CPL 2023 Season Attendance

[Kingston]

4404 for the final home game of the season for Pacific

3951 in Calgary with the home final still to come

[Unnamed Trialist]

Most here like CPL having an even number of teams, so every team plays each fixture. 

What happens if we have an odd number of teams though? It's generally negative as fans sit idle, but there could be upsides.

A way to drive attendance and interest could also be invited friendlies. We rarely see them in CPL. Say a Championship team is doing a North American tour. Or now many MLS teams get eliminated from Leagues Cup early and sit for a few weeks. If you have a free weekend you could make a deal, and this is especially for the teams whose stadiums are large enough to monetize the difference.

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[SpursFlu]

I personally believe the only missing piece at the moment is the sports media in this country. If TSN and Sportsnet gave the league its rightful respect you'd see 20% increase in everything overnight 

But I just want to give a nice slow clap to all the fans because attendance and interest this year has been great. And I think weather permitting we should see some fantastic turnouts in the playoffs 

Edited October 2, 2023 by SpursFlu

[Ansem]

100%, lots of naysayers downgrades how big of an obstacle media blackout has been for this league and the CRTC already debunked the low interest argument.

I believe that a team in Quebec City is the key to get them into French mainstream media with TVA covering the club since their rival RDS got MLS

Edited October 2, 2023 by Ansem

[Kingston]

1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

I personally believe the only missing piece at the moment is the sports media in this country. If TSN and Sportsnet gave the league its rightful respect you'd see 20% increase in everything overnight 

What do you consider their rightful respect?  I mean, I'd like to see the CPL on TSN but on what grounds do they have any sort of right to be there like TSN owes it to the league to put them on?

[SpursFlu]

16 minutes ago, Kingston said:

What do you consider their rightful respect?  I mean, I'd like to see the CPL on TSN but on what grounds do they have any sort of right to be there like TSN owes it to the league to put them on?

What's the criteria that anything is on? What do you think?

[Ansem]

2 hours ago, Kingston said:

What do you consider their rightful respect?  I mean, I'd like to see the CPL on TSN but on what grounds do they have any sort of right to be there like TSN owes it to the league to put them on?

If they are to be taken seriously as a "sports news channel" I expect them to show the scores at a bare minimum, they can't even do that.

I don't get why people find it in themselves to defend that.

[Kent]

It's crazy when you think about the number of times a day Sportscentre is played. An hour episode, if they dedicate 20 minutes to a sport/event in that hour episode, but it gets played like 6 times in a row, it's actually 120 minutes of air time dedicated to that league/event in 1 morning. Obviously not in original content, but it increases the chances of seeing that thing. I still would love to see them have like a Sportscentre+ or something, where they can cover the smaller stuff. Either run that on TSN 2, or just replace the occasional Sportscentre episode with a Sportscentre+. You could even stagger it so say TSN 1 is playing Sportscentre+ at a certain time, but TSN 3, 4, and 5 are playing Sportscentre. Then the next hour it could be played on TSN 3, while the other channels get the main Sportscentre, etc. I would happily take CPL coverage on this sort of spillover Sportscentre, even if the show was a half hour.

[Kent]

Week to week 2022 vs 2023 comparison graph. It's missing data from 2 games (HFX and York home games) from this past weekend.

[Kingston]

2 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

What's the criteria that anything is on? What do you think?

I don't know; that's why I asked.

37 minutes ago, Ansem said:

If they are to be taken seriously as a "sports news channel" I expect them to show the scores at a bare minimum, they can't even do that.

I don't get why people find it in themselves to defend that.

I'm not defending them, I'm asking why a fellow poster feels they owe air time to the CPL.

As Kent pointed out, there are ways they could fit in more actual sports coverage or expand their offerings.

Personally, I'd like that a lot.  Soccer isn't the only sport I follow, however, and in addition to the CPL there are other leagues/sports/events that get no coverage on the main national networks.  So there's a lot of actual sports coverage I'd like to see but I'm not sure the main networks owe any of them any coverage.

