CBC Sports
CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-language Radio-Canada network also produces sports programming.)
| Division of | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
|---|---|
| Owner | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| Key people | Chris Wilson, Executive Director |
| Headquarters | Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Ontario |
| Major broadcasting contracts | Hockey Night in Canada (controlled by Rogers Media beginning 2014) Olympics IAAF Golden League Grand Slam of Curling |
| Official website | cbcsports |
Once the country's dominant sports broadcaster, in recent years it has lost many of its past signature properties – such as the Canadian Football League, Toronto Blue Jays baseball, Canadian Curling Association championships, the Olympic Games for a period, the FIFA World Cup, and the National Hockey League – to the cable specialty channels TSN and Sportsnet. The CBC has maintained partial rights to the NHL as part of a sub-licensing agreement with current rightsholder Rogers Media (maintaining the Saturday-night Hockey Night in Canada and playoff coverage), although this coverage is produced by Sportsnet, as opposed to the CBC itself as was the case in the past.
As a result of funding reductions from the federal government, increased costs for licensing, and decreased revenues, in April 2014, the CBC announced it would no longer bid for professional sports broadcasting rights.[1] The CBC has since used its digital platforms to provide overflow coverage of events not on television, and simulcasts of television coverage. Since then, the CBC's in-house sports coverage has been largely focused on Olympic sports, other domestic amateur and semi-professional competitions such as the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), along with coverage of Spruce Meadows' show jumping competitions.
The majority of CBC Television's sports coverage is broadcast on weekend afternoons, under the blanket title CBC Sports Presents (formerly Road to the Olympic Games from 2015 to 2022, and CBC Sports Weekend prior to 2015).[2][3] CBC Sports also streams all of its programming, as well as other event coverage not shown on television, via its website and digital platforms.
Former CEO of Curling Canada Greg Stremlaw was the head of CBC Sports from April 10, 2015[4][2] to January, 2019.[5]
Sports properties edit
Current/upcoming edit
Olympics and Pan Am
Hockey
- National Hockey League - Hockey Night in Canada (1952–present)
- Produced by Sportsnet (Rogers Sports & Media) since the 2014-15 season under a sub-licensing deal.
- Weekly Saturday night doubleheader and at least one playoff game each night a playoff game is played.
- Canadian Hockey League (2021–present)
- Early-season weekend games across its constituent leagues.
- Additional streaming regular-season games.[6]
- U Sports Hockey[7]
Alpine Skiing
- FIS World Cup races[needs update]
Baseball
Curling
- Grand Slam of Curling (weekend coverage of selected events) - 2007–present
Cricket
- Global T20 Canada[9]
- All matches streaming (2023–), championship match on CBC Television.
Equine sports
Figure Skating
- World Figure Skating Championships and other International Skating Union competitions, excluding domestic events (rights owned by TSN)
Football
- Vanier Cup - beginning with the 55th (2019) edition[10]
- U Sports Football[11]
Rugby
- Toronto Wolfpack[12] (streaming)
Track & Field
Other Sports
Past properties edit
Hockey
- AHL on CBC – 10 games during the 2010–11 season
Horse racing
Soccer
- Major League Soccer - Toronto FC and MLS Cup (2007–2010)[15]
- 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup
- FIFA World Cup (1954–2014)
- CONCACAF Canadian Championship (2008) - Most games show live on bold, then on tape delay on CBC.
- Canadian Premier League – 20 games (10 streaming only).[16]
Baseball
- Major League Baseball
- Major League Baseball on CBC - (1953–2008)
- Toronto Blue Jays - 1977–1980, 1992–2002, 2007–2008
- Montreal Expos - 1969–1989
- All-Star Game/Postseason/World Series - 1969–1996
- Major League Baseball on CBC - (1953–2008)
Multi-sports competitions
- Olympics on CBC
- Summer Olympics - 1956–2008, 2016, 2020
- Summer Paralympics - 2004, 2008, 2016
- Winter Olympics - 1956–2006, 2014, 2018, 2022
- 1999 Pan American Games - (sublicenced to TSN)
- 2015 Pan American Games/2015 Parapan American Games - (soccer sublicensed to Sportsnet)
- 2019 Pan American Games/2019 Parapan American Games (streaming only)
- 2023 Pan American Games/2023 Parapan American Games (streaming only)
- 2017 North American Indigenous Games[17]
Basketball
- National Basketball Association
- Canadian Elite Basketball League
- All games streaming (2019–2022), 7 regular-season games and the championship game on CBC Television (2020–2022)[19]
Football
Figure Skating
Curling
- Cross Canada Curling - 1961–1965
- CBC Championship Curling - 1966–1972
- CBC Curling Classic - 1973–1979
- Canadian Curling Association - 1961–2008
Canoe Sprint
Tennis
- Rogers Cup (Semi-finals and finals through 2015)[20]
Notable personalities (past and present) edit
- Ernie Afaganis
- Steve Armitage
- David Archer
- John Badham
- Leo Cahill
- Cassie Campbell-Pascall
- Don Chevrier
- Don Cherry
- Bob Cole
- Ward Cornell
- James Curry
- Chris Cuthbert
- Keith Dancy
- John Davidson
- Jason de Vos
- Gary Dornhoefer
- Steve Douglas
- Don Duguid
- Terry Evanshen
- Darren Flutie
- Greg Frers
- Elliotte Friedman
- Tom Harrington
- Foster Hewitt
- Kelly Hrudey
- Joe Galat
- Danny Gallivan
- Bob Goldham
- Mike Harris
- Bill Hewitt
- Dave Hodge
- Jim Hughson
- Dick Irvin Jr.
