TSN Continues to Fail CFL Fans
Published: Wednesday, Apr 26th 2023, 3:04pm
By Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)
TSN announced yesterday that they will cut 2 CFL Preseason games out of their TV broadcast, dropping down from airing 4 games to just 2. The Saskatchewan Roughriders home preseason game against BC and the Toronto vs Hamilton game were given the ax and it’s just another notch on the belt of TSN crapping all over CFL fans.
Ok, preseason football sucks and it’s borderline unwatchable. It’s for evaluation and the only reason I actually like going to those games is because it’s nice to get to the stadium after a long winter. So for me personally, losing preseason games on TV isn’t THAT big of a deal. I’ll keep the games on in the background while I’m doing some other things around the house.
But I also know a lot of fans are upset by this and rightfully so. The folks at TSN declined to give a reason why… we know it’s money. It costs too much for very little return in the preseason, I get it. That’s fine. HAVE THE GUTS TO SAY IT, THOUGH. Don’t decline to comment, that’s the coward’s way out. THAT’S the part that bothers me. The schedule was released months ago and TSN knew the costs when they committed to 4 preseason games… why the change now?
TSN, for whatever reason, is afraid to do ANYTHING different with their CFL package. Literally everything has been the same since they took over as the monopoly of TV broadcasting in 2008. They have gotten so complacent and there has been no evolution in the product. But they still have producers willing to argue with people on Twitter telling us about how much work and effort they put into making the product better and fresh (still waiting to see that… hey can we get a timeout counter on the score bug? We’ve only been asking for this bare minimum advancement of the bug for the last 13 years), but they can’t put out one line saying that the costs are too much and their ROI for a preseason game just isn’t worth it? Fans want the truth. They may not like it, but at least they’ll understand.
Just come out and say it, TSN… you don’t really give a crap about the CFL and their fans.
Virtually no coverage of the CFL Combine and only 2 rounds of next Tuesday’s CFL Draft will be aired on TV. It’s a complete joke. Yes, we will get a stream of the remaining 6 rounds, but is TSN2 really so booked up with *checks notes* April 24th’s Plays of the Week and Top NFL Games of the Year (both of which can literally be shown at any time) to not air the rest of the draft? TSN4 and TSN5 already aren’t showing the first 2 rounds of the Draft, keeping the markets of Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada out of it completely if they don’t have the full TSN subscription.
As the sole rights holder to the CFL, EVERYTHING the league does should be massive and you need to make it appear that way. Look at Sportsnet and the Blue Jays. Each and every of the 162 regular season games are a huge deal. TSN needs to do this with the CFL.
How do you expect to grow the game, your product (and your profits) if you flat out refuse to do bare minimum stuff? I’m glad that the new owner of the Montreal Alouettes owns the direct competitor to Bell Media… maybe that will force the executives at TSN to get off their ass and actually do something to make their product better.
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