Will the CFL survive in it's current form?

[blue_or_die]

It's not realistic nor the issue. The reason the CFL isn't on ESPN's primary network is not because the CFL wants too much money for the property. In those negotiations, ESPN has all leverage. They have the eyes. They have the audience. The problem is their audience doesn't want to watch the CFL. Networks want people watching so they can charge more to advertisers. That's why sports rights are valuable and why they pay a ton of money to obtain them. If ESPN goes with the CFL over college football on Saturday and whatever other sports they have on Thursday or Friday they're going to miss out on buckets of dollars as the eyes go elsewhere.

What I proposed was for the CFL to offer it up for very cheap at first to entice adoption.

Having it available to watch will gain viewership. People may ?not watch the CFL? because it?s not brought to them as an option, at least at the forefront.

Judging by what I?ve seen ESPN play other than a few big ticket items like NCAA ball, giving the American market gridiron football to watch will win every time.

If the bottleneck is the CFL being sticklers about what they want to license their product for, then that?s exactly the problem that needs to be rectified.

[Blue In BC]

What I proposed was for the CFL to offer it up for very cheap at first to entice adoption.

Having it available to watch will gain viewership. People may ?not watch the CFL? because it?s not brought to them as an option, at least at the forefront.

Judging by what I?ve seen ESPN play other than a few big ticket items like NCAA ball, giving the American market gridiron football to watch will win every time.

If the bottleneck is the CFL being sticklers about what they want to license their product for, then that?s exactly the problem that needs to be rectified.

They can delay broadcasts so as to not interfere with American college games if necessary. That shouldn't be an issue.

If the CFL wants too much money that is a problem. Some money is better than no money.

I'd rather see the CFL gain more interest in the USA than Europe. Realistically that would draw more players and interest IMO than Europe and this Global concept.

[Sec227]

Why not delay the live cast of CFL games in the home market? If the bombers play at 7 start the live stream at 730 or something. Try and get the butts in the stands. I get everyone pays for TSN already. Makes CFL and extra 2 bucks a mth or something. Or a season ticket holder get rights to the stream at game time etc  I get that these aren't the popular ideas. Just sick fo people using the excuse of the game being on TV as the excuse NOT the come out. However, tru winnipeggers will find any excuse..lol

[Sir Blue and Gold]

What I proposed was for the CFL to offer it up for very cheap at first to entice adoption.

Having it available to watch will gain viewership. People may ?not watch the CFL? because it?s not brought to them as an option, at least at the forefront.

Judging by what I?ve seen ESPN play other than a few big ticket items like NCAA ball, giving the American market gridiron football to watch will win every time.

If the bottleneck is the CFL being sticklers about what they want to license their product for, then that?s exactly the problem that needs to be rectified.

What I'm saying is the CFL could offer it for free or they could offer to pay ESPN to put it on the main network and it wouldn't matter. ESPN isn't going to do it.

[blue_or_die]

What I'm saying is the CFL could offer it for free or they could offer to pay ESPN to put it on the main network and it wouldn't matter. ESPN isn't going to do it.

I don?t understand why, when they don?t seem to have much competition.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I don?t understand why, when they don?t seem to have much competition.

Go through the list and see what is on the main ESPN channel these days: https://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/_/type/upcoming/channel/e748f3c0-3f7c-3088-a90a-0ccb2588e0ed/startDate/20200917/country/us

It's all major properties. The CFL would be in huge "competition" for airtime with many other major sports leagues. Three hours dedicated to a CFL game is three hours that could be an MLB game or whatever else viewers actually want to watch in the US.

Pretend for a second the mighty AFL (Australian Football League) wanted to expand viewership in Canada. They get 25-35k fans out in Australia with a $12M-ish salary cap and the game is sort of similar to North American football (a little). The AFL figures, they just need Canadian fans to watch their games. They call up TSN and say, hey, we've got a deal for you. You can have the rights to all our games, no need to pay us. All you have to do is put it on the air. We've got the Brisbane Lions, Adelaide, Essendon. Lots of history (in Australia of course). Many great players too, Dustin Martin, Nat Fyte, Gary Ablett Jr.

TSN says, that sounds great but we've got targets to hit and ads space to sell. How many people are going to watch AFL in Canada? The AFL goes...probably very few but we want you to play it anyway for a bunch of years and we're sure more people will watch. How many more will watch then? No idea. But a bunch! TSN goes...you know what? We've got some NHL, CFL, NBA, Golf, SportsCentre and a ton of other properties that we know people watch and therefore can sell. Why don't you call us when people actually want to watch your product in Canada.

That's how it works. Obviously the CFL has a little more crossover as many players are from the US but it obviously hasn't been much of a hook over the years. At least in the mainstream... which is what you need to be to get on ESPN.

[blue_or_die]

Go through the list and see what is on the main ESPN channel these days: https://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/_/type/upcoming/channel/e748f3c0-3f7c-3088-a90a-0ccb2588e0ed/startDate/20200917/country/us

It's all major properties. The CFL would be in huge "competition" for airtime with many other major sports leagues. Three hours dedicated to a CFL game is three hours that could be an MLB game or whatever else viewers actually want to watch in the US.

Pretend for a second the mighty AFL (Australian Football League) wanted to expand viewership in Canada. They get 25-35k fans out in Australia with a $12M-ish salary cap and the game is sort of similar to North American football (a little). The AFL figures, they just need Canadian fans to watch their games. They call up TSN and say, hey, we've got a deal for you. You can have the rights to all our games, no need to pay us. All you have to do is put it on the air. We've got the Brisbane Lions, Adelaide, Essendon. Lots of history (in Australia of course). Many great players too, Dustin Martin, Nat Fyte, Gary Ablett Jr.

TSN says, that sounds great but we've got targets to hit and ads space to sell. How many people are going to watch AFL in Canada? The AFL goes...probably very few but we want you to play it anyway for a bunch of years and we're sure more people will watch. How many more will watch then? No idea. But a bunch! TSN goes...you know what? We've got some NHL, CFL, NBA, Golf, SportsCentre and a ton of other properties that we know people watch and therefore can sell. Why don't you call us when people actually want to watch your product in Canada.

That's how it works. Obviously the CFL has a little more crossover as many players are from the US but it obviously hasn't been much of a hook over the years. At least in the mainstream... which is what you need to be to get on ESPN.

I looked at the schedule and saw NBA, which would not be playing during most of the CFL season under normal conditions, and college football, which was already said to not be a no-go. However, they only play during the second half of the CFL season and there are still open opportunities in the fall going off traditional CFL game times at that time of year.

The disconnect between you and me is our assumptions of ratings. I don't think that most of the sports or sports talk/highlights shows draw such a number that they outweigh their costs to acquire/produce compared to the CFL giving away their rights for pennies, and it sounds like you do.