2016 Hamilton at Toronto Week 1, Depth Chart

Ticats as they have for a number of years go with two American offensive tackles, Simmons and Lewis. I fully expect other Americans to play those two positions as the year progresses. Dyakowski and Bomben are again the guards and Filer is at centre, all Canadians.

Tolliver and Watt are the starting wideouts, with Watt being a non-import. Tasker, Owens and non-import Fantuz are listed as slotbacks. Gable is the running back, with Prime as the non-import fullback. So in the usual Ticat passing formation of one running back, plus five receivers, that's three starting Canadians on the offensive line plus two starting Canadian receivers, for a total of five Canadian starters on offense.

Masoli starts at quarterback, with Matthews backing up. Maher kicks and punts.

On the defensive line, Chick and Tracy are the starting ends. Nevis takes over Bryan Hall's import spot at defensive tackle with Atkinson playing in Ted Laurent's non-import spot. Gaydosh backs him up.

The starting linebackers all imports are the returning Lawrence and Murray, with Dean in the middle.

Corners are Tisdale and Pointer. Halfbacks are Sears Jr. and Davis. We'll see how long Sears goes uninjured. Non-import Stephen moves to the safety spot from cornerback with Daly backing him up.

Hamilton Ticat Defensive End Eric Norwood Put on Six Game Injury List Due to Household Accident

In a bit of a bizarre story, Eric Norwood was put on the six game injury list due to cutting himself at home. That's a bit of a blow to the Ticats considering their injuries already on the defensive line (Bulcke and Gaydosh). They have defensive end Justin Hickman, tackles Bryan Henry and Ted Laurent who are solid and combined with Norwood that would have a been a good starting front four despite the other injuries. Norwood had 13 sacks last year (and that wasn't in 18 games either) and one would assume that whoever replaces him won't have that production. Hopefully Hickman can produce from the other end spot.

2015 CFL Post Pre-Season Power Rankings

1. Calgary Stampeders
Wins both pre-season games, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell is looking good and they have Jon Cornish. The Stampeders didn't lose that many players in the off-season after winning the Grey Cup. Pretty much every other team in the CFL looks mediocre and with a lot of questions compared to Calgary.

2. Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Hamilton does have a lot of injury problems, with Spencer Watt and Linden Gaydosh gone in dual off-season Achilles Heel injuries. Gable and Grigsby are banged up at running back. Eric Norwood is injured as apparently is Luke Tasker. However the Cats do have Zac Collaros apparently healthy at quarterback and still have Bakari Grant, Andy Fantuz and Brandon Banks at receiver. The defensive line still has Justin Hickman, Ted Laurent and Brian Hall which is impressive, plus a good linebacking corps. Justin Medlock is a great kicker and an OK punter. Even more injuries to Canadians will definitely hurt the Cats, but for now they should be able to put together a good lineup.

3. Edmonton Eskimos
One could argue that the Eskimos should be ranked higher than the Ticats, but they will basically go as far as quarterback Mike Reilly will take them. The question is how long will Reilly stay healthy as he takes a beating when he plays. The Esks do have a great defensive end in Odell Willis that just makes the defence that much better overall. Nate Coehoorn is a non-import receiver that could be in for an excellent season, plus Adarius Bowman is a good slotback.

4. Saskatchewan Roughriders
With Darian Durant in at quarterback last year the Riders were great, without him they sucked. Durant's injury was somewhat curious so exactly how healthy he is this year is a good question. The Riders have a good roster besides the quarterback position, although they lost a few pieces like Ricky Foley. As long as Durant is healthy, the strong Rider running game can work and combined with their defence they are one of the better teams in the CFL.