[MtlMario]

They (TSN and Sportsnet) are a sports network then they should mention the CPL scores on every broadcast. Not to mention IT'S A CANADIAN PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE. I think that should be enough. What the hell are the reasons why they do not? I would really like to know.

Edited October 2, 2023 by MtlMario

[phil03]

3 hours ago, MtlMario said:

They (TSN and Sportsnet) are a sports network then they should mention the CPL scores on every broadcast. Not to mention IT'S A CANADIAN PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE. I think that should be enough. What the hell are the reasons why they do not? I would really like to know.

Because the CPL is out of the mainstream at this stage and simply being the first division in the Canadian pyramid isn't enough to automatically get people to give it a chance.

I am not saying this to bash the CPL but because acknowledging and accepting that reality is the first step to working to change it.

[Aird25]

18 minutes ago, phil03 said:

Because the CPL is out of the mainstream at this stage and simply being the first division in the Canadian pyramid isn't enough to automatically get people to give it a chance.

I am not saying this to bash the CPL but because acknowledging and accepting that reality is the first step to working to change it.

Sorry, your argument is that they shouldn’t be carried on mainstream media, because they aren’t currently in mainstream media?

[phil03]

25 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Sorry, your argument is that they shouldn’t be carried on mainstream media, because they aren’t currently in mainstream media?

My argument is that mainstream media is a business and that if you want them to carry it you need the league to be popular enough for them to feel they can make money carrying it, or at least showing highlights.

I would like TSN/SportsNets and the like to advertise the CPL as much as anyone else but the idea that they have some kind of duty to do so is simply not accurate and complaining about it won't help. The one thing that would help is to get the CPL to a point where it is, in fact, popular enough for them to decide to publicise it, carry it. 

[SpursFlu]

If Sportsnet can show Junior hockey and TSN can show CEBL, Toronto rugby team, WNBA and women's semi pro hockey I'm sure these guys can mention a score or show the odd highlight 

I would love to see a true Canadian sports network pop up

Edited October 3, 2023 by SpursFlu

[red card]

1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

If Sportsnet can show Junior hockey and TSN can show CEBL, Toronto rugby team and women's semi pro hockey I'm sure these guys can mention a score or show the odd highlight 

I would love to see a true Canadian sports network pop up

SN doesn't show junior hockey anymore. It was on TSN last year but it has been leaked that they will only show this season's finals of the 3 leagues and Memorial Cup. 

Both CHL & CEBL are on TSN because they aren't paying for the rights. For CEBL, TSN didn't pay for production either. TSN was sharing ad revenue and paying certain production costs with the CHL. But the Friday night regular season game ratings were too low to justify even this spend. TSN can make more money/limit losses by showing a Friday night NBA game as there are no marginal costs and they keep all the ad revenue.

Not enough warm bodies watching especially non tier 1 Canadian sports because of falling subs/less linear tv viewing has meant Bell/Rogers has stopped TSN/SN from investment spending to grow a non-core property let alone pay for rights. Canadian women's leagues maybe the exception but last year, TSN picked up the ESPN+ feed for women's hockey even for games in Toronto.

Club football wise, it wasn't ever a focus for TSN/SN and the core viewers were likely the first sports fans to cut the cord. Today, SN only has about 30% of WSL matches with the rest streamed free by the English FA. TSN really only has La Liga. Limited MLS & NWSL matches shown are non-exclusive. All NWSL matches are streamed for free internationally by the league. TSN also paid nil for NWSL rights but will lose it next year if they don't pay. 

This means the bulk of the remaining TSN/SN audience that is mostly over 55 aren't there to get their footy fix. Instead, they will get upset if the coverage of their NHL team is cut short to show soccer or get frustrated that they had to wait an extra minute to see NHL scores because CPL was added to the ticker. So, besides all the corporate and cost synergies, it is good customer service for TSN/SN to double down on their tier 1 core properties rather than diversify their coverage.