- Brenda Irving
- Russ Jackson
- Colleen Jones
- Khari Jones
- Dan Kelly
- Danny Kepley
- Ron Lancaster
- Mark Lee
- Ron MacLean
- Jeff Marek
- Norm Marshall
- Doug Maxwell
- Joan McCusker
- Brian McFarlane
- Wes McKnight
- Mike Milbury
- Greg Millen
- Gord Miller
- Sean Millington
- Howie Meeker
- Bob Moir
- Harry Neale
- Scott Oake
- Mitch Peacock
- Andi Petrillo
- Bruce Rainnie
- Mickey Redmond
- Chico Resch
- Ted Reynolds
- Frank Rigney
- Jim Robson
- Paul Romanuk
- Scott Russell
- Sandra Schmirler
- Craig Simpson
- P.J. Stock
- Glen Suitor
- Eric Tillman
- Alex Trebek
- Chris Walby
- Jack Wells
- John Wells
- Brian Williams
- Don Wittman
Directors edit
- Gordon Craig (1975–1977)
- John Hudson (1977–1980)[21]
- Ron Devion (1980–1982)
- Denis Harvey (1982–1983)
- Don MacPherson (1984–1988)[22]
- Arthur Smith (1988–1990)
- Alan Clark (1990 – December 8, 1999)
- Nancy Lee (December 9, 1999 – February 28, 2007)[23]
- Scott Moore (March 1, 2007 – April 3, 2011)[24]
- Jeffrey Orridge (April 4, 2011 – April 9, 2015)
- Greg Stremlaw (April 10, 2015 – January, 2019)
- Chris Wilson (July 2, 2019 – present)[25]
Hall of Fame edit
CBC Sports Hall of Fame recognizes those broadcasters of CBC Sports who have made a unique and lasting contribution to CBC and to the sports broadcasting industry.[26]
- Ernie Afaganis
- Don E. Brown
- Alan Clark
- Gordon Craig
- Margaret Davis
- Tom Fisk
- Danny Gallivan
- Geoff Gowan
- Foster Hewitt
- Dick Irvin Jr.
- Terry Leibel
- Joan Mead
- Howie Meeker
- Bob Moir
- George Retzlaff
- Ted Reynolds
- Fred Sgambatti
- Jim Thompson
- Fred Walker
- Don Wittman
Proposed CBC SportsPlus channel edit
In 2008, the CBC received CRTC approval for a sports specialty channel, "CBC SportsPlus", which would have aired a mix of amateur and professional sports. The application was controversial, with CTVglobemedia, Rogers Media, and The Score among others filing interventions against the channel for being unduly competitive with existing sports channels (therefore violating the CRTC's then-policy of genre protection among specialty channels). They showed particular concern for the CBC stating that it planned to devote 75% of its programming to professional sports. The CRTC approved the license application, but restricted it to only devoting 30% of its schedule per-week to professional sports, with only 10% of this quota allowed to be devoted to "professional stick and/or ball sports".[27][28]
The channel, however, never launched.
References edit
- ^ "CBC to cut 657 jobs, will no longer compete for professional sports rights". CBC News. April 10, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
- ^ a b "CBC Sports launches Road to the Olympic Games". CBC Sports. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ CBC Public Relations (October 20, 2022). "CBC SPORTS TO PROVIDE EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE ISU GRAND PRIX OF FIGURE SKATING SEASON, BEGINNING OCTOBER 21". Retrieved July 7, 2023.
CBC SPORTS PRESENTS will be live on location to provide broadcast coverage on CBC TV and CBC Gem.
- ^ . CBC.ca. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ^ "'Opportunity knocks': Greg Stremlaw leaves CBC Sports for United Soccer League". CBC.
- ^ "Canadian Hockey League announces new multi-year broadcast partnerships". CHL. July 21, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
- ^ "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ "CBC Sports to showcase Canada's Little League Baseball". CBC Sports. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
- ^ Mann, Colin (July 25, 2023). "CBC Sports airs Global T20 Canada". Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ^ "CBC to broadcast 2019 Vanier Cup" (Press release). 3downnation.com. November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
- ^ "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ "CBC Sports, Toronto Wolfpack announce broadcast agreement". CBC Sports. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
- ^ "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ "CBC signs broadcast deal with Toronto FC". CBC News. April 11, 2007. from the original on April 4, 2023.
- ^ "CBC Sports, Mediapro Canada partner to provide 20-game package of CPL season". CanPL.ca. April 18, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
- ^ "CBC/Radio-Canada premier media partner of 2017 North American Indigenous Games". CBC Sports. January 20, 2017.
- ^ "CBC Sports signs broadcast deal with Raptors". CBC News. August 1, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
- ^ "Year-old Canadian Elite Basketball League signs broadcast deal with CBC". Penticton Herald. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
- ^ "Rogers extends sponsorship of Rogers Cup". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
- ^ "Appointments". Cinema Canada. February 1977.
- ^ "Smith appointed new chief of CBC Television Sports". The Globe and Mail. July 22, 1988.
- ^ . Broadcaster. November 17, 2006. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
- ^ Kennedy, Brendan (November 10, 2010). "Shakeup in sports broadcasting". Toronto Star.
- ^ Rody, Bree (July 5, 2019). "CBC ups Chris Wilson to head sports". Media In Canada. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
- ^ . CBC News. September 27, 2010. Archived from the original on September 29, 2010.
- ^ "CBC's all-sports channel bid comes under fire". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
- ^ Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) (August 20, 2008). "Archived - CBC SportsPlus - Category 2 specialty service". crtc.gc.ca. Retrieved January 9, 2020.