Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

Cohon builds cultural identity for CFL

When Mark Cohon interviewed for the commissioner’s job at the Canadian Football League seven years ago, he closed with a caveat born of his early-career experiences at Major League Baseball, where the owners ousted Fay Vincent, and the NBA, where, at least publicly, they followed David Stern in lockstep.

“If it’s not an 8-0 vote, I don’t want the job,” Cohon told the league’s board of governors. “I knew from what I’d seen how important it was to have a strong mandate.”

The CFL’s TV rights fee nearly tripled last year after renewing with TSN, a deal Cohon said he started preparing for on his first day in 2007. Cohon leaves the league in April, when his second term as commissioner ends.
Photo by: GEOFF ROBINS / CFL PHOTO
Cohon got that mandate from the eight CFL ownership groups and never lost it. When he leaves office at the conclusion of his second term in April — an intention he announced last month — he will close the book on a span of unprecedented prosperity for the league during his tenure, which included a television deal that pays $40 million annually, two collective-bargaining agreements with conservative salary caps, four stadium projects and the return of a franchise to the nation’s capital.

“It’s a very difficult assignment a commissioner has,” said Ken King, president and CEO of

Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
the Calgary Flames Limited Partnership, which took over ownership of the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders in 2012. “Most teams in the league think they know better than every other team, and that collectively they certainly know better than anybody else. Mark was able to manage that. With his leadership, we’ve had a good, solid run. We’ve accomplished a lot and made a lot of progress.”

Cohon’s term began with a sea change in the manner in which the league saw itself and, as a result, in the image it projected. When he took the job, the CFL marketed behind the slogan “Our Balls are Bigger,” a reference to the commonly held belief that CFL footballs were larger than NFL footballs. Beginning in the mid-’90s, the league used that campaign to cast itself as an edgy, fun alternative to the NFL. On his first day as commissioner, Cohon removed the slogan from the league website.

“I said, ‘Guys, we are not going to compare ourselves to the biggest juggernaut in the sports world,’” Cohon said. “We are going to celebrate who we are.”

Cohon, who worked in the international divisions of MLB and the NBA and ran a ticketing company before joining the CFL, spent much of his first six months speaking with owners and surveying fans about what form the league’s makeover would take. He kept landing on a connection that attracted him to the job: The place of the league in Canadian culture.

The next campaign that the league rolled out seized upon that connection. Tagged “This is Our League,” it featured imagery that highlighted a CFL history that traced back more than 100 years. Rather than contrasting it with the massive NFL, Cohon, whose father, George, founded McDonald’s of Canada, sought to remind fans of its long-standing place on the country’s sporting landscape.

At the same time that he ditched comparisons to the U.S.-based leagues, he embraced their business practices. The CFL had a history of owners and team executives criticizing the league and its officiating crews. Cohon levied heavy fines for that, reminding owners of their stake in the larger entity.

“I don’t mind if we have yelling matches behind closed doors,” he said, “but let’s keep them behind closed doors.”
He also set to work on securing the financial future for the franchises, seeking local owners who not only could afford to buy a team but also to fund it sufficiently.

The Ottawa franchise was a mess through much of the ’80s and ’90s, struggling under a succession of owners from Chicago, Detroit and Toronto before eventually folding. Cohon made a return to the nation’s capital a priority, but only with local ownership and a stadium plan that would secure the franchise’s future.

Though off to a 1-9 start since launching in July, the Ottawa Redblacks had sold out each of their first five home games.

“I see the league looking more like a business as opposed to a diverse group of teams promoting their own self-interests,” said John Ruddy, a partner in the Redblacks franchise who began working with Cohon soon after he was named commissioner. “In the past, every team was its own little fiefdom. Under Mark, it’s been more cohesive. As a result, we’re doing better with TV and with league sponsorships and elsewhere.”

The TV deal the CFL signed with incumbent rights holder TSN last year nearly tripled the annual value of the league’s previous contract.

“My first day on the job was starting to prepare for that TV deal which was coming six years later,” Cohon said. “It was working with our TV partners on production values, on how we position the league, what stories are they telling and what we could do with the schedule to make sure we maximize ratings.”

In the five years heading into the negotiations, the CFL’s ratings on TSN doubled. Working with Ed Desser, a highly regarded media rights consultant whom Cohon met while working at the NBA, Cohon made a compelling case, anchored by the league providing 22 percent of the audience for live events on TSN, which later in the year would lose its national rights to NHL games.

The CFL’s $40 million annual deal equaled what TSN had been paying for hockey.

“He is richly deserving of an understanding in the general public that he had a great deal to do with our progress,” Calgary’s King said. “Companies are full of challenges that need solutions. And he is the solution to someone’s challenge. Once those two find each other, it will be a beautiful marriage.”

Cohon said he will help in the search for his successor in the coming months and prepare the league for the transition to a new commissioner.

“I really checked off almost everything on the list of what I wanted to accomplish here,” said Cohon, who will turn 49 in March. “I’m going to take my time now. I’ve loved my time in the sports world. I want to make sure my next move is the right one. This is why I decided to do it this way and do it now. This is the perfect time for me to think of my next big jump.”

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/09/15/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Cohon-CFL.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2014/09/15/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Cohon-CFL.aspx

CLOSE