Anyone heard anything about a new regional TV deal?

[Tsawwassen]

The Jets have a multiyear extension for their regional games on TSN3.
https://www.bellmedia.ca/the-lede/pr...eg-jets-games/

[Classic_Sniper]

Why haven’t we heard more about this? It’s almost December and players have already started to assemble in their hometowns. If the rumors are true that Sportsnet is dropping the Flames, wouldn’t TSN want as much time as possible to market the Flames on TSN? Like maybe pick out the broadcast crew and who will be doing pre games and the platforms that we can purchase to watch and blah blah blah. I mean, I guess they could be waiting for scheduling. But even so, personally, it would be good to know if I should be renewing Sportsnet now or not.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Why haven’t we heard more about this? It’s almost December and players have already started to assemble in their hometowns. If the rumors are true that Sportsnet is dropping the Flames, wouldn’t TSN want as much time as possible to market the Flames on TSN? Like maybe pick out the broadcast crew and who will be doing pre games and the platforms that we can purchase to watch and blah blah blah. I mean, I guess they could be waiting for scheduling. But even so, personally, it would be good to know if I should be renewing Sportsnet now or not.

Do you mind posting the rumour that SN is dropping the Flames? Haven’t heard this.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by heep223

Do you mind posting the rumour that SN is dropping the Flames? Haven’t heard this.

Oh thought this was common knowledge as it’s been in the rumor mill for over a year. Believe it was a tweet that was posted on reddit saying that sportsnet likely won’t be renewing the Flames as they don’t see enough upside with the Flames.

Kind of makes sense in a way. We don’t have McDavid and we’ve been floundering in the 1st round with an aging captain while the Oilers and Canucks may be on the cusp of their respective windows. Sportsnet may just be looking to cut some costs as the national deal is still gutting their network.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Oh thought this was common knowledge as it’s been in the rumor mill for over a year. Believe it was a tweet that was posted on reddit saying that sportsnet likely won’t be renewing the Flames as they don’t see enough upside with the Flames.

Kind of makes sense in a way. We don’t have McDavid and we’ve been floundering in the 1st round with an aging captain while the Oilers and Canucks may be on the cusp of their respective windows. Sportsnet may just be looking to cut some costs as the national deal is still gutting their network.

lol the Oilers have been on the cusp for how many years?

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by dino7c

lol the Oilers have been on the cusp for how many years?

True and I continue to hope they stay on or below that cusp. But if you were the head of a network, would you give up superstars like McDavid and Draisaitl to a competing network? Not a chance.

I assume their bet is that if the Oil ever become good, the ratings will rise whereas Sportsnet may believe the Flames could be closer to the end of their window, thus ratings would likely drop. I can see the rationale if true.

[Joborule]

I think it's simply the case of pure numbers in general. I think there's more Oilers fans in the Alberta (and Sask.?) than there is Flames fans. And with the Oilers having more star power draw than the Flames have, as well as the sense of hope BS that they sell with that franchise, Oilers have been, and will continue to outdraw Flames games.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

I had heard that TSN wasn't interested in the Flames or Oilers and as a result, Rogers was lowballing them (that was a few months ago so things may have changed).

For fans outside the Flames market, it's better that Sportsnet gets it as you'll get more national games. Lately, when you look at an 82-game schedule, generally about 30 games are available nationally (with a handful of regional games getting picked up across the country). With TSN, national games would be locked into the 18-20 range since regional games would have to stay region.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

I had heard that TSN wasn't interested in the Flames or Oilers and as a result, Rogers was lowballing them (that was a few months ago so things may have changed).

For fans outside the Flames market, it's better that Sportsnet gets it as you'll get more national games. Lately, when you look at an 82-game schedule, generally about 30 games are available nationally (with a handful of regional games getting picked up across the country). With TSN, national games would be locked into the 18-20 range since regional games would have to stay region.

Not sure why TSN wouldn’t want a Mountain time zone team. I believe TSN has regional rights for OTT, TOR, WPG. So nothing out in the far west. I would think they’d want something out there to stay competitive with Sportsnet who basically have a monopoly down here.

[Erick Estrada]

Kind of weird how TSN would be interested in televising the Jets but not the Oilers or Flames. Maybe they don't have the budget right now to add another team? It would certainly hurt the bargaining position of the Alberta teams.

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Not sure why TSN wouldn’t want a Mountain time zone team. I believe TSN has regional rights for OTT, TOR, WPG. So nothing out in the far west. I would think they’d want something out there to stay competitive with Sportsnet who basically have a monopoly down here.

TSN also has regional rights for the Canadiens.

[skeena1]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Kind of weird how TSN would be interested in televising the Jets but not the Oilers or Flames. Maybe they don't have the budget right now to add another team? It would certainly hurt the bargaining position of the Alberta teams.

