Why doesn't ESPN show CFL anymore.?

Question

I know they used to show some on tape delay abck in the 80's -early 90's. Why no more. I would rather watch CFL than freakin poker.

Answer 1

ummmm cuz NFL pwns CFL...nub

Answer 2

Because Americans do not care about the CFL. ESPN is an American sports network, it doesn't care about what Canadians want to see, and ESPN also knows that showing the CFL will lose money for the network. ESPN now has the NFL Monday Night Football, so there is no way that it will carry the CFL. When ESPN previously carried the CFL, it was a relatively small network and was not the sports power that it is now. Do you really think Americans are going to tune in to watch the CFL?

Also, ESPN does not carry the NHL because 90% of Americans don't care about hockey, and the strike simply made it more obvious. The NFL rules here in the United States, and the only people who watch the CFL are insomniacs who catch games on local cable networks.

Answer 3

ESPN now has $$$ to burn on talking bobblehead shows and showing bad highlights (hey, ESPN, shut up and show highlights in some sort of logical order...excuse the rant). Get a dish or move nearer the Cdn border and pick up our Cdn feeds. CFL is on CBC (Saturdays) and TSN (Thursdays and Fridays).

Or send me some dough and I'll tape you a bunch of games.

Answer 4

I agree, how the HECK is poker or hot dog eating a sporting event?  ESPN doesn't cover hockey either.  Did some g*y guys take over the network?

Answer 5

I'm with you brother! 25 years ago when ESPN first started, they showed all kinds of good stuff like Rugby and Australian Rules Football - those games were tough! That Aussie football might be the toughest game ever invented!

Answer 6

Simply, they decided not to renew the rights because of ratings or lack of support from advertisers.

Games are currently shown on some regional cable sports channels

Answer 7

I am just guessing,  but if they picked up the CBC or TSN feed and their play by play announcers it would have not have been aimed at the American viewer.

Get a good announce team, Doug Flute on colour for example, and talk up the American players.  Name their colleges, show them in the off season living back home and being part of their community in the USA.

The game is a good game, it just needs to be localized, give the viewer a name to cheer for.

What ever happened to.... he was a great player for...

Well they are still great players in the CFL.

Answer 8

Not popular enough for ESPN, but its a shame, thats when the American teams were playing .

Answer 9

Probably for the same reason that they stopped showing Aussie Rules and lumberjack challenges ...  ratings, or rather, the lack of.

Mind you, I completely agree that poker should not be shown on sports networks, or even on TV, for that matter.  I'd much rather watch a tape delay of the 2005 billards trick shot championships than the World Series of Poker...

Answer 10

ESPN dosen't have the TV rights any more.  NASN (North American Sports Network) has the rights until the end of this season.

Answer 11

One time late night, I was watching ESPN and they had ....get this... a SPELLING BEE.  Yep, that's correct.  Compared to that, the World Series of Poker is much more enjoyable....

Too bad they don't show CFL.  I live in Canada so I didn't really notice, cuz it's usually on CBC here.