5. BC Lions
Is quarterback Travis Lulay healthy. Can he stay healthy or will his shoulder spontaneously put out on an innocuous play in the season opener. I'm leaning towards spontaneously popping out in the first game. Wally Buono generally puts together a good roster (and generally doesn't have much sentimentality (see Paul Mccallum)), so the team won't be totally bad, but the team desperately needs a backup quarterback who is capable of succeeding Lulay. The combination of linebackers Bighill and Elmimian is one of the best in the CFL so the defence should be OK. Non-import running back Andrew Harris playing well is important.

6. Toronto Argonauts
This seems to be the beginning of the end of the Ricky Ray era in Argoland. He's on the six game list, so he can't really count towards this week's power rankings. The Trevor Harris era is beginning at quarterback and at least he looked good against the Alouettes in pre-season. Can Chad Owens stay healthy and make a connection with Harris? The rest of the Argo roster has suffered somewhat under David Braley's lame duck leadership, however GM Jim Barker has been a master at putting together decent teams despite this. The Argos might be better at the end of the season, but before week one they are not great.

7. Montreal Alouettes
Quarterback Jonathon Crompton didn't look good at all in the Als last pre-season game against Toronto. Former Hamilton backup Dan LeFevour looked considerably better, although I don't think the Alouettes have the stones to have him be the starter for the opening game. Personally I never thought Crompton's stats were all that great anyways; Montreal's late season success in 2014 was more about defence than anything Crompton did. Crompton also doesn't have Duron Carter to help him out anymore, although the Als still have SJ Green. One does wonder if signing Michael Sam was a good idea as the hoopla seemed to overshadow the team.

8. Winnipeg Blue Bombers
The Bombers didn't look good in their last pre-season game against Hamilton. Drew Willy didn't do much when he was at the controls and if he isn't successful, the Bombers will be terrible.

9. Ottawa REDBLACKs
The REDBLACKs looked awful in the first pre-season game in Hamilton and one has to wonder if after winning two games in 2014 if they will be awful again in 2015. The REDBLACKs did sign a bunch of receivers, however if they don't have any quarterbacking, that isn't going to matter. I watched the first pre-season game in person and Ottawa struck me as not having a lot of depth compared to Hamilton. Ottawa may well win three more games than last year but that would still be a five win season. 

Bakari Grant Success in 2015 Pre-Season A Sign of Regular Season Success

Receiver Bakari Grant, who the Ticats basically grudgingly resigned in 2015, has gone and had a great pre-season for Hamilton in 2015.

Grant had four catches for 73 yards in the first pre-season game against Ottawa and followed that up with five catches for 87 yards and a TD in the second pre-season game in Winnipeg. That's far more yards than any other Hamilton receiver in the pre-season. Of course not every receiver played in both games (Tasker didn't catch a single pass in the pre-season and Andy Fantuz only played in the second pre-season game).

With Luke Tasker possibly injured for the season opener in Calgary on Friday, Grant would end up as the top import receiver for the Cats. Grant had 58 catches for 58 catches for 605 yards and three TDs in 2014 and will be looking to exceed that in 2015.

One other player that had success in both pre-season games was former Hamilton Hurricane Matt Coates who had 2 catches for 43 yards a touchdown in the first pre-season game and 2 catches for 20 yards in the second game. Coates is in his second year with the Cats and likely will be Fantuz' backup and probably won't see the field a lot unless Fantuz is injured or the Cats suffer some severe ratio problems elsewhere. However Fantuz has been injured a lot in the past few seasons, so Coates will likely start a few games in 2015.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats versus Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2015 Pre-Season Half-Time

Ticats up  20 to 7.

Zach Collaros looked good and the Cats scored a lot of points in the first half. Collaros also got out uninjured giving way to Masoli. Bakari Grant had a great half after playing well in the first pre-season game too. Andy Fantuz also had some catches and some drops. Masoli was OK somewhat surprisingly.

Ray Holley had some good numbers at running back. 

The defence seemed to play well too.

Luke Tasker on Suspended List? Out For Game One?