Edited October 3, 2023 by red card

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

7 hours ago, red card said:

...This means the bulk of the remaining TSN/SN audience that is mostly over 55 aren't there to get their footy fix...

...and that's kind of why Onesoccer was formed so soccer fans could have soccer oriented programing without having to sit through all the hockey, baseball, CFL etc. The significance of having scores mentioned on Sports Centre is being exaggerated. Very big deal 35 years ago, but now not so much given most people know how to use a cellphone to access info like that.

[narduch]

The CHL would be perfect for a One Soccer type service 

[MtlMario]

10 hours ago, phil03 said:

My argument is that mainstream media is a business and that if you want them to carry it you need the league to be popular enough for them to feel they can make money carrying it, or at least showing highlights.. 

Honest question, how would they make money by showing hi-lights?

[Ansem]

I recommend that people read the CRTC findings - this rationalization over why Sportnet and TSN aren't is not only BS but at the heart of the matter is that they are making disingenuous arguments to justify not carrying Onesoccer on cable.

If they are this petty about that, then the rest of the argument regarding CPL not being popular enough for not even showing the scores - let alone the highlights goes flying out the window. You're not going to get better from them if you just comply with whatever bullshit they feed you.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Ansem

[SpursFlu]

I think people are getting confused here.. im not talking about wall to wall CPL coverage. I'm talking about highlites. Running the score along the scroll. If a o lineman on the Arizona Cardinals gets a dui it's all over the scroll. I do think at the very least an effort should be made to have the CPL final available on a major sports network. Sorry to upset the woke warriors but the WNBA people? Cmon. The argument that only "mainstream" sports get covered on TSN goes out the window immediately right there

Edited October 3, 2023 by SpursFlu

[JamboAl]

27 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

I think people are getting confused here.. im not talking about wall to wall CPL coverage. I'm talking about highlites. Running the score along the scroll. If a o lineman on the Arizona Cardinals gets a dui it's all over the scroll. I do think at the very least an effort should be made to have the CPL final available on a major sports network. Sorry to upset the woke warriors but the WNBA people? Cmon. The argument that only "mainstream" sports get covered on TSN goes out the window immediately right there

I don’t watch the WNBA but I know almost as many people who follow that as CPL.  And if they ever get a franchise in Toronto, it will 100% be mainstream.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

2 hours ago, MtlMario said:

Honest question, how would they make money by showing hi-lights?

They make money through running commercials. The higher the ratings they receive the more income they generate per commercial. That means they are going to focus on what keeps as many viewers watching as possible.

They'll show plenty of soccer on Sports Centre when it's something like the World Cup or European Championships that will do that for them. MLS is starting to become marginal at best in ratings terms and on stopping people from reaching for their remote if TFC are not on a playoff run, while CanPL... 

Whether CanPL belongs on Sports Centre should be kept separate from the issue of whether Rogers should carry Onesoccer. I can understand why Rogers wouldn't want Onesoccer on the regular cable dial but there's absolutely no justification I can see for not carrying it as a speciality channel.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[SpursFlu]

4 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

I don’t watch the WNBA but I know almost as many people who follow that as CPL.  And if they ever get a franchise in Toronto, it will 100% be mainstream.

There is a difference between following something paying money etc and just saying what you think you're supposed to say in order to be considered a good person. But no need to sidetrack. If people tell you they follow the WNBA I guess we'll have to take them at their word lol

[JamboAl]

25 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

There is a difference between following something paying money etc and just saying what you think you're supposed to say in order to be considered a good person. But no need to sidetrack. If people tell you they follow the WNBA I guess we'll have to take them at their word lol

The proof will be if the WNBA comes to Canada.  The Project 8 folks are very ambitious too.  But women’s sports have a very different demographic from men’s sports.  Many women I know follow the women’s national team (and WNBA) but have no interest or even have heard of the CPL.  The success of any women’s franchise is not dependent on a ton of men going but it won’t be as “big time” as men’s team sports in our lifetimes.