CFL eyes wider fan base

Ain Calgary s a kid growing up in Peterborough, Ont., Ottawa Redblacks receiver Brad Sinopoli realized his mother Nancy was a bit of an outlier when it came to her passion for the pigskin.

“My mom was one of the biggest CFL fans that I’ve ever seen,” says Sinopoli, the most valuable Canadian in the 2016 Grey Cup. “And that was cool because at that time, there weren’t that many women and girls who were into it. And that’s a shame, because you don’t have to play the game to love it.”

The stereotypical CFL fan may be a white male over 50, but the league is expanding its push to sell the three-down game to fans in all demographics, including that of Mrs. Sinopoli.

A new marketing campaign called “Bring It In” launches Sunday with an invitation to all Canadians to join the proverbial huddle with the country’s 150th anniversary fast approaching.

“We’re not trying to be overly earnest in this,” says Christina Litz, the CFL’s senior vice-president of marketing and content. “This is just an exciting time to be part of the CFL and we want to make sure all of Canada knows that. “

The star of the CFL’s new TV spot is a 13-year-old girl who wanders by a pickup game of flag football. A teenage boy spots the young woman and invites her to join the fun.

She takes a handoff and breaks free for a touchdown that will no doubt be celebrated by young female viewers who have never seen a woman with a football in her hands on TV.

“When I was a kid, I was a huge Doug Flutie fan,” Sinopoli says. “I The star of the CFL’s new TV spot is a 13-year-old girl who wanders by a pickup game of flag football, and is invited to join the fun. loved Damon Allen when he was in Toronto. So I would just go outside and throw the football to whoever would catch it — my friends, my dad ... It’s great to see how the ad intertwines the professionals with kids playing on the playground. That was me as a kid.”

The league collaborated with advertising firm Bensimon Byrne to create a fast-moving TV spot.

“We were able to develop an idea that was essentially one large invitation to the entire country to experience all of what makes Canadian football so great,” says David Rosenberg at Bensimon Byrne. “We were able to leverage football vernacular — the idea of ‘bring it in’ being what you say when you’re huddling up essentially — and enlarge that phrase to invite the entire country this summer and fall to bring it in and have a good time watching Canadian football.”

The CFL is playing offence when it comes to attracting more women and millennials.

TV ratings jumped 3.5 per cent overall in 2016, but that number climbed eight per cent among viewers aged 18 to 49 and seven per cent among female viewers.

In terms of the valuable 18-to 34-year-old demographic, the brand analytics firm IMI International reports a five-per-cent jump in people identifying themselves as CFL fans. That represents the fastest growth rate of any pro sports league in that age group.

During the 2016 CFL regular season, 38 per cent of television viewers were women.

“We already have an incredibly diverse fan base,” Litz said. “Like every other league and every other sport, of course we’re looking to the next generation of fans.”

Litz sees the CFL huddle as a metaphor for Canada’s diversity. Some players are shifty and fast. Others are big and strong. Some were born here. Others moved from elsewhere to chase their dreams.

Regardless, they all belong.