Former Mac quarterback Marshal Ferguson is reporting on his Twitter feed that Ticat receiver Luke Tasker has been put on the suspended list. In pre-season this is often a scam for veteran players who are somewhat injured to not count against the roster when pre-season cuts are required.

So Tasker at least isn't on the six game list, but who knows if he will be healthy for game one.

No TSN Broadcast CFL Game for the Ticats in 2015

Tigercatatonia has always been enthused about broadcasting pre-season games. TSN already owns the rights, the question is whether the production costs are worth the ratings the game would get (or at least the ratings increase over what they would get with filler).

In previous years, TSN has broadcast varying numbers of games. For 2015, they are only broadcasting three games. The games shown are BC at Calgary, Saskatchewan at Edmonton, and Toronto at Montreal. So no games for the Tiger-Cats, nor Ottawa or Winnipeg.

In some ways I'm surprised that TSN doesn't broadcast both Saskatchewan games, considering how rabid their fans are and their relatively high disposable incomes. I'm sure the Saskatchewan game will be show on cable or something there and probably won't get a bad number.

For the Cats, at least the games will be broadcast on Cable 14 (I'm assuming).

I can understand in some ways TSN only doing three games. With three games they do get to practice for the regular season broadcasts and iron out the kinks. Plus there is only so much interest per team in pre-season. I'm sure Michael Sam will be a big deal for the Toronto Montreal game.

Incredibly Slow Concession Service at Canada England Women's Soccer Friendly at Tim Horton's Field

Attended the Canada England friendly last night at Tim Horton's Field, which was enjoyable and packed, and fortunately Canada won with the quintessential 1-0 soccer score.

One bad thing was the epically slow concession service. I realize this is the first game of the year, but if that happened during a Ticat game, people will be upset. In their defence though, the attendance was heavily tilted towards tween and teen girls so their concession orders were heavily favoured towards slow food orders rather than quick beer orders.

It didn't seem like the stands were understaffed, they just seemed really slow.

I'll be curious to see what service is like for the first pre-season game for the Ticats. The first regular season home game isn't until August, so hopefully things will be ironed out by then. 

I was able to get beer pretty easily from the staff roaming the seats selling beer so at least that was OK. Not a big fan of the 50 cent jump in price for a tall boy to $9.50 though. That's a 5.6% increase which is certainly more than Ontario's inflation rate. 

CHML Loses Ticat Rights to Bell TSN Radio 1150, End of the Fifth Quarter

News today that Bell is rebranding the old AM CKOC 1150 station to its TSN all sports brand with the centerpiece being the broadcast rights to the Ticats.

Obviously this is a blow for CHML (a Corus channel) which has carried and supported the Ticats for decades. I feel bad for Rick Zamperin and the rest of the CHML staff associated with the broadcasts. That includes Ted Michaels and the Fifth Quarter after the games. I'm guessing TSN 1150 will have their own after game show with a different name. One benefit for the Cats is that the after game show may well go on longer. Sometimes the Fifth Quarter seemed a bit truncated and there were times where I would have kept listening but CHML switched to some old radio serial. Hopefully now we will get several hours of after game coverage.

I'm wondering how easy it will be for the station to fill time. I would guess that there will end up being some rebroadcasting of TSN's Toronto radio station signal. However likely coverage of other Hamilton teams like the OHL's Bulldogs will be a big part of the station.

Probable Tiger-Cat Canadian Seven Starters in 2015

The Ticats like all CFL teams need seven Canadian starters. What seven will they choose in 2015?

With the trade for Bomben, the Ticats are likely going with three offensive home grown linemen. Dyakowski and Bomben at guard, and Filer at center. Perhaps O'Neill starts as a guard instead of Bomben.

