Sports in Canadian culture

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

^I wish we took rugby a little more seriously in this country. To me, it's a vastly superior sport to Canadian/ American football. Starting a pro league that draws 20,000/ game is not likely to ever happen, however, so there you go - we're kinda stuck.

Speaking of which our newest pro team, Toronto Wolfpack, is kicking ass in Rugby League apparently.

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[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

^I wish we took rugby a little more seriously in this country. To me, it's a vastly superior sport to Canadian/ American football. Starting a pro league that draws 20,000/ game is not likely to ever happen, however, so there you go - we're kinda stuck.

So do I, it's my favourite sport to watch. Of course a league like that is unrealistic, but people in Canada are almost entirely unaware of what rugby even is or what it looks like.

I think a good start would be for overseas professional leagues to get a bit more time on TV. TSN has 5 channels, might as well use them. TSN already shows Super Rugby on their online on-demand service, so it wouldn't be a big step. Obviously not too many people would watch, but I think those that play it already would at least now be able to transition into watching it occasionally too. Maybe some others could be introduced that way and it could grow at least a little from there.

A strong national team would help too. The 15s program was so exciting 5-6 years ago, but it's gotten worse with every year since then. If they're competitive and able to draw better teams for games, that wouldn't hurt local interest either.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

So do I, it's my favourite sport to watch. Of course a league like that is unrealistic, but people in Canada are almost entirely unaware of what rugby even is or what it looks like.

I think a good start would be for overseas professional leagues to get a bit more time on TV. TSN has 5 channels, might as well use them. TSN already shows Super Rugby on their online on-demand service, so it wouldn't be a big step. Obviously not too many people would watch, but I think those that play it already would at least now be able to transition into watching it occasionally too. Maybe some others could be introduced that way and it could grow at least a little from there.

A strong national team would help too. The 15s program was so exciting 5-6 years ago, but it's gotten worse with every year since then. If they're competitive and able to draw better teams for games, that wouldn't hurt local interest either.

About the same number who watch MLS? LOL!
But why do TSN and Sportsnet have these extra channels when all they do is show the same stuff?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

About the same number who watch MLS? LOL!
But why do TSN and Sportsnet have these extra channels when all they do is show the same stuff?

I often wonder the same thing about all those channels but in fairness to them producing your own content is pretty expensive and the ROI for a Canadian sports network is probably not enough to justify producing that much original content across 5 channels.

That said, they could do a bit more original content and also purchase stuff from a greater variety of foreign broadcasters instead of just ESPN - which I assume they get almost for free given their corporate alliances with them.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

With TSN - it's because they are regional channels

TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5 are the regional channels.

TSN1 is the main feed for B.C. and Alberta
TSN3 is the main feed in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario
TSN4 is the main feed for southern Ontario
TSN5 is the main feed for eastern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I often wonder the same thing about all those channels but in fairness to them producing your own content is pretty expensive and the ROI for a Canadian sports network is probably not enough to justify producing that much original content across 5 channels.

That said, they could do a bit more original content and also purchase stuff from a greater variety of foreign broadcasters instead of just ESPN - which I assume they get almost for free given their corporate alliances with them.

It's kind of wild when you go overseas and the sports channels more often than not actually show sports all day long. Sure, maybe it's a relatively barebones presentation of a handball match or some random track and field event or lower-level soccer match, but it's refreshing to see that instead of talking heads in a studio breaking down the Joe Schmo-for 15th round draft pick trade for hours on end.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's kind of wild when you go overseas and the sports channels more often than not actually show sports all day long. Sure, maybe it's a relatively barebones presentation of a handball match or some random track and field event or lower-level soccer match, but it's refreshing to see that instead of talking heads in a studio breaking down the Joe Schmo-for 15th round draft pick trade for hours on end.

I've noticed that too. Live coverage of division 3 soccer games played in front of 500 people in some nearly deserted stadium...

If we did that here the CHL and U Sport in particular would get way more coverage. To what end, I a not sure though...

Of course talking heads in a studio are way cheaper than sending a full broadcast crew out to a remote location. Especially if the studio that the talking heads are in belongs to ESPN and is located in Bristol, Conn.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

With TSN - it's because they are regional channels

TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5 are the regional channels.

TSN1 is the main feed for B.C. and Alberta
TSN3 is the main feed in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario
TSN4 is the main feed for southern Ontario
TSN5 is the main feed for eastern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

One thing I have noticed these playoffs is that the Ottawa local CBC station is showing the Leafs series, and when the Sens are playing at the same time the Sens are still on Sportsnet. At least that is what I've seen so far.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I'd love to see the university sports. I'm sure the film students at the universities could do some decent coverage with a camera. It might not even be live and there might be no stats, but it would be a start.

Start somewhere. I used to watch the Cougars play basketball on the local access channel and it was terrible quality, but you got to see the games.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I'd love to see the university sports. I'm sure the film students at the universities could do some decent coverage with a camera. It might not even be live and there might be no stats, but it would be a start.

I've always thought there's been a lot of unfulfilled potential in university sports in Canada. TheScore used to put some effort into nationally broadcasting USports but lately Sportsnet has not carried that banner at all. It's a bit disappointing. The same can be said for the CHL, although SNet has been steadily broadcasting more and more games over the past few seasons. It's always been baffling to me how the CHL doesn't have more pull nationally on TV.

