B.C.FAN wrote:I understand the livestream will be available in countries that don't already get CFL football through TSN/RDS, ESPN or other broadcasters. Those providers already bring the game to most of North and South America, the U.K. and Oceana. The livestream opens up the rest of Europe, Africa and Asia to the CFL. The link has a world map showing where each service is available.
That's how I read it also — everyone gets just the one feed whether through internet or television.
DanoT wrote:I wonder if the CFL will have their own commercials and advertising since TSN and ESPN are not competing with the CFL internet feed in Canada and the US where it is only on TV and thus they cannot loose Canadian or American viewers to the live streaming.
The rest of the world with worldwide live streaming could eventually be a very good revenue source for the CFL. The CFL rules, wide field and wide open style could end up being more popular or at least as popular with the rest of the world as NFL football.
I was wondering about the whole ad revenue thing as well. I don't know how it all works in the big picture but I would imagine the technology is probably in place to localise advertising in each region that the online feed reaches and for the league to realise revenues out of this via some sort of formal relationship with youtube.
It will be interesting to see how much online viewership this attracts. I would imagine most of it will be on account of Canadians living abroad but it could grow in coming years if they stick with it and try to grow it. I mentioned this cfl.ca article to a friend of mine in Europe and he posted it right away to his social media contacts.
I don't know about being more popular than the NFL though; that league sells their steak with a lot of sizzle that the CFL will never be able to match in the foreseeable future. International viewers who might be accustomed to watching the Super Bowl once a year with all its glitz and glamour will make comparisons. But the good news is the CFL doesn't have to surpass the NFL. It can still thrive internationally as a niche product on its own terms without trying to compete with the NFL.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
