Football: Fewer games on The Score in '09

Being on vacation means being way late to the game on sports news — anything happening with my Minnesota Vikings, by the way? — so everyone has heard The Score's University Rush schedule (Laurier-Western, Laurier-Waterloo and Western-Guelph in Weeks 2-4 of the OUA season).

There are some traces of how the network's recent cuts have affected coverage. The Score is taking a pass on the Oct. 10 Thanksgiving weekend, leaving a two-week gap which could lead to losing some of the audience. Viewers don't make plans two weeks in advance. Bottom line,

Airing the Sept. 19 Laurier-Waterloo game was a good choice. There is another rivalry game that day between Queen's and Ottawa, which have met in the playoffs two of the past three seasons. Granted, Waterloo is closer than Ottawa, so you know who wins there.

The country cousins in Eastern Ontario teams will probably get on the air at some point. McMaster-Western and Ottawa-Laurier are each good options for Oct. 3. Western-Queen's is the best game on Oct. 17, while Queen's-Laurier in the final week could be a good one.

This is not a complaint. It's more about understanding the reality of the situation. The point is it's tough to build a brand when one's TV partner is feeling a financial pinch.
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5 comments:

  1. The Score is also still following its policy of not doing week 1. Too bad as they could have shown a rematch of last years Yates finalists with Western@Ottawa. It would have been a good way to grab attention for the whole season of the OUA on The Score.

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  2. I find it slightly odd why this continues considering The Score seems to use the games as more weekend filler than actual content. If either party were serious about the actual games being played I'd have to think the OUA would find a new partner or The Score would make more of an effort to show more good content. Just my thought on that.

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  3. Can someone please describe specifically the CIS marketing plan (part of which is the strategy for television/media but a bigger part of which should be a strategy that helps the network solve these perceived financial pinches as it pertains to carrying their sport) and who is responsible for delivery/executing on it. Further to which person/committee is that individual accountable to. I think these are simple questions but "simple" can have different definitions depending upon who uses the word.

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  4. Re: Above

    All that info can be found on the CIS website under About CIS. I'm not really sure what their marketing plan would be though. The most I've ever seen from them as far as marketing goes is those 30 second spots on The Score that say what a great thing the CIS is, and why all athletes should be a part of it. Not really marketing so much as just trying to attract more students, which I think is kind of futile given that they can just flip a channel and see 6 different NCAA spots at any given time. That being said, this all falls under the responsibility of Marg McGregor the CIS CEO who, under their job description on the CIS website, has 'Strategic Plan - Big Picture - Vision' as a responsibility. I one day hope to put this on a business card.

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  5. It does not surprise me a steady dose of Western will be show. Arguably, with the most alumni in Canada and a "brand name" similiar to Notre Dame...Western Mac homecoming, Western at Queens will be shown...book it!

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