Obviously Andy Fantuz while healthy starts at slot. This is where things get interesting. Last year they had Giguere as a second starting receiver. Former Hamilton Hurricane Matt Coates backed him up last year. This year maybe they could also potentially start Seydou Junior Haidara who they picked up in a trade with BC as a second Canadian receiver. That would mean the Cats would have five Canadian starters on offense. When the fullback Prime in, likely Haidara would come out and that would still leave them at five Canadian starters on offense. The Cats have some impressive import receivers and likely someone will emerge from camp, so Haidara may not start as a receiver and just play special teams.

Defensive starters are also interesting. In the CFL historically few Canadians have started on defence. The Cats last year had a lot of Canadian starters. Possibilities this year are defensive tackles Ted Laurent and Brian Bulcke as well as Craig Butler as safety and Courtney Stephen at cornerback. So that's four.

However for the defensive tackles with import Bryan Hall being so good only one might start. Plus former number overall Lynden Gaydosh is gone for the season. With him healthy, starting two Canadians in the middle might have made more sense.

Butler is likely a lock ans Stephen probably starts again. That's three starters on defense..

Potentially the Cats could go with the three on defense, plus the three offensive linemen, plus Andy Fantuz. If a Canadian goes down, they could always play both defensive tackles sending Hall to the bench. That's not a bad option to have.

Of course if Gaydosh and receiver Spencer Watt hadn't torn their Achille's heels before training camp, the Ticat non-imports would have been even stronger. But then they may have not traded for Bomben.

Bell and Tanenbaum to Buy Argos, 2016 Grey Cup Likely in Toronto Not Hamilton

TSN is reporting that Bell and Larry Tanenbaum from MLSE will likely but the Toronto Argonauts tomorrow. The deal appears to include the Argos hosting the 2016 Grey Cup:

"Bell is the majority owner of TSN, the exclusive television rights holder of the CFL.The deal includes the Argos hosting two Grey Cup games, including the 2016 CFL championship game.

Whether either or both of those games will be played at Rogers Centre or BMO Field is yet to be determined, with the possibility the 2016 game could coincide with the NHL staging its first Toronto outdoor game at BMO."

Hamilton looked like it had a chance to host the 2016 Grey Cup (the last time was in 1996) however this deal seems to trump it. Ottawa likely has the inside edge for hosting the 2017 due to the 150th anniversary of Canada. Would the league hold the Grey Cup three years in a row in Southern Ontario? I'm guessing no unfortunately.

Likely a lot of pissed off TFC fans.

Tiger-Cats Draft Less Interesting; Cats Trade Picks Including First Rounder for Alouette Offensive Lineman Ryan Bomben

Farhan Lalji has reported on Twitter that the Cats have traded their first and third round draft picks this year for Montreal offensive lineman Ryan Bomben (drafted in the fourth round out of Guelph).

Bomben appears to be mostly a backup, although he actually made some catches in 2011 and 2012.

Given that at times last year the Cats started three Americans on the offensive line, I'm not surprised the Cats wanted a lineman, I just figured they would draft one. After playing in the league for four years Bomben is closer to playing right now if they need him.

However the Ticat draft has become considerably less interesting.

Ticat Salary Cap Implications of Linden Gaydosh and Spencer Watt Achilles Injuries

Obviously have two good Canadian players lost for the whole season before training camp even starts isn't a good thing for the Ticats. Spencer Watt as a receiver being injured presents more of a problem. One assumes that Watt would take over from Sam Giguere as the second starting Canadian receiver after Andy Fantuz and would also likely start in the case of any Fantuz injuries (which certainly existed last season). After Watt (a former Argo), for Canadian receivers the Ticats have former Hamilton Hurricane Matt Coates who caught a few catches last year and likely will get a lot bigger of an opportunity.

Gaydosh's injury effects on the team is more muted, simply because the Ticats have two excellent Canadian defensive tackles in Brian Bulcke and Ted Laurent plus an awesome import in Bryan Hall. If the Cats were to sit Hall and go with Bulcke and Laurent as starters, Gaydosh (a first overall CFL draft pick in 2013) would have been a very useful backup. However the Cats likely will start Hall, so Gaydosh would have less playing time barring injuries. The Cats just have a lot of non-import defensive tackle talent and if they don't start two Canadians, it is pretty crowded. I was curious about what the Cats were going to do about the situation, but with Gaydosh now gone, it is now a non-issue.

