The decline of Vancouver sports media & its effect on Lions

[Lionsfan65]

Not only is CTV the #1 TV news station in this market, it was also a major source of content surrounding the football club and the CFL. One more casualty to the omni-present internet for online content I suppose.

Of course, a whole Sports Dep't goes with this decision, so sympathies to them.


DH

Could've fooled me re: CTV. I keep forgetting they're even still on the air. Only time I've tuned into them in recent memory is when they happen to be showing an NFL game I'm interested in watching. Even then I'm not looking for CTV in the Shaw guide, just looking to see what games are on and picking the one I want regardless of station.

Agreed, I have a hard time believing that CTV is #1. I know that global/BCTV held the #1 spot for years when Tony Parsons was still reading the news.
On the occasion that I do watch the news, usually once or twice a week, or during an important event like an election, I usually watch global.
I doubt that global will cut their sports department, considering they usually do provide significant coverage of lions news, and they advertise at Lions games.
I usually avoid watching CTV, even if they do have an interesting NFL game, I usually look for it on the American channels.

[Matt Baker]

should be also be noted that MOJO couldn't come close to competing with 1040 when MOJO had the canucks rights. And 1040 didn't have the long standing established shows it has now.

Apples and oranges. At that time 1040 already had a five-year jump start on grabbing its share of the sports audience in this market. Had CORUS been willing to put Canucks/Lions on MOJO full-time, it likely would have saved that station at least in the short term.

It's funny I have seen so many comments from people claiming 1040 is "dead" because of losing the rights. Far from it. They'll still be able to talk Canucks whenever they want and have the various "insiders" and guests on a regular basis. Sure they will lose Jim Benning/Trevor Linden and players, but let's be honest those player interviews are terrible..

Having worked there and knowing people who are running things, they will be creative enough to weather the storm and I actually think having some competition will be good for them.

[JohnHenry]

I see TSN1410 has been announced as the home of the Whitecaps. Not sure about the Lions but perhaps they'll have 1040 all to themselves...or at least squeezing in a few minutes of Lion's coverage between the NHL and NFL babble.

[Sir Purrcival]

should be also be noted that MOJO couldn't come close to competing with 1040 when MOJO had the canucks rights. And 1040 didn't have the long standing established shows it has now.

Apples and oranges. At that time 1040 already had a five-year jump start on grabbing its share of the sports audience in this market. Had CORUS been willing to put Canucks/Lions on MOJO full-time, it likely would have saved that station at least in the short term.

It's funny I have seen so many comments from people claiming 1040 is "dead" because of losing the rights. Far from it. They'll still be able to talk Canucks whenever they want and have the various "insiders" and guests on a regular basis. Sure they will lose Jim Benning/Trevor Linden and players, but let's be honest those player interviews are terrible..

Having worked there and knowing people who are running things, they will be creative enough to weather the storm and I actually think having some competition will be good for them.

I guess it remains to be seen. While 1040 will likely weather the storm, will 1410? This city doesn't really support 2 sports stations now. How is it going to support 3? The answer is it probably won't. So 1410 will probably be reformatted to something else. Bell isn't going to need two stations to do the job that 1 can adequately do. 82 nights of broadcast is a big chunk of programming time to have to fill. Surely, they would likely move some of the content from 1410 to 1040 and then look at re purposing 1410 to something else or selling it outright? I don't know the ins and outs of the broadcast business but 1410 is surely a money loser at the bottom of the market?

[David]

NOTE - I have changed the name of this thread (née "Rintoul is toast (grab the pitch forks and storm TSN 1040)" to a kind of all-encompassing "shifting Vancouver sports landscape" thread, the latest casualty of which is Postmedia's Mike Beamish.

