Canadian Interuniversity Sport: CIS could fill NHL's shoes
Ross Prusakowski, The Peak
As the National Hockey League gears up for a labour stoppage that will probably wipe out its entire season, almost every TV station in Canada - and ESPN 9 in the United States - is in danger of losing a significant portion of its programming.
TSN, CBC, and Sportsnet all carry a massive number of hockey games every year, and even a month without hockey would put a huge dent in their schedules.
If the lockout stretches for any extended length of time, viewers may be forced to endure hours of darts, poker, and other pseudo-sports in place of the usual hockey action. But, this need not be the case. There is a perfectly good sports product in this country that is going unnoticed by far too many people.
Canadian Interuniversity Sport features quick, energetic, and entertaining games - yet on a good night it draws as many fans as an A-League soccer game, and even less media coverage.
CIS hockey or football would be a perfect TV fill-in during the lockout. Unlike the 82-game NHL season, where the great majority of matches end up being essentially meaningless, the shorter CIS schedules - as few as eight games, in some cases - guarantee that most games have some importance. And it shows in the effort of the players, who always provide rousing matches that give the fans more than their money's worth.
Indeed, the passion of these games is hard to match; the athletes are playing for each other and for school pride, rather than for massive sums of money.
TV networks are already exploring the airing of Canadian Hockey League and American Hockey League games to fill the NHL's void. Unfortunately, while these are both quality leagues, they don't have much of a connection to fans, nor do they have much on which to base a connection. Many major centres lack a CHL team, while the AHL is primarily an eastern-based league.
CIS, on the other hand, has 50 member schools across Canada and at least one in every major city. Most Canadians either have a university in their area or have attended one, offering natural allegiances to potential fans. All across the country, there are pre-existing rivalries between teams and cities that are ripe for promotional exploitation.
Already the CIS is growing in popularity, and, when given the opportunity to watch, people tune in. The TV ratings for football games and hockey championships have shown considerable growth over the last decade, and women's hockey ratings last spring were the best ever.
Increased TV coverage would allow fans to form stronger bonds with their teams and could only increase those championship ratings. And while it will likely never attract near the numbers that the NHL does, CIS sports could, with the right marketing, grow to become a solid television product throughout the school year. It just needs to be given a chance.
So this fall, while the millionaires picket, it will be the perfect time for some Canadian sports networks to take that chance on CIS, and thus provide excellent, entertaining content that will catch the attention of viewers.
Otherwise, fans will be faced with a long, discontented winter of lockout blues and nothing but bluffs, bull's eyes, and bus-pulling as far as the remote can see.
Canadian University Press