CFL on CTV again

CFL football has returned to CTV where it was a staple right into the mid-80s before CTV did not renew their contract.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/CFL/comments/1fbeq10/this_is_pretty_awesome_cfl_on_ctv/

(May be subject to copyright)

Everything I know about Canadian football, I learned from TV. When I was growing up, every single game of the Canadian Football League season was broadcast on TV – either on CBC or CTV.

The CTV telecasts, Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial, were billed as Canadian Professional Football, and featured broadcasters such as Frank Rigney, Pat Marsden, Leif Pettersen, and Al McCann.

As quickly as I got into watching them, the CFL fell on some hard times, and they were gone just as fast from Channel 13.

Today, the CFL returned to CTV, and it reminded of that time everything was so new, and I was just discovering Canadian football.

As seen on TV
I started watched football in 1978. Edmonton was the dominant team, on the verge of winning the first of an unprecedented five straight Grey Cups. I took a liking to the Calgary Stampeders, who always seemed to be David to Edmonton’s Goliath. However, they were always up for a good fight, and usually gave it to the Eskimos.

I saw it all on CTV.

The network had been broadcasting football since 1961, and broadcast its first Grey Cup in 1962.

That first year I watched football, the broadcast crew was the aforementioned Pat Marsden, Frank Rigney, and Peter Young, and they were excellent. Down at field level was Al McCann or Bill Stephenson. They were both excellent too.

A few years later, when I was buying something from Radio Shack in Coaldale, I learned learn Al McCann was actually from Coaldale. There was a fundraising dinner coming up and the Radio Shack had a poster featuring the guest speaker – Al McCann.

Other broadcasters would come over the years. Leif Pettersen entered the broadcast booth after a successful playing career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Dale Isaac would come along to do play-by-lay and, in 1984, Jack Gotta entered the booth as a colour commentator. He was my favourite coach of all time, from his years coaching the Calgary Stampeders and later the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The best part, at the time, was that between CTV and CBC all the games were on TV. It was a quick and easy way to learn about a game that has become a passion for me.

The other really interesting thing, something only in Canada, was the annual Grey Cup broadcast. The game was televised on both CBC Channel 9 and CTV Channel 13. The broadcast crews would split the broadcast. The first half was done by the CTV crew, usually Marsden, Rigney, and Mike Wadsworth then Pettersen. The second half was done by a CBC crew.

I recall, as a boy, flipping between the two channels to see if they were actually in sync.

They were.

Don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone
Then, one day, CTV ceased broadcasting CFL games. It was after the 1986 season, and CTV dropped CFL football.

The games would now be broadcast by the CBC, who kept on showing CFL games until the end of the 2007 season. The remaining games were picked up by the new cable service, TSN or The Sports Network, and a new entity. That new entity was the Canadian Football Network, a partnership with the Canadian Football League and various independent television stations. Where I lived, Channel 7 on the peasant vision dial was part of the Canadian Football Network.

It was weird tuning in to Channel 7 to watch football, and not Channel 13.

What was worse was that not all games were available to the masses any more. If you didn’t have TSN, which was impossible if you lived in the country and subscribed to the rural cable network of three channels, you missed the games they broadcast.

It was the end of an era.

Rebirth
Ultimately, TSN secured the exclusive broadcasting rights to the CFL in 2008. Given there is a very close association between TSN and CTV, something that did not exist in the 1980s, the current CFL broadcast looks exactly like a TSN broadcast – because it is.

Yet, as the advertisements indicate, the CFL is once again available in every corner of the country.

That is good news for football fans and for the game.

Parting thoughts
It was a bit disingenuous when CTV said they lost the broadcast rights in 1986, because that was not the case. They did not renew them. They gave them up. The proof is in the fact the CFL had to scramble to find a replacement, patching together a coverage package that included a fairly new cable sports channel and a network of independent stations the league had to create itself.

Still, it is nice to see the CFL not only go back to some of its broadcasting roots, but also provide football that is available to everyone across the country again.

Plus, it is nice to hear those words “CFL on CTV” again.