News Media vs. The Leagues: The Battle Continues

If you've been wondering how that West Indies-Australia cricket test series has been going, you won't be able to find out by reading the Toronto Star. Nor will you be able to get results from any other Canadian newspaper.(For those who haven't been able to find out what's happening, the second test ended in a draw Tuesday.)

The reason you can't get newspaper coverage here is that the never-ending battle between mainstream news outlets and sports leagues has been ratcheted up once again. At issue are Cricket Australia's demands for accreditation, which offended the likes of The Associated Press so much that the news outlet has pulled the plug on coverage. Since The Canadian Press relies on AP for news from abroad, that means Canadian newspapers are part of the boycott, which also includes Reuters and Agence France-Press.

``The AP would be our normal provider of such coverage and we have not looked to alternate sources," Canadian Press sports editor Neil Davidson told The Star. ``The issues that concern The Associated Press also trouble us, so we respect and support their stand."

If this story sounds familiar, the news agencies boycotted the 2008-09 Australian cricket series involving South Africa and New Zealand.

In short, Cricket Australia has demanded the right to see the news agencies' list of clients in case it wants to deny photos and news to any newspaper it deems unworthy. It also wants limits on the use of text and photos on newspaper web sites.

The agencies, rightfully so, declined to comply. If news providers start knuckling under to these kinds of demands, they'll find themselves on the slippery slope to oblivion.

So, if you want results, you pretty much have to go online or -- and this is pertinent -- go to the Cricket Australia website.

While this may seem irrelevant to all but cricket fans in North America, the fact is that there's an uneasy truce in this part of the world over restrictions on the coverage of hockey, baseball, football and basketball. But a battle over who gets to show what isn't far off.

CP, and member newspapers such as The Star, haven't signed agreements with the NHL, NBA or Major League Baseball because they can't agree to limitations on coverage -- specifically on what's allowed to be posted on web sites.

``The Canadian Press has never signed a sports credential that would prevent us from carrying out what we feel is our traditional and legitimate right to cover a sports team," says CP editor-in-chief Scott White. ``We think it's wrong for a league to say we can do whatever we want in print, but for digital reporting and newsgathering, there are certain restrictions."

The leagues haven't banned anybody from covering games and, frankly, there's not much chance they ever will because they're not dumb enough to cut off all the free publicity the mainstream media provide. But they aren't likely to bend far on what they see as an invasion of their turf.

The leagues make big bucks off their web sites -- MLB brings in $400 million U.S. every year from its web operations -- and don't want anyone treading on their territory. That's bunk, says White.

``I would strongly suggest any coverage by traditional media only drives traffic to the `official' sites because fans are sophisticated enough to know there are different types of information on a team site vs. a news site," he says. ``Fans want both."

But they also would love some day to be the sole source of sports highlights, video, photos and news. Kudos to those trying to fight that.

THE NUMBERS GAME: Last week's Buffalo Bills game in Toronto fared well for Rogers Sportsnet, with an average audience of 524,000 tuning in to what was a pretty dull exhibition of football. ... Monday's Thrashers-Leafs game pulled in 711,000 to Sportsnet, outpointing Monday Night Football on TSN by 140,000 viewers.v

Comments

[Josh]

Chris - something that sort of ties in with this is Olympic coverage. I've always wondered: what leverage does the IOC (or COC, or whichever country's equivalent body) have to enforce the embargo that keeps non-rights holding broadcasters from airing same-day highlights during the Olympics?

Is it just a fear that if Global, say, ever decided to bid for broadcasting rights, they'd get shut out on account of having crossed the IOC, or is there a legal issue of some sort? And if it's just a fear that they'd never see Olympic rights themselves, why do (for example) The Score, or CNN - two outlets that are unlikely to ever be broadcasting the games - comply?

And if there's a legal issue, why don't broadcasters of the Super Bowl, for example, press for the same sort of embargo? If I was running CBS and I thought I could push the ratings even higher by virtue of being *the only place* to get Super Bowl highlights for the first 24 hours after the event, I know I sure would do that.

