Lions in the local media (REVIVED thread 6-10-20)

[David]

I know it's the CFL off-season but finding any news on the Lions in this market has been a challenge, especially in the print media. As for any league news? Pffft. That's damn near impossible!

Clearly, since LU left the Province there's been a void that hasn't been filled on his beat. Steve Ewen (and Howard Tsumura) have covered the club but remarkably, the Province did not devote a single line to the potential Jennings hold-out (that story appeared in the Vancouver Sun, courtesy of Mike Beamish), nor did the Province provide any coverage to Skulsky leaving his post as club President. Wally's extension was a back page blurb. Since Postmedia has combined newsrooms, my fear is that in the near future, the Province will just use Beamish's stories (so readers will see the same stories in both papers).

Meanwhile, we're getting our lunch handed to us for space by Marc Weber, the Province's Whitecaps beat reporter who's been published daily since the beginning of the year. Obviously the 'Caps season is in full swing, but there were daily Whitecaps stories long before the season (and training camp) started.

Can someone please remind the station programmer at TSN 1040 that we're not a 51st state? I like the NFL like the next guy, but their NFL coverage is over-the-top, especially Bro Jake in the morning (regular contributions from Mitch Berger) and Alex Marvez - an NFL insider in the afternoon drive time (thankfully he often gives the Lions some love, but still....). The best show for Lions coverage is Matt Sekeres' mid-morning, who's a CFL guy and regularly has Wally on his show. BMac, Donnie, and The Moj are CFL guys, but only occasionally will they have a player interview (usually someone topical like say, Paul McCallum who just retired). The rest of the time, we're not a CFL market, but a Seattle suburb.


DH

[VICIOUSCIRCLE]

My wife and I stopped listening to Team 1040 Canuck Radio more than 18 months ago. We only listen to the Lions broadcasts on it. Just like the Canucks the station has disenfranchised me.

[TheLionKing]

Bro Jake and his sidekick blowhard David Pratt is a joke. There is no doubt that the Whitecaps have surpassed the Lions in fan support in this city.

[dawg3648]

Could not agree more David! And with Weber you have basically a cheerleader for a columnist. Whatever happened to unbiased reporting? My god the team has been around for six years, never won a playoff game and its all rainbows and unicorns. He should take a lesson or two from L.U. and Botch.....put the pompoms down Marc!
Lions crush Caps in TV #'s but Caps have a fulltime reporter and Lions don't? Don't get it. And as for their apparent "sell-out" (6,000 seats under blankets in lower bowl) a buddy of mine went to their opener and said there were many empty seats in an upper corner section which were quickly "blanketed up" at halftime. But still reported as sell-out. Guess they can report any number they feel like. Soccer....the future sport in North America and always will be!

[Qman]

Bro Jake and his sidekick blowhard David Pratt is a joke. There is no doubt that the Whitecaps have surpassed the Lions in fan support in this city.

you got to be joking.
the last whitecaps playoff game drew 90,000 on TV, same weekend the lions drew 500,000+ for a mean nothing regular season game.

[Qman]

My wife and I stopped listening to Team 1040 Canuck Radio more than 18 months ago. We only listen to the Lions broadcasts on it. Just like the Canucks the station has disenfranchised me.

this is too all lionbackers out there.
You have to be vocal to the province on this -- email and on twitter -- all you can
Thats the only thing editors care about -- public response

[SammyGreene]

Stopped subscribing to the Province the week after LU retired. Ed Willes is the only one left that is interested in the CFL. Ewen and Tsumura have their previous favourite beats still and the Lions are nothing more to them than doing assignments. Weber is a Whitecaps cheer boy as is their digital sports editor (Patrick Johnson?) who cuts down the Lions/CFL when he has a chance. Could care less about a team in a 10th tier soccer league that is all giddy about increasing their "capacity" to 22,000 in a 54,000 stadium.

