CFL Season Kicks Off With New TSN Broadcast, Digital Rights Deal

TSN's CFL Deal Arguably Net's Most Important

TSN begins its coverage of the CFL regular season tonight with a doubleheader as part of its exclusive rights deal with the league, which is "arguably the most important rights deal TSN has made since 1987, when it started airing NHL games," according to William Houston of the GLOBE & MAIL. TSN's deal covers all regular- and postseason games for the next five years. TSN VP/Production Mark Milliere: "The equivalent would be ESPN getting the Super Bowl. So, for us to have the Grey Cup is huge." Houston noted the deal also includes Internet and mobile rights, and the online services, which are "advertiser supported, will be free of charge." Live streaming will be limited to Friday night telecasts, but VOD "will be available from every telecast." The games, with a "few exceptions, will be shot in [HD TV]," and Friday night games will feature a robotic camera "placed on the crossbar of a goal at one end for shots of field-goal attempts and drives near the goal line." TSN's Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor will call "about 42 of the 72 regular-season games," while Rod Black and Duane Forde will call the rest. TSN's telecasts will be picked up in the U.S. by various RSNs, as well as the Voom HD Networks. ESPN360 also will "stream 35 games and the playoffs and Grey Cup" (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/25). The CP reports the CFL's deal with TSN runs through 2012, with an option for 2013, and the net reportedly is paying "around $15[M] per year for the rights." TSN President Phil King said, "Ten years ago, this deal wouldn't have been done because TSN wasn't (as widely) available" (CP, 6/26).

SAME OLD GAME? The GLOBE & MAIL's David Naylor reports the CFL begins the season with a "confident outlook that includes eight stable franchises, each well supported by their owners and fans." However, besides the "potential threat of the NFL's invasion of Toronto, the [CFL's] other serious issue has to do with the entertainment value of a game that used to overdeliver in that regard." The league has been "missing something for the past two seasons" (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/26).