With both players being out for the season, their salaries won't count against the salary cap. I don't know what Gaydosh signed for, but being on the second year of his first CFL contract, it probably wasn't a huge amount. Watt as a talented import receiver likely did receive a fair amount of money by CFL standards (although if I had to guess, slightly less than what Giguere got). The Gaydosh and Watt money is now available for other players, but since most of the free agents are picked over, there's not any obvious places to now spend it, as the new imports coming to camp usually have pretty small first contracts. The Cats now have some room to take on salary as part of a trade, although meaningful trades are rare in the CFL. Potentially the Cats will be in a position to sign some players that end up getting cut from other teams in training camp, especially if those players were cut because of another team's salary cap problems.

Ticats Release Nine Including Import Receiver Cary Koch

CHML just reported on their Twitter feed that the Ticats just released nine with the most noteworthy being Cary Koch. Koch signed as a free agent from Edmonton with the Ticats in 2014 and never was effective partially due to injuries. With other import receivers like Brandon Banks, Bakari Grant and Luke Tasker around plus who ever the Cats unearth this year, there aren't a lot of spots for import receivers (for non-import receivers with Spencer Watt's season ending injury, that's a different story).

Ottawa REDBLACKS Signs Former Ticat Receiver Chris Williams?

Judging by the Twitter feed of the Ottawa REDBLACKS, they've signed former Ticat receiver Chris Williams. Williams you recall went to the NFL after an acrimonious contract dispute with the Ticats, where Williams claimed he wasn't offered a minimum duration contract. Williams was able to go to the NFL after a legal decision, however the Ticats retained his CFL rights for 2013 and 2014. Williams was on the roster of the Saints and Bears.

This is an interesting signing by Ottawa. Williams had 1,298 yards receiving and 16 TDs in 2012 for the Cats. They've already significantly boosted their receiving corps, including the signing of former Ticat receiver, Greg Ellingson and Calgary's Brad Sinopoli. Plus Williams has played with former Ticat quarterback and current Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris, so there's some chemistry there. Plus Williams is an excellent kick and punt returner (1,117 yards in 2012).

I'm impressed. Even if all of Ottawa's receiver signings don't pan out, some of them will at least. I'm thinking of moving Ottawa up in my power rankings.

More Thoughts on the CFL's New Convert Rules

There's an opinion piece on SportNet's web site by Donnovan Bennett about the CFL's rule changes. To me the most interesting part of it is that it has stats on what the completion rate was for field goals from the new starting point:

"During the 2014 season, 99.4 percent of extra-point kicks were executed successfully while field-goal attempts from between 31 and 33 yards went through the uprights 81 percent of the time."

Assuming naively that would result in an average of 0.81 points for single point conversions versus the previous 0.994 points, that means that if the chance of making a two point convert from the three yard line is higher than 40.5% a team should always go for two barring end game situations.

Bennett does point out though that the field goal completion percentage for point afters will likely be higher than 81%:

"Add to that the fact that 81 percent isn’t a true metric when predicting “new extra point” success rates. Extra points will be kicked from the middle—not the wide hashmark the ball could be spotted on for a FG. Also, since there is no threat for a return, kickers don’t have to worry about drilling the ball through the end zone in case of a miss. Depending on which kicker you ask, that should improve the percentage of long extra points that are completed by another five to 10 percent."

Of course the completion percentage is probably less outside and highly weather dependent (and kicker dependent considering some of the mediocre kickers lately).  For the Cats this year with Medlock, 32 yard field goals aren't really a big deal for him.