TSN is all over the Jets (and Senators) because they panicked when Sportsnet got the big contract 6 years ago and felt their hockey presence was in danger of eroding. The Oilers and Flames haven't been up for grabs until now.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Oh thought this was common knowledge as it’s been in the rumor mill for over a year. Believe it was a tweet that was posted on reddit saying that sportsnet likely won’t be renewing the Flames as they don’t see enough upside with the Flames.

Kind of makes sense in a way. We don’t have McDavid and we’ve been floundering in the 1st round with an aging captain while the Oilers and Canucks may be on the cusp of their respective windows. Sportsnet may just be looking to cut some costs as the national deal is still gutting their network.

It’s a ratings game. The Oilers have a larger fan base and McDavid attracts the casual fan. Vancouver is a huge market compared to Calgary.

I don’t think potential of the teams or performance have anything to do with it. If that were the case the Oilers would have been dumped long ago.

[bizaro86]

This is probably a tough year to negotiate as well. Both sides probably prefer a long term deal, but given all the uncertainty I can see why they might be far apart.

[Major Major]

Flames should do their own stream and sell it for 100 bucks. Use it as an opportunity to break from the network mold, do good pre game post game, poach Rick ball, etc.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Major Major

Flames should do their own stream and sell it for 100 bucks. Use it as an opportunity to break from the network mold, do good pre game post game, poach Rick ball, etc.

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I believe teams are paid by the network to have the rights to broadcast the game. If that’s the case, Sportsnet or TSN would be the ones footing the bill to run the operations. Not sure I see any franchise in any pro sport league being interested in hiring their own teams and negotiating with sponsors and etc etc when it’s easier just to be paid millions to have someone do the work for you.

I suppose all the add revenue to yourself would be nice, but I’m not sure it’s the most lucrative move. Big networks have built a brand and have inched their way towards a nice spot on the guide, what channel would the Flames air on? 900? That’s no good. The current model is tried and true.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

It’s a ratings game. The Oilers have a larger fan base and McDavid attracts the casual fan. Vancouver is a huge market compared to Calgary.

I don’t think potential of the teams or performance have anything to do with it. If that were the case the Oilers would have been dumped long ago.

I think performance has a lot to do with it. Fans like winning teams and if the Flames were on top of the leagues standings on a regular basis, I would suspect average viewership goes up, which means more ad revenue, which also means money in the bank for network airing the games.

As for your point about the Oilers, yeah they’ve been bad for a while, there’s no doubt about that. But Sportsnet also signed a contract with them, so “dumping” a team isn’t an option regardless of how bad they are as they’re obligated to do so and by not doing so, it would seem like an easy way to be sued.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

TSN has a major limiting factor in the way their channels are set up. They don’t have the same P/W/O/E that SN has. I mean, they do sort of but it operates much differently.

If TSN picked up the flames it could seriously limit their ability to meet their other contractual obligations for NFL, Tennis, Golf, CFB, NASCAR, F1, CBB, WJHC etc.

Imagine having TSN Vancouver blacked out because the flames game is on and people who don’t have all 5 channels not being able to watch the final round of the Masters. People would go insane.

Who cares about the plebs because we all have the full 5 channels? Well, what if TSN has two national contractual obligations like CFB and Tennis but they also have four regional NHL games? It just doesn't work for them. It may be that they literally can't make it work.

SN has basically no other contracts except the NHL. So they never have this issue. When SNP is blacked out for a Canucks game, I don’t care because the other SN channels aren’t showing anything good anyways.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

TSN has a major limiting factor in the way their channels are set up. They don’t have the same P/W/O/E that SN has. I mean, they do sort of but it operates much differently.

If TSN picked up the flames it could seriously limit their ability to meet their other contractual obligations for NFL, Tennis, Golf, CFB, NASCAR, F1, CBB, WJHC etc.

Imagine having TSN Vancouver blacked out because the flames game is on and people who don’t have all 5 channels not being able to watch the final round of the Masters. People would go insane.

Who cares about the plebs because we all have the full 5 channels? Well, what if TSN has two national contractual obligations like CFB and Tennis but they also have four regional NHL games? It just doesn't work for them. It may be that they literally can't make it work.

SN has basically no other contracts except the NHL. So they never have this issue. When SNP is blacked out for a Canucks game, I don’t care because the other SN channels aren’t showing anything good anyways.

I am sure that Sportsnet shows baseball and nba games, correct me if I am wrong, but they seem to get all the teams on their channels.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

I am sure that Sportsnet shows baseball and nba games, correct me if I am wrong, but they seem to get all the teams on their channels.

But they also have SN Flames, SN Oilers, SN360, SN1 to use. TSN does not.

That's also only two contracts, one of which (baseball) has very little overlap with the NHL. Apr-June and Oct.