Not sure if Mike left on his own volition (having worked at the Sun for 43 years), or if he's another casualty in the ever-dwindling sports department over there (my guess is that he was packaged out) but again, what does this all mean for BC Lions exposure to the casual fan? To summarize:

* Lowell Ullrich left in September 2015 (thankfully he now blogs)
* Play by play man Scott Rintoul was recently let go by TSN 1040
* CTV just axed its entire sports department that used to run lots of stories from the Lions website (i.e. the "carpool karaoke" segment with Solly and Cartmell's kid etc.)
* TSN1040's future with the Lions is still very clouded, having lost the Canucks' rights to Rogers
* The club's only remaining beat reporter from a major daily has just left Postmedia. Who will be covering the club? Will they even send a reporter on the road?


The Canucks can sustain cuts. For every Tony Gallagher, there is more space for a guy like Jason Botchford. Blogs and coverage galore. But the Leos lie on the fringes. Yes, most people get their news online and from the club's website. But those are fans like us seeking it out. What about the casual "out of sight, out of mind" fan? How are they being reached with all this segmentation?



DH

[SammyGreene]

Man the amount of question marks right now within and outside of the club continues to grow. So now no Lions beat writer left and who knows with Post Media's staffing situation what they will do this coming season. Hard to believe they will have someone at every practice like the days of LU and Mike. Hell, if LU decided to start a Lions blog for $20 a month with tidbits from practices and other info I would be all over it.

One would think 1040 would be anxious to keep the Lions but who knows? BMac has apparently taken a buyout and Taylor and Moj were at least joking they were next.

Right now you have a league without a commissioner as of June 30, a Lions team that is up for sale with a 75-year-old owner who also is serving as president. This could even be Wally's final season too. Contract up prior to 2018 season and certainly didn't indicate in Ed Willes column this week he is keen to continue on, only he won't miss the hard decisions like having to trade Jovan Olafioye. At 67 and what he has accomplished, who could blame him for walking away?

[WestCoastJoe]

Gheez. Gonna miss Mike Beamish. A great guy. Love his columns, that have much more than the scores. Lots of human intetest stories and insight. Had many, many fun chats with Mike at practice over the years.

sixbeamers

All the best, Mike. Hopefully you do not retire the pen. Hopefully you find an outlet for your commentary. -- WCJ

[Gridiron Ernie]

Ditto that! Mike -- 'Do not retire the pen'. Mr. Beamish has long been my preference among the sports scribes. It's a matter of personal taste (re style) -- not to discount other reporters, but to echo what WCJ says -- he brought a multifaceted perspective to things -- nicely braiding the threads together. IMO, we had in Mike not just a reporter but indeed a writer. Thank you sir! Don't go dark on us!

[Hambone]

I don't know if what we're seeing is a decline or if it's an industry being reshaped by technology and the way people consume their media content in the 2010s as opposed to the way most of us grew up getting our information. Back in the day I couldn't wait to get the paper to read columns of Jim Taylor or Clancy Loranger. Beat reporters are being replaced by internet bloggers. Newspapers are going the way of the dodo bird.

[B.C.FAN]

Iain MacIntyre has written a nice tribute to his longtime colleague. Lions fans have been spoiled by a generation of great beat writers. After 43 years at the paper, mostly covering the Lions in some way, Beamish will be missed. I didn't realize this, but according to MacIntyre, Beamish is 69, two years older than Wally and just six years younger than David Braley. I certainly can't blame him for deciding to retire.

After 43 years of elegant writing in Sun sports, Beamer lands in retirement

[WestCoastJoe]

Iain MacIntyre has written a nice tribute to his longtime colleague. Lions fans have been spoiled by a generation of great beat writers. After 43 years at the paper, mostly covering the Lions in some way, Beamish will be missed. I didn't realize this, but according to MacIntyre, Beamish is 69, two years older than Wally and just six years younger than David Braley. I certainly can't blame him for deciding to retire.

After 43 years of elegant writing in Sun sports, Beamer lands in retirement

From the article by Iain Macintyre as posted by BCFAN.

“Joe Paopao got very nervous and told me ‘you better go over and talk to the coach,’” Beamish recalls. “I put my hand out to Rapp and said: ‘Hi, Vic, I’m Mike Beamish.’ And he goes: ‘Beamish, I disliked you from the moment I saw you. You really piss me off.’”

The quote is funnier when Beamish tells it in Rapp’s southern drawl.

