofar as people are watching it, I think it is due to 2 reasons:

• It is a local product.  I think the "Canadianness" of it is a selling feature.  I suspect that viewership numbers for games featuring the 3 Canadian teams are quite a bit higher than those featuring to US teams. 
• There is a lack of televised competitors now that much footy coverage has migrated to streaming platforms.  In previous years, if I wanted to watch high level of soccer, I would watch the European leagues.  I would tune in to watch the vanadian teams play in MLS, but that related to (1) above.  Now, the absence of the top competitions (EPL Champs League, etc) on our sports channels has provided a vacuum that I suspect is being filled by MLS for some footy fans.

If it is a combo of the local factor and the absence of other options that will support reasonable MLS viewing numbers in Canada, interestingly (IMO) these same factors could just as easily drive footy fans to watch CPL on TV if a reasonable level of coverage was provided by one of the big 2 sports channels.