I blame TSN 1040's lack of Lions coverage squarely on the shoulders of Rintoul and Marjonovich. These are two guys with football backgrounds as players and recent coaches yet do nothing beyond what they are told to do when it comes to the Lions. Neither provides any "inside" info or breaking news yet Rintoul is also the Lions play-by-play guy sadly. Compare that to Pete Schaad who also hosts a Whitecaps radio show, one of two the Caps get weekly where the Lions get nothing.

Rintoul is actually more of a Seahawks fan as one of the leaders of the Vancouver 12th Man chapter. It's a joke how he and Moj do a pre and post game show from Seattle during every home game. I'm sure they can provide far more insight than just picking up the ESPN Seattle feed or is to get media passes for the games?

They both have the same backgrounds as Farhan Lalji and it's not even close who provides the better "inside" Lions stuff.

Lions would be far better off if 1040 freelanced the play-by-play job to Jim Mullin who knows the CFL and CIS game so well.

[JohnHenry]

Bro Jake and his sidekick blowhard David Pratt is a joke. There is no doubt that the Whitecaps have surpassed the Lions in fan support in this city.

You should doubt it and just because the media covers the Whitecaps and NFL more doesn't make them more popular. The NFL is only more popular among sports media and editors...who all idolize the NFL and generally turn their nose up at the CFL, especially since the Seahawks have become an elite team.

According to recent sports surveys, the Lions and CFL are substantially more popular than the MLS in B.C. and in every province in Canada.

Here are the results of the Can-Am Sports Survey released in July, 2015 of those who follow each sport, very closely or fairly closely:

Canada - NHL 46 - CFL 26 - NFL 23 - MLB - 22 - NBA 12 - MLS 9
B.C..... - NHL 47 - CFL 29 - NFL 25 - MLB - 17 - NBA 11 - MLS 13

http://www.reginaldbibby.com/recentmajorreleases.html

Here's the Vancouver Sun sports survey done during 2015 Super Bowl week featuring the Seahawks (Hardcore and Regular fans

B.C............Canucks 40% - Lions 30% - Whitecaps 15% - Seahawks 21%
Metro Van....Canucks 45% - Lions 31% - Whitecaps 17% - Seahawks 22%
Van. Island...Canucks 37% - Lions 32% - Whitecaps 18% - Seahawks 27%
Rest of B.C...Canucks 28% - Lions 26% - Whitecaps 6% - Seahawks 15%

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2015/01/2 ... ions-poll/

According to these surveys, the Lions are 2 to 3 times as popular as the Whitecaps In Vancouver and across B.C. The Lions are also more popular than the Seahawks, having twice as many hardcore fans. The local media talks incessantly about the NFL because they love it, adore it and idolize the NFL. Regular folks don't but the media sure does.

Should the media cover the Lions and CFL more? Yes, according to the popularity of the league, but if the media doesn't like it, I guess you can't force them to talk CFL or write CFL stories which obviously would be of interest to their readers.

It's funny how the local media is going out of business? Massive local sports layoffs by Bell/TSN 1040 and Rogers (which has virtually abandoned their B.C . operations)...and the obliteration of the Sun and Province which apparently don't print what people want to read anymore.

[David]

Could not agree more David! And with Weber you have basically a cheerleader for a columnist. Whatever happened to unbiased reporting? My god the team has been around for six years, never won a playoff game and its all rainbows and unicorns. He should take a lesson or two from L.U. and Botch.....put the pompoms down Marc!

I couldn't agree more, dawg3648. Weber's daily gushing over the Whitecaps both astounds me, and in a weird way, amuses me at the same time. Like, I read his stories with wide-eyed fascination and ponder whether this guy's supposed to be a serious journalist or part of the publicity arm of the organization. The other day he put a spin on the 0-1 start to the season, basically writing, "cheer up lads. You and many other teams started off the season with a loss and it turned out very nicely, thank you very much."

I would say that he and radio host and PBP man Peter Schaad wear their heart on their sleeve when it comes to this franchise, except the red would clash with their 'Sea to Sky' long sleeve secondary jerseys!


DH

[Hambone]

Might be getting my 1040 personalities mixed up Sammy but if memory serves me correctly Rintoul is an unabashed 49ers fan.

