TFC, MLS on TSN

A big portion of the broadcasting schedule for TFC games was released today, with TSN announcing a committment to show 24 MLS games nationally in 2011, the first year of a 6 year deal, 13 of which will be TFC games.  Here's the list of TFC games:

Sat March 19, at Vancouver
Sat March 26, Portland
Sat April 2, Chivas USA
Sat June 4, Kansas City
Wed June 15, at New England
Wed June 29, Vancouver
Wed July 6, at New York
Wed July 20, FC Dallas
Sat Aug. 6, at D.C. United
Sat Sept. 17, Colorado
Sat Oct. 1, New York
Sat Oct. 15, Philadelphia
Sat Oct. 22, New England

Other games will be televised regionally, presumably on GOLTV or one of Sportsnet's regional channels.

So, the first thing that jumps out is that it's fairly easy to figure out when the NHL playoffs are on, as there's a big 2 month gap from April to June.  Putting such snideness aside though, hopefully this means that TSN will be paying more attention to North American soccer than it usually does, the fact that all TFC's games and most of Vancouver's are on the main TSN channel rather than TSN2 is a positive sign.  TSN generally doesn't buy up broadcasting rights and then let them wither quietly, their promotion of the CFL and the Hockey World Junior Championship has played a large part in the popularity of those events, leading to strong ratings, so it would make sense that they follow a similar model with their MLS games, which can only be a good thing.

"This is a long term partnership with MLS and we are looking forward to working with them not only to give fans 'best in class' game coverage but also to help build the profile of the league and grow the game of soccer across the country."

That quote from Stewart Johnston, president of TSN, is very encouraging that they'll be doing what they can to boost ratings over that 6 year period, which can only be a good thing for Canadian fans.  A quick look at their website however, suggests there's a long way to go for them. Here's their soccer page.  It has the story linked above on there now, making it look better than it usually is, it's very sporadically updated, and focussed mainly on European stuff, with their Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps sections tucked away down in the bottom corner.

The TFC section starts with this picture, which even after the immediate ugh effect that seeing Tom Anselmi front and centre has on me, is a hilariously bad picture, with everyone's head's partially cropped out.



This is followed by the following blurb;

With a new manager and head coach, Toronto FC enters their fifth MLS campaign in search of the first playoff berth in franchise history.

Then there's links to the 2010 MLS schedule and standings and, TFC roster (warning: if you've successfully blanked thoughts of Nick Garcia, Raivas Hscanovics and others out of your mind, don't click the link) and that's it!  Using the search function does actually bring up plenty of Toronto FC articles, so it's not all bad, though they are mainly Canadian Press or Associated Press articles.

It doesn't suggest a great passion for football, but I doubt many Canadians will really care about their motives, if their thirst for ratings means they can raise the profile of MLS as much as they did with the CFL, that will be a very good thing.