The CFL and Bell Media's TSN and RDS on Thursday announced that they have extended their long-term partnership through '21. TSN and RDS as part of the extension continue to hold exclusive media rights to all CFL games, including pre-season, regular season, playoffs and the Grey Cup. In addition to broadcast and digital rights, the deal features exclusive radio rights to the Grey Cup for Bell Media's Grey Cup Radio Network. TSN has been broadcasting CFL games since '86 and RDS has been a CFL broadcaster since '89 (Bell Media). In Winnipeg, Kirk Penton notes some "wonder if the CFL might help itself by opening up the bidding process for its rights." But CFL Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge said that extending the current deal "was the right move." Orridge: "The issue is really who’s the best partner at that particular point in time? And TSN has demonstrated their commitment to the CFL." Penton notes the CFL and Bell "struck a lucrative agreement" in the spring of '13, and at the time it was "called 'transformative' for the three-down loop." The five-year deal, valued at approximately $200M (all figures Canadian), "more than doubled each team’s annual share" from about $2M to more than $4M. Thanks to the deal, teams are "starting off each year in the black" (WINNIPEG SUN, 5/29). YAHOO SPORTS CANADA's Andrew Bucholtz wrote it is "not particularly surprising that the league has opted to continue its partnership with TSN" now that Bell -- together with MLSE Chair Larry Tanenbaum -- has bought the Argonauts, but it is "interesting to see these rights awarded so far in advance of the expiry of the current deal" (CA.SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/28).
