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Broadcasters cut down on amateur hours
TheStar.com - Sports - Broadcasters cut down on amateur hours
July 20, 2007 Chris Zelkovich
Members of Canada's Pan Am Games gymnastics team were talking with some TV production people in Rio de Janeiro this week and were thrilled to learn that many of them were Canadians.
But their excitement didn't last long when they learned that none of their work, and none of the athletes' performances, would be seen back home.
Not only is there no event coverage here, highlights on the nightly sports shows have been almost non-existent.
This comes on the heels of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which received two 30-minute highlight packages a day after years of blanket coverage on CBC.
It's a trend that has amateur athletes and fans of amateur sports more than a little concerned. And so they should be.
The issue with the Pan Ams is a matter of economics combined with a poor selling job by Games officials.
CBC points to the low ratings the Games mustered last time around (121,000 during the day and 94,000 at 11:30 p.m.) combined with the fact that only two of this year's Pan Am events are Olympic qualifiers.
``We support amateur sport as much as we can and try to give it as much exposure as possible, but when you couple the costs of rights production with those kind of ratings it doesn't make much economic sense," says CBC Sports executive director Scott Moore.
Moore said CBC tried to get rights to some of the women's soccer games, since that tournament is an Olympic qualifier, it was told that partial packages weren't available. It was all or nothing.
The highlights situation is a strange one. The Score and Rogers Sportsnet say they haven't seen any on their services. Thanks to its relationship with ESPN, TSN has aired some but that's been rather limited since only a handful have featured Canadians.
The Pan Ams don't have a great TV history; there was no coverage available in 1991 and '95. But they fared quite well when Canada hosted them in 1999 and CBC paired with TSN to show 88 hours of competition.
But that, along with extensive Commonwealth Games coverage, appears to be a thing of the past.
The main culprit is a huge increase in rights fees for big-time sports. When CBC pays almost double the previous price for its NHL deal, something's got to give.
``Rights for major sports have gone up so much in the past decade, there's very little left for amateur sports," says TSN president Phil King.
But isn't that where the CBC should be stepping in, airing sports that lose money but boost our amateur athletes? Isn't this part of the CBC's mandate?
Apparently not. With all the government funding cuts, the CBC has turned to big-time sports as its lone cash cow. If it doesn't make money, odds are it's not going to get much camera time.
There is some hope for the future. Moore says the CBC is interested in providing more coverage from the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which makes sense considering it won't have the Olympics then.
But there's little doubt that the days of mass coverage for amateur sports are probably gone.
NO BECKHAM: If you want to see how David Beckham fares in his L.A. debut tomorrow night, you'll have to wait for the late-night highlights. The game's on ESPN2 in the U.S., but no Canadian network decided to pick it up. ... While there's less amateur sports coverage, there's never a shortage of hockey games on TV. Now there will be more. TSN, Sportsnet and RDS have teamed up to make sure nobody misses a game of the Canada-Russia junior hockey challenge Aug. 27 to Sept. 9.

czelkov@thestar.ca

Comment: One would think that the sports/teams that can qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics might get some attention from the COC. After all, if Canada is trying to get more athletes to the podium, then the Olympic Committee needs to get behind them when they have a first-chance to qualify. After all, those that don't qualify at the PAG will have a long, rocky and trying road to Beijing.

Come on, COC, help these athletes get some of the spotlight!