Apparently, Mike continued to piss off Rapp because when Beamish briefly left sports for a parliamentary bureau posting in Ottawa in 1982, the Lions’ coach noticed.

“Ottawa, huh?” Rapp told Beamish’s replacement, Elliott Pap. “That’s a good place for him.”

Ha ha ...

Mike is a true Renaissance man, someone with a bright, curious mind and knowledge on infinite subjects. He is amiable and empathetic but continually exasperated bosses by finding a thread more interesting to explore in print than what had been discussed in the morning. But whatever story Mike filed in the evening was always beautifully written, elegant and informed and clean.

At practice, I would always ask Mike what his column would be about. His mind was open. Sometimes he would ask for ideas. LOL One time I pointed out that there were three redheads on the roster. Travis Lulay. James Yurichuk. Matt Carter. Sure enough, that was the subject of his article, the redheads. LOL
........

Edit. Found the article ...

http://www.pressreader.com/canada/vanco ... 5316184596

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.pressreader.com/canada/vanco ... 5316184596

Ginger quartet adds a little spice to junior football camp

Carrot-topped Seahawks punter Jon Ryan feels at home among the Lions’ red menace of Matt Carter, Travis Lulay and James Yurichuk

Vancouver Sun 27 Jun 2009 BY MIKE BEAMISH

When you’re Canadian on an NFL team, and a punter to boot, it makes a player an easy target for the locker room wise guys. Is there an added incentive to bug him? Well, yes, Jon Ryan admits. His hair and stubble happen to be the colour of a ginger snap, which makes it three strikes against him.

“A red-haired, Canadian-born kicker?” said the Regina-born Seattle Seahawks punter. “Not many of those. I get called Opie and Big Red all the time, but I’m over the ribbing. It’s all in good fun, anyway.”

Ryan, the only redhead on the Seahawks, and quarterback Seneca Wallace were joined by a number of Lions at the team’s Surrey training facility Friday for the Gatorade Junior Football Camp, a three-hour clinic for youngsters put on jointly by the NFL and CFL teams. And the topic of red hair came up because ... well, it’s another week before the Lions play. And, besides, Ryan would feel right at home in the adjacent B.C. locker room with the three carrot tops who made the team this year, all CFL rookies.

“That’s pretty unsual,” Ryan said. “Can’t say I’ve seen that before.”

Quarterback Travis Lulay, slotback Matt Carter and linebacker James Yurichuk are the reason the Lions’ inner sanctum has been put on red alert. All share the recessive gene that is found in on- ly one to two per cent of the world population (two to six per cent in Europe). And none can remember being on a football team before where three guys have the same fiery locks, making them kindred spirits with Leo the Lion, the team’s mascot.

“I get bugged about my hair all the time,” admitted Lulay, the all-time career passing leader at Montana State. “Matt Carter and I were sitting there today, getting taped up, and Sherko [Haji-Rasouli] said it was probably the most red hair he’d ever seen being taped at one time.

“I can’t speak for all redheads, b u t t h e o n e s I k n o w — my younger brother [Tyler, a receiver who also played at Montana State] and I — are super-feisty and competitive.”

Glinting in the sunlight, with their helmets doffed during practice, Lulay and Carter could be mistaken for fluorescent orange traffic safety cones.

Yurichuk, a first-round draft pick from Bishop’s University, is more copper-topped, like a Duracell battery. But he still qualifies for membership in the Auburn Brotherhood. “My beard is actually redder than my hair, so I have to shave it off because of the taunting,” Yurichuk says with a chuckle. “It’s good to have other [redhaired] people to talk to about your problems. And the ones we have here are super-athletic.”

At first, Carter bristled that the interview subject concerned his hair colour, not his receiving skills. But the rookie from Acadia, drafted one position (fifth overall) behind Yurichuk in the 2009 CFL draft, was quick to point out that life as a redhead has its advantages outside of football.

“We get pretty girls, man, I can tell you that much,” Carter says.

“Absolutely,” Lulay agrees. “When you have red hair, you stand out like a beacon.”

