CBC’s Pan Am programming is just odd
Coverage has a U.S. feel, with tape delays shown over live events
Bal Gosal was in the stands at Mattamy Athletic Centre on Monday night, taking in Canadian basketball history along with a full house of redand-white clad fans.
Unless you were in the building — like Canada’s minister of sport — or on your computer, though, there was no way to see Canada’s first Pan Am women’s hoops gold medal win take place live — even though it was happening just a few miles away from the headquarters of the host broadcaster, CBC.
For all the good things that have played out during the first 10 days of the event — big, loud crowds, outstanding Canadian performances and even surging television ratings — there is one clear downer — the inability of the Games to showcase many of its biggest events on live TV at home.
“I was surprised,” Gosal said outside the beach volleyball venue when asked about the fact there was no live TV of marquee events like the men’s baseball final on Sunday and the women’s basketball final on Monday.
“I would have liked to see more coverage. I thought there would be more coverage ... When I went to the Paralympics in London (in 2012), they were slated for very small coverage. Once they saw the ticket sales, once they saw the people, right away they increased coverage. That’s what I’d love to see in Canada, every amateur sport covered much more than it is right now.”
CBC won the right to broadcast the Pan Ams and serve as the host broadcaster in 2012. While a Pan Am spokesman said there were other bidders, it’s unclear just how much of a demand there was for an event that drew mostly negative headlines right up until the opening ceremony seemed to cause a turn in public perception. It’s reasonable to suggest many were caught off guard by just how much interest there has been in the Games.
At the time CBC won the bid, Jeffrey Orridge, then the executive director for sports for CBC English Services and now the CFL commissioner, said “As the host broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada will also bring the Pan/Parapan Am Games to the world, which positions us well for a revenue-positive outcome.”
A request to speak to Orridge through the CFL was not returned on Tuesday, but perhaps he’s right on his revenue theory. Yahoo Sports reported that the top three most watched sporting events last weekend came from the Pan Am Games.
That’s fine and dandy (and good for the bottom line), but at the end of the day CBC’s programming decisions are just odd. Baseball was an obvious big storyline — it was the No. 1 story at the Winnipeg Pan Ams in 1999 and Canada was defending its title this year. What’s more the final was an absolute thriller. And women’s basketball clearly is a team on the rise with the sport experiencing a boom in this country. The list goes on — go on Twitter and you’ll see communities from many sports complaining about the coverage.
“We knew we were not going to make everybody happy with every decision,” said Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs for CBC. “We’ve provided more coverage than ever before (for a Pan Am Games) and it’s been a huge success.”
Money, of course, is a factor. CBC has been rocked by cuts in recent years, including heavy hits in its sports department. Thompson confirmed that the budget for the Pan Ams is “significantly lower” than CBC’s budget for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games or the 2016 Rio Summer Games.
But this matters not to Joe Sporting Fan, in this era of ever-expanding sports television coverage. TSN has five channels, Rogers Sportsnet has six, and yet two Canada-U.S.A. showdowns for gold in big sports in this country can’t find a place on live television.
CBC does have a deal to show several Pan Am soccer games on Sportsnet. Why soccer?
“With soccer having such broad appeal in Canada, that decision was made some time ago,” Thompson said.
It’s unclear if TSN or Sportsnet could have picked up other sports.
A Sportsnet spokesperson referred all Pan Am questions to CBC. When asked if his network was interested in the Games, TSN spokesman Greg McIsaac said “I can confirm that we did have discussions on the Games, but we knew our focus this summer was going to be on the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015.”
TSN and its partner networks showed every single minute of every single game of the World Cup this summer. While CBC has twice boosted Pan Am coverage since the event started, it is not the extensive multisport Games coverage we are used to as Canadians. It feels a bit like the American treatment, where tape-delays and canned features are often shown over live events.
During the women’s basketball final on Monday, CBC aired a taped documentary on the Canadian team.