I'm not sure what the league expects in terms of going for two. Teams going for two all the time? Humans psychologically don't really like losing what they have, even when the odds are in their favour which going for two may be. Plus going for two and not making it will likely bring opprobrium from television commentators and newspaper columnists who aren't really known for their sophisticated statistical skills.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers Make Money in 2014

I meant to post about Winnipeg's annual report when it came out, but I'm a bit late. Despite a bad season and not making the playoffs, the Bombers made money:

"Today the Winnipeg Football Club released its 2014 Annual Report and announced an overall operating profit of $3.9 Million – an increase of $1 Million from 2013. These solid results were due to revenue growth of 10.7%, as almost all of the Club’s significant revenue streams had positive increases in 2014, including double digit growth in corporate partnerships, suites, and concessions. Season ticket revenue and game day tickets, which make up total game revenue, continue to be the Club’s major revenue source at 37% of total operating revenue."

I wonder how much the Bombers great start contributed to these good numbers, as a 10.7% revenue increase is way above inflation. A lot of tickets were probably bought before the fans were aware the team was bad. Interesting that the ticket revenue is at 37%. That's obviously high compared to say an NFL team, but not bad. I will have to take a more detailed look at the report to see where merchandise sales are. I'm not sure whether the Bombers sell more merchandise than the Ticats or not.

Expenses increased to due to the higher salary cap:

"The increase in operating expenses relates to the focus on Football Operations where there was an increase of $735,000, due primarily to the new five year collective bargaining agreement with an increased salary cap, along with an increased emphasis on scouting and recruiting. In December 2014, the Club made its first scheduled payment of $4.5 Million to Triple B Stadium Inc., as a first payment on Investors Group Field."

The Bombers host the 2015 Grey Cup this year, which should produce an excellent 2015 in terms of revenue. If the Bombers actually have a great season it could be a remarkable year for revenue. However I wouldn't bet on the Bombers getting to Grey Cup 2015.

Still No Announcement for Grey Cup 2016 Site, Toronto the Holdup?

It seems pretty strange that no site has been announced for the 2016 Grey Cup which is basically 18 months away. I've argued in the past that Hamilton has a pretty good shot for it, with the new stadium. Ottawa looks to be the 2017 pick with the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

With the Toronto Argonauts still not sold, there were rumours that having three Grey Cups in ten years was a requirement for a buyer and it seems likely that this has something to do with the 2016 announcement, as 2016 would likely be one of the ten. That would be a blow to Hamilton's chances, as Toronto in 2016, Ottawa in 2017 and then Hamilton in 2018 would be three in a row for Ontario which would be a bit much.

Hamilton's 1996 Grey Cup, the last held in the city, wasn't super successful. However with Bob Young's ownership and the greater popularity of the event compared to 1996, and considerably more hotel rooms downtown, a 2016 Grey Cup would likely be a great success for the team and the city especially if the team is decent.

How long can the league go without naming where the 2016 event is? For an event as big as the Grey Cup, including all its ancillary events surrounding it, one would think that it pretty much has to be awarded at least 18 months in advance.

CFL Changes Convert Rules for 2015 Season; Good Teams Should Always Go For Two

So the CFL has now approved changes to the convert rules, as per this Canadian Press article. Kicked single point converts move to the 32 yard line instead of the 12. Going for two will now be from the three yard line rather than the five.

The Canadian press article had the factoid that 99.4% of single point converts were made in 2014. Obviously that's pretty boring from an information theory standpoint. Something that would be 50/50 would be optimally exciting. Too bad that they didn't include the information for what the percentage was for field goals from that distance was last year. It isn't really clear where the ball is lined up though. I'm assuming it is at the 25 yard line which results in a 32 yard field goal attempt.