[Sir Purrcival]

Sadly, I don't really feel like it is worth listening to 1040 for anything football related. Even when the Canucks are in the off season, you will hear discussion ad nauseum which generally equates with speculation or hypothetical s. The Lions can be in a dog fight for first place in their division and nada. Do I really care who the Canucks may take with their 3rd round draft pick? No. Some may do but it seems to me that there is room for lots of hockey talk during the pre, regular and playoff seasons. We don't need to be smothered with it in July. I was ticked with 1040, the moment they relegated Lions broadcasts to 1410, another great waste of airspace with Jim (I'm going to call Jim Everett "Chrissy" because I am a total buttwad) Rome.

[David]

Bro Jake and his sidekick blowhard David Pratt is a joke. There is no doubt that the Whitecaps have surpassed the Lions in fan support in this city.

The great irony is that Pratt is the biggest CFL junkie at that station. I once saw him sitting outside the old Rossini's in Kits wearing his varsity Roots Lions jacket. But it's like he's playing a character on the radio called "Ratings Whore" - who just seeks the low hanging fruit; the biggest headlines, controversies and discussion topics of the day ("how (cool/big/whatever) is THIS?!?") to garner the most listeners. That's how the game works, I realize. But it's frustrating nonetheless.


DH

[CardiacKid]

I appreciate the insight and reporting skills of guys like Lowell Ullrich and Mike Beamish and wish we had more of them, publishing more often. But print journalism is dying a slow death, if not already dead but simply existing on life support. In many ways, the winner of this year's best picture Oscar, Spotlight, was regarded as a nostalgia piece; reminiscing about a time when print journalism actually counted for something.

As for the local radio commentators, Neal McRae turned me off listening to Vancouver sports radio ages ago. I can't offer any opinion on that.

As for popularity of the Whitecaps vs. Lions, I do wonder if the Whitecaps and the media that "supports" them are trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. I enjoy soccer/European football but I just can't get behind the Whitecaps and by extension, the MLS as a whole. Why? Because the play and skill on display is still a poor showing when compared to so much of the beautiful game played around the globe.

I have tried to watch Whitecaps games on the tube and every time I just switch over to something else. Invariably I come to the conclusion that if I want to watch a soccer game, I will make far better use of my time by tuning into the BPL or Champion's League. The choices on offer to view are far greater now than they have ever been, even with a regular cable package. If you want to expend a little energy and/or a little $, you can watch La Liga via BeInSports streaming or watch on FirstRowSports. Simply put, if I want to watch entertaining soccer, I don't waste my time with the Whitecaps (and MLS by extension); it is so easy to watch something better.

Sorry if that seems snobbish but I think only a delusional person would say comparing MLS to La Liga, BPL, Serie A, etc is the same as comparing oranges to oranges. The rules are the same, the player positions are the same, tactics and strategy are comparable but the MLS, while improved, simply isn't that good. That could be why the TV numbers are just not that great; people know they have viewing choices and those choices on offer are better.

[LakeLions]

Have any of you guys considered that it's smack in the middle of the Lions off-season, while it's the start of the Whitecaps season and the stretch run of a (miserable) Canucks season?

I hear where you're all coming from, but it's still three months until the Lions start training camp. Complaining about a lack of coverage for that team, compared to teams that are currently in-season, seems like there's an obvious reason why.

If June rolls around and there's not much coverage, then we've really got something to complain about.

I'm guessing it'll change by then.

[Spud387]

Have any of you guys considered that it's smack in the middle of the Lions off-season, while it's the start of the Whitecaps season and the stretch run of a (miserable) Canucks season?

I hear where you're all coming from, but it's still three months until the Lions start training camp. Complaining about a lack of coverage for that team, compared to teams that are currently in-season, seems like there's an obvious reason why.

If June rolls around and there's not much coverage, then we've really got something to complain about.

I'm guessing it'll change by then.

Agreed. Sure, we'd love to have the media talk Lions 24/7 but there just isn't a need at this point. When it gets closer to training camp then we should see more content in the media and that is when its most important to start drumming up interest.