[rousseau]

The display today at our local Sportchek:



I suspect that it'll be a while before the Raptors' fandom surpasses that of the Leafs in small-town Ontario. If it ever does. There are definitely passionate hoops fans here, but they're still vastly outnumbered.

Interestingly enough, a kid in his twenties with a Laotian background running a restaurant here in town told me that one of his motivations for opening up his business was to have a place to watch Raptors' games with his friends without any interference from hockey. Funny he said that, because it is true that any bar in town with multiple TVs will be showing hockey exclusively during the season, and then baseball and NFL during their seasons, so there's some overlap, but if you ask to watch a Raptors' game you generally get ushered to a TV as far away from the others as possible. That's been my experience, anyway, though it's been a while since I went out somewhere to watch the Raptors.

By the way, it's not unusual at all to see Habs flags, hats and jerseys around here, but I bet you don't see any Leafs paraphernalia in Quebec!

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[esquire]

The World Games are coming up this summer but Canada, somewhat not surprisingly, will not be among the countries with a broadcaster there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_World_Games

[GernB]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I've always thought there's been a lot of unfulfilled potential in university sports in Canada. TheScore used to put some effort into nationally broadcasting USports but lately Sportsnet has not carried that banner at all. It's a bit disappointing. The same can be said for the CHL, although SNet has been steadily broadcasting more and more games over the past few seasons. It's always been baffling to me how the CHL doesn't have more pull nationally on TV.

I agree, but having said that, though I am interested in CIAU/CIS/USports, no one I know is. Jim Mullin, who calls the play-by-play on Shaw's CanWest games, has hinted on the CISfootball.org site that something may be "changing" soon as regards USports on Sportsnet, so maybe there will be movement of some kind there. As far as the CHL, I suspect the problem is there are too few games of nationwide interest, there being no interleague play until the Memorial Cup. Might be an idea to reduce the number of games played and have some kind of interlock with Sportsnet or whomever subsidizing the loss of gate revenue. My circle of acquaintances have however been following the Hurricanes in their two series in the WHL playoffs, which have been carried not on Sportsnet but on Shaw.

While The Score's OUA football broadcasts were a good start, if you wanted to see Canada West that too was on Shaw...although Global has done a few playoff games.

[Acajack]

Well there is or was this plan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_8

[GernB]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Well there is or was this plan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_8

Yeah that was Mullin's plan from a couple of years ago. It got shot down pretty quickly by OUA schools. Maybe a resurrection of this is what he was hinting at, but for whatever reason I got the idea USports would be moving from Sportsnet.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by GernB

I agree, but having said that, though I am interested in CIAU/CIS/USports, no one I know is. Jim Mullin, who calls the play-by-play on Shaw's CanWest games, has hinted on the CISfootball.org site that something may be "changing" soon as regards USports on Sportsnet, so maybe there will be movement of some kind there. As far as the CHL, I suspect the problem is there are too few games of nationwide interest, there being no interleague play until the Memorial Cup. Might be an idea to reduce the number of games played and have some kind of interlock with Sportsnet or whomever subsidizing the loss of gate revenue. My circle of acquaintances have however been following the Hurricanes in their two series in the WHL playoffs, which have been carried not on Sportsnet but on Shaw.

While The Score's OUA football broadcasts were a good start, if you wanted to see Canada West that too was on Shaw...although Global has done a few playoff games.

But if Sportsnet has obvious regional channels and the TSN 1-5 are actually regional channels, maybe the regional nature of the CIS could even be a good thing? Put the various conferences onto the respective regional channels and every week people could watch games relevant to them.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^That is way too reasonable sounding.

[GernB]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

But if Sportsnet has obvious regional channels and the TSN 1-5 are actually regional channels, maybe the regional nature of the CIS could even be a good thing? Put the various conferences onto the respective regional channels and every week people could watch games relevant to them.

That concept was part of Sportsnet's original license application. However the high cost of producing regional broadcasts for relatively small audiences killed the idea almost as soon as it was off the ground. The claim was that the network lost too much money. Of course the CRTC used to require TSN and Sportsnet to devote 27% (IIRC) of their broadcast time to Canadian amateur sports which it no longer does, and Canadian networks generally will do as little as possible when it comes to Canadian programming.

[HomeInMyShoes]

They just need to trim the budget down to capture the games. Surely they can do it non-live. I can't imagine you'd need to do much to create a reasonable capture of the game.

They just need to scale back the production to match the demand. As the demand increases you can scale production back up. Maybe just in certain places to start.

I don't think the media and broadcasters actually understand how people on youtube gain audience traction and build their empires. This is no different.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

They just need to trim the budget down to capture the games. Surely they can do it non-live. I can't imagine you'd need to do much to create a reasonable capture of the game.

They just need to scale back the production to match the demand. As the demand increases you can scale production back up. Maybe just in certain places to start.

I don't think the media and broadcasters actually understand how people on youtube gain audience traction and build their empires. This is no different.

If a cable co-operative based in Regina can find a way to broadcast Rams games live, surely Sportsnet (or TSN if they win rights back eventually) can do the same.

They even broadcast some CJFL, WWCFL, and High School games.