Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
I agree, it did feel like it was gaining a bit of prominence for a while but it has since slipped a bit. In these parts Calgary and Edmonton don't draw as well as they used to, and Vancouver has moved right out of the city into deep suburbia.
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I was reading something recently about the popuarity of USports football programs as they related to CFL markets (IE, the most supported USports programs for football were located in markets that didn't have CFL teams) and the same can essentially be said for CHL teams vis-a-vis NHL teams. Think of all of the strongest, most supported CHL teams and they're not in NHL markets - London, Halifax, Kitchener, Quebec City, Kelowna, Kamloops. You'd think there would naturally be enough hockey fans in our major cities but all of that support is soaked up by NHL teams. Once you remove major markets like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, it's a tough sell for broadcasters and advertisers. With all do respect to Oshawa, Blainville, and Langley, none of these places are in the major cities.
I agree that the CHL should probably get better coverage and more support from broadcasters but it's a chicken and egg scenario, same as it is for USports and to a lesser degree the CFL. If nobody cares about the product, relatively-speaking, then what's the point in covering it? What's the point in covering it if nobody cares about the product? etc. etc. We can dislike Leafs coverage as much as we like but we can't deny that they lead and garner the most views and clicks relative to any other team in this country.
It's clear that TSN will be pushing CHL coverage and specific players to lead-in to its U20s and NHL Draft coverage, which of course makes sense, but for the rest of the games they can only show Prince George and Rimouski nationally so many times for audience capture.
It may be hindsight, but I recall TSN doing nightly highlights for when Crosby was playing in Rimouski, and (I haven't been doing much watching recently) i'm fairly certain they did that for McDavid in Erie and are doing it now for Wright in Kingston. I don't really expect them to show highlights of
every CHL game (there's a lot of them!) but the occasional one or two is fine.