Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
^ No disputing that 230K for the CFL on ESPN2 is peanuts. But this is a league without teams in the US, and no discernible marketing there of any kind, let alone having a large city with a team playing in the final game.
To put it in perspective, the Labour Day Saskatchewan/Winnipeg CFL game drew more viewers on TSN than the MLS Cup did on ESPN in the entire United States. Not per capita, but straight up. This is a regular season game between two teams in provinces with a total combined population that is less than that of the Seattle MSA.
|
I hear you but 200K gets you cancelled in the USA. CFL TV #'s vs MLS #'s they are not comparable. If they were both leagues would be on the same traction and they are not.
TV numbers don't mean jack, Cash flow and assets do. CFL has eyeballs but no assets and not a lot of money coming in versus MLS that has more diverse money going in and out.
As we sit here and debate outdated metrics of TV numbers MLS shows more health and life than the CFL even though the MLS can't even pay people to watch its product. So obviously there is not a connection here that is as strong as we think.
CFL fans are older, and older people still watch TV.
MLS Fans are younger, and younger people don't watch TV
Any youth fueled product is going to not have the same volume via traditional media platforms.
If the CFL really had its act together it would find a way to dig deep into these numbers and expltroplate 200-500k, localize the regions and target the popular areas and then approach USA regional sports networks that would give it as much cash as TSN to air content. $40 million a year is nothing for these USA Regional Sports networks who pay upwards of $80 million for the same amount of viewers TSN gets for CFL games for MLB Baseball for example. Why isn't the CFL on Balitmore, Maryland Regional Sports - MESN - if there is an already established CFL base there?
I know the answer why of course, it is because CFL is run by old dudes who are in the stone age. MLS does this though.. this is the difference between the two leagues and why both are on different paths.
Here is another CFL business idea. Why do DAZN sports have the NFL digital rights? Why can't the CFL own them and then sell them off as a revenue source? Who cares if it's the NFL, it is football and can make you money - and hey you can package CFL and NFL digital games together. This is how you do sports in 2017, nobody cares about how man rabbit ears tune into games.