A 32 yard field goal attempt is still pretty easy, although I suppose in horrendous weather it could be a problem, plus I'm sure the stats from last year for 32 yard attempts aren't 99.4% like converts. This should force more two point attempts, especially for teams that have good balanced offenses (especially if the quarterback isn't a pylon). I'm sure statistically, from the three, a team with a good offense (like the Cats should be this year) should always go for it. Right now a single point attempt statistically is worth 0.994 points and that should decline probably to around 0.9 points for a 32 yard kick. I'm not sure the percentage for converts from the five last year, but I have to think that from the three the percentage is around 50% which would be worth more than 0.9 points. We'll see what happens, but CFL teams are pretty conservative.

I'm a little disappointed that the three point convert attempt from ten yards wasn't tried out in the exhibition season. That's a pretty radical change though.

Vancouver Sun Article Comparing BC Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps

The Vancouver Sun has a good article comparing which team in BC is second to the Canucks in terms of popularity. As someone interested in the economics of the CFL I always find these articles interesting. Some interesting points:

"Nationally, only the $1.3-billion Toronto Maple Leafs and $1-billion Montreal Canadiens of the NHL plus the $920-million Toronto Raptors of the NBA and $870-million Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball are valued as bigger Canadian sport franchises by Forbes."

This was in reference to the Canucks, who are legitimately impressive (although they probably sell less merch than the Roughriders). I'm a little more surprised that the Raptors are worth slightly more than the Blue Jays. 

""The team’s high achievement over time is reflected in its related arena business, which sees Canucks Sports & Entertainment cashing in on the marketing of Rogers Arena as a concert and special-event hub. It is currently the second-biggest arena naming deal in Canada — and one of the top-10 in North America — at $6 million per year."

I'm especially interested in naming rights and $6 million per year isn't chump change (the Ticats naming rights are rumoured to be between $1 and $1.5 million per year).

"Now in their fifth season in Major League Soccer, the Whitecaps are pegged at about $70 million in franchise valuation. That’s almost three times the $27-million price tag accorded the Lions on the strength of their share of the new $40-million CFL television deal struck with TSN two years ago. The Whitecaps are playing before crowds averaging just a little under 21,000 at BC Place Stadium, renovated to the tune of $563 million in 2010-11, compared to about 28,000 for the Lions."

I'm wondering where the $70 million valuation for the Whitecaps comes from. I suppose part of it is they could potentially be moved to the US where maybe there's a floor for franchises. The television money from Canada can't be worth anything, while I'm not sure how much the US television contract is worth, although it is divided amongst a lot of teams. One problem is that with the Canadian dollar down, their player expenses are in US dollars while most of their revenue is in Canadian dollars. Plus while the salary cap in theory is low for the MLS, to compete a team has to splash a lot of money on franchise players (which Toronto FC did last year and still sucked). I can't imagine the Whitecaps are near profitable.

"as long as the CFL on TSN drives average national audiences north of 750,000 per game (including to between 350,000 and 400,000 across B.C. for Lions games). That kind of television platform is huge in an era in which sports sponsorship and advertising is still ratings driven, even in a largely gate-driven league such as the CFL.

 

The Lions hold a significant advantage over the Whitecaps in terms of average television audiences (about 700,000 to 140,000 in 2014). Those numbers will continue to skew in favour of the CFL as long as it has three times the number of Canadian markets (nine) as MLS (three). Every Lions game on TSN attracts viewers from the opposing market, along with hard-core CFL fans tuning in from other markets. On the other hand, only 15 per cent of the Whitecaps games on TSN are against Canadian opponents and the MLS is much more relevant in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal than it is in the CFL strongholds of Regina, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary."

This is a salient point I've made for a while, that CFL games are always against Canadian teams, while for the vast majority of MLS games, the Canadian teams play US opponents. That obviously hurts television audiences for which large ones are especially appealing for national advertisers who have money. And to be honest, I'm a little skeptical on the 140,000 number for the Whitecaps. I've never seen a Whitecaps number not against a Canadian opponent that high.

Anyways, the article is filled with a lot of interesting numbers including social media numbers. Definitely worth reading in its entirety.