Many funny lines in this article.

[SammyGreene]

I don't know if what we're seeing is a decline or if it's an industry being reshaped by technology and the way people consume their media content in the 2010s as opposed to the way most of us grew up getting our information. Back in the day I couldn't wait to get the paper to read columns of Jim Taylor or Clancy Loranger. Beat reporters are being replaced by internet bloggers. Newspapers are going the way of the dodo bird.

Definitely think it's the latter Hambone. How I miss Jim Taylor! I echo the comments of others who have enjoyed the talents of LU and Mike. We're lucky LU has continued on to some degree, showing his passion for covering the Lions and league while likely not getting near the compensation he was receiving before. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of Mike's stories.

Reaching out to the casual fan is becoming more and more challenging as it is so easy these days to focus on only following things you are interested in via Facebook or Twitter. BC FAN brings up a great point too with the ever growing numbers walking away from cable TV on both sides of the border.

[David]

I don't know if what we're seeing is a decline or if it's an industry being reshaped by technology and the way people consume their media content in the 2010s as opposed to the way most of us grew up getting our information. Back in the day I couldn't wait to get the paper to read columns of Jim Taylor or Clancy Loranger. Beat reporters are being replaced by internet bloggers. Newspapers are going the way of the dodo bird.

I would agree that physical newspapers are going the way of the dodo bird, but people are still going online for news content (it's just that revenues aren't the same - part of the reason why there's been such a big purge at Postmedia. I wouldn't be surprised if Vancouver becomes a single daily town soon, for there is no reason to have the Sun AND the Province with rearly identical content....). Again, my concern is that the Lions are losing another voice to tell their stories.

Sure, the club's website is the new way to reach people with features and video content but how are casual fans getting there, or are they? I have no idea how many clicks they're getting, but I know the club's Twitter following has really stagnated. Just 2 short years ago, the Lions were the #3 club in the CFL for followers, with over 90K - well behind the Riders but only slightly behind the Bombers. Fast forward to today, and we're 3 last in the league. We've been left in the dust with the Twitter explosion (only the Argos and Redblacks have fewer Twitter followers....and Ottawa is only in its 3rd year of existence!). Here's a current breakdown of Twitter followers by club:

Roughriders - 193,000
Blue Bombers - 137,000
Stampeders - 128,000 (roughly where we should be today at a normal growth rate)
Tiger-Cats - 119,000
Eskimos - 116,000
Lions - 113,000
Redblacks - 108,000
Argonauts - 103,000


DH

[B.C.FAN]

Sure, the club's website is the new way to reach people with features and video content but how are casual fans getting there, or are they? I have no idea how many clicks they're getting, but I know the club's Twitter following has really stagnated. Just 2 short years ago, the Lions were the #3 club in the CFL for followers, with over 90K - well behind the Riders but only slightly behind the Bombers. Fast forward to today, and we're 3 last in the league. We've been left in the dust with the Twitter explosion (only the Argos and Redblacks have fewer Twitter followers....and Ottawa is only in its 3rd year of existence!). Here's a current breakdown of Twitter followers by club:

Roughriders - 193,000
Blue Bombers - 137,000
Stampeders - 128,000 (roughly where we should be today at a normal growth rate)
Tiger-Cats - 119,000
Eskimos - 116,000
Lions - 113,000
Redblacks - 108,000
Argonauts - 103,000


DH

Twitter is the favourite platform of journalists, news junkies and U.S. presidents, but more people rely on Facebook for news and information. Here are the comparative numbers for Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook likes:
Roughriders - 297,747
Alouettes - 221, 789
Lions - 163,409
Eskimos - 109,593
Stampeders - 108,197
Tiger-Cats - 105,697
Blue Bombers - 103,076
Argonauts - 56,784
Redblacks - 48,240

Instagram followers:
Roughriders - 45,800
Stampeders - 32,700
Tiger-Cats - 30,100
Argonauts - 30,100
Blue Bombers - 26,700
Alouettes - 26,600
Lions 25,800
Redblacks - 25,200
Eskimos 22,200