[brent upshaw]

I find it funn you bring this up... because as a CFL... I notice how almost every media outlit in this entire country tries to slag the CFL. There are many personal agenda's like Stephen Brunt who desprately wants to be an American and wants an NFL team in Canada.
However. you get many corporations who purposely slag the CFL like Rogers Sportsnet. They'll will actually show NFL highlights before CFL hilights because they carry NFL games..plus the whole Bills fiasco.
The Score actually showed the Titan highlights before the Grey Cup highlights last week. That decision makes so much sence considering the Titans will miss the playoffs and the game drew less then 10% the audience the Grey Cup did in this country.
Quite frankly.. the only media in Canada to give the CFL the coverage iot deserves (according to your ratings numbers here) is TSN and that is simply because they have exclusive rights for the CFL. At the same time TSN and it's parent company CTV brodcast NFL games so it's not like TSN is neglecting the NFL.
What ends up happening is most people in Canada just assume that the NFL has more of a following in Canada then the CFL...
I have actually had to show people your website to prove that theCFL gets comparible if not better ratings then the mighty NFL.
People talk about the NFL's slick marketing machine.... The reality is that the NFL does not have to do any slick marketing... Canada is full of media outlits like The Score and The Globe and Mail that make the NFL seem bigger then it really is in this country... We also have litterally a dozen reporters who are more then willing to slag the CFL. Even some reporters who work on CFL broadcasts like Dave Naylor and Dave Hodge are willing to throw the CFL under the bus the first chance they get...
It really is amazing that against all of this negative press that the CFL is as successful as it is...
Could anyone imagine if medi outlets in this country followed your ratings to judge how much coverage to give specific sports in this country... For one..you would see alot less hockey in the newspaper... you would see alot less TFC and Raptors for sure... You would actually see alot more curling and figure skating coverage...
Your right though... Now that newspapers are married to TV channels... we only get the sports that they want us to see...
mainly NHL since CBC,TSN, and Rogers all carry the NHL... We see lots of NFL for the same reason but instead of CBC it is CTV.... We get lots of Blow Jays because of the same reason. However when it comes to the CFL we get diddly...
This all begs the question? Are Brunt,Naylor,Cox, Perkins,Simmons,Mendes,Houston, etc all right and the CFL is truely a dieing sport and Basketball,MLS, and above all the NFL going to run roughshod over this country?
... Or are the six million who watched the Grey Cup (sitting their laughing at the 1.5 million who watched the MLS Cup (Canada and US combined)while CBC toils with a quarter million who watch the Raptors) right?
If you tune into just about any TV station in Canada or read almost any newspaper in Canada.... Minority rules......
Man is Canada ever a strange and very pathetic country...........

[Mullah_Kintyre]

Has the Bills arrangement with Rogers backfired on them in another sense, in that most Bills games are on Sundays at 1PM, and CFTO (CTV Toronto) has recently stopped carrying Bills games? This Sunday will be the third straight time that a Bills 1PM game is ignored by CTV. I know they're a losing team, but in the past that has not stopped CTV (or previously Global) in Toronto from carrying the Bills. And BTW, this Sunday CTV is also ignoring the Seattle Seahawks, who they similarly have almost always carried in B.C., and CTV is also not showing the New England Patriots in Atlantic Canada (although the Pats game will be on CTV Montreal). Whatever the reason, I'm hoping this trend of giving us another choice continues. Most in the GTA can watch the Buffalo stations if they want to see the Bills.

[H]

There is a huge NFL following in Canada...and to compare CFL vs NFL ratings is ridiculous..it's not apples vs apples. There are no Canadian teams in the NFL, so you're never going to have a home or away audience....The fact that there are so many people watching the NFL is amazing in itself.

[brent upshaw]

So I guess the 875000 people who watched the Grey Cup in the Golden Horseshoe all had the Als or the Riders as their favorite team.
Are you trying to say that more people would suddenly start watching the NFL in Canada if Toronto got a team.
Toronto got an NBA team and their ratings are still minicule..... same as TFC... TFC has actually had more fans watch their games in person then on The Score nationwide.Yes the Score drew 16000 viewers for a TFC game in 2008.
NFL support would remain relatively the same in Canada if Toronto ever got a team.
The Toronto games would probablly bring in over 1 million viewers.. However they would simply be stealing viewers from other NFL telecasts. Thus the games not involving Toronto would actually see a decrease in viewership.

[brent upshaw]

There are no NFL team in Los Angles for the same reason... People are still watching despite the fact that they do not have a team.
If people in LA were tuning out because they had no home team.... The NFL would of stuck a team in a high school stadium if it meant they could get back those viewers.You are talking about 10% of the entire American population.