Canadian Crossing

2014 CFL Week 10 preview

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats hope to play their Labour Day Classic on Labour Day at Tim Hortons Field.

Option 2 is to play the game in the new stadium on Tuesday. Option 3 is Tuesday at Rogers Centre. McMaster University isn't an option on Monday.

The hope is we get to see Tim Hortons Field, even if U.S. residents can only watch through ESPN3. Check out the Twitter feed for updates.

The Battle of Alberta is the late game on Labour Day. Both Calgary and Edmonton are 7-1.

We finally get some East on East action as we head into the Labour Day weekend. The Ottawa-Montréal rivalry makes its debut on Friday Night Football. This will be a good test to see how well the RedBlacks fans travel. The prelude to the Banjo Bowl in Regina will be on Sunday.

BC, with no natural rival, sits out on Labour Day. The Lions actually get a holiday.

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TSN

Friday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 7:30p
Sunday
Winnipeg @ Saskatchewan, 4p
Monday
Toronto @ Hamilton, 1p
Edmonton @ Calgary, 4:30p

Bye week

BC

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Darian Durant and Mike Reilly didn't finish their games last week. Thomas DeMarco is out for the season for Ottawa.

Hamilton is on its 3rd quarterback in Jeremiah Masoli, though Zach Collaros is off the injured list and back at practice for the Tiger-Cats. Montréal is on its 3rd QB in Jonathan Crompton, though Tanner Marsh hasn't been one of those choices. Why Alex Brink got an earlier chance than Tanner Marsh is a head-scratcher.

Troy Smith was a lot better last season. So was Marsh. The problem in Montréal has little to do with quarterbacks, but a lack of an effective offensive plan.

2 stars came back from injuries last week. Jon Cornish and Chad Owens — 2 of the biggest CFL stars — have been out for some time. And while their teams have done OK without them, they have been missed by the league.

Cornish had decent results. So did Owens until he had to come out of last week's game. Owens likely won't dress for the Labour Day Classic.

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We applaud BC Lions president and CEO Dennis Skulsky for having the courage of calling a "guaranteed win night" at BC Place. Perhaps Skulsky could have waited until an East team arrived in Vancouver.

"We're gonna go and win and we're guaranteeing it."

Saskatchewan edged out the Lions 20-16. Skulsky and the Lions will now have to deliver on a promise to Sunday night's attendees for a free ticket to one of the next 4 home games.

The Roughriders travel well as we saw with a billboard in Vancouver: Green is the new Orange. When I was in Edmonton 2 years ago, I noticed a Riders billboard near Commonwealth Stadium.

Guaranteeing a win can be a sound strategy. Doing so against Saskatchewan can be a tricky proposition.

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The East has only played 3 games against each other before the Labour Day weekend. Ottawa upset Toronto 18-17 in its home opener. The Argos beat up on Montreal 31-5 at Molson Stadium. Hamilton beat Ottawa 33-23 at McMaster University. The Argos won't play a Eastern opponent at home until well into October.

Unless these games will end in 0-0 ties, we'll finally see some daylight between Toronto and the rest of the division. Yes, the Argos are under .500 but the team has as many wins as the other 3 teams combined.

For the TiCats and RedBlacks, their lone CFL win has come against an East opponent. Montreal's lone win is 1 of 3 wins for an East team over a West team (BC Lions).

By contrast, the West has played 8 games against each other.

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Saskatchewan could be down a quarterback, but gained a wide receiver. Longtime Saskatchewan Roughriders wide receiver Weston Dressler has returned to the green and white after being cut by Kansas City.

As a true CFL free agent, Dressler had some very tempting offers, especially from the RedBlacks. In the end, Dressler picked where he had been.

Andy Fantuz did come back to Saskatchewan (he had to in order to play in the CFL) after being waived by the NFL Chicago Bears, but then signed with Hamilton in the off-season.

Former Roughrider RB Kory Sheets suffering a season-ending Achilles tendon injury while playing for Oakland in the preseason.

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I got to see first hand the unveiling and implementation of the Argos CFL alternative uniforms. Colour me not impressed.

Not a fan of the marketing gimmicks to entice people to spend yet more money, and while the Argos jerseys were decent, they were too remnant of the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. Not a good look in general.

It's "good" for the CFL to be doing these things as this is relevant in the modern sports world. The plaid in the Ottawa helmets is a daring choice, but somewhat relevant given the lumberjack mascot.

The August 17 contest was between the "Titans" and the already horrible all-black BC uniforms. In the fashion world, this was a 0-0 tie.

We got to see a lovely marketing video from Reebok and the CFL as "entertainment" at Rogers Centre. I was amused at the reaction by fans in the Toronto Blue Jays, er, Argos team store at halftime on August 12 when the uniforms were unveiled. Fans were positive about the new uniform, and having it in front of you so soon after the unveiling was a genius move.

If you like or hate a particular alternative uniform, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

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Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor will have extra travel expenses this past week. The broadcast team covered games in Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Vancouver in 3 consecutive days. Gord Miller filled in for Rod Black to work with Duane Forde in the nation's capital.

The TSN5 setup launched this week. CFL games will be on TSN2 (the true national feed), though please check your local listings. CFL is on TSN, though you have to figure out which one.

The BC Lions are looking for a new radio voice. Rick Ball, who also called the Vancouver Canucks on radio, will be the new play-by-play TV person for the Calgary Flames on Rogers Sportsnet West. Ball will team up with Kelly Hrudey on the telecasts.

Rogers announces colour analysts and reporters

Some familiar faces, and not just from the CBC, will be part of the newly announced lineup for colour commentators and reporters for Rogers NHL coverage this fall.

Glenn Healy will be working as a game analyst and a studio analyst. Assuming Healy teams up with Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, we'll likely see Healy in the studio on nights when the broadcast team isn't doing a game.

Mike Johnson, formerly of TSN, and Darren Pang, of TSN and the St. Louis Blues, will serve as both game analysts and studio analysts. Johnson's NHL Network role might be in doubt. Pang's day job remains with the St. Louis Blues, so his Rogers role may be limited.

Garry Galley, who has Rogers experience working Ottawa Senators games for Rogers Sportsnet East, is one of the new game analysts. While no one has said Bob Cole will be Galley's partner, you can count on that happening most weeks.

A bit of a surprise is that P.J. Stock will serve as a studio analyst on the Rogers telecasts. The potential desk will be super crowded, so Stock might end up only on Saturdays or Wednesdays.

Regionally, Rick Ball and Kelly Hrudey will serve as the Calgary Flames new TV crew on Rogers Sportsnet West and Sportsnet Flames. The news was leaked earlier this week. I had predicted that Mark Lee and Kelly Hurdey would make a great Calgary team; my prediction was close.

Hrudey is already based in Calgary, so the move is a natural one for Hrudey. He will also serve as a studio analyst for national telecasts.

Drew Remenda, who was foolishly let go as the San Jose Sharks TV analyst, lands in Edmonton with Rogers Sportsnet West and Sportsnet Oilers. Remenda, who has worked on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, replaces Louie DeBrusk on the telecasts. Kevin Quinn will continue to call the Edmonton games on TV.

• Rogers announces new NHL play-by-play announcers

Rogers made a smart move in bringing over Cassie Campbell-Pascall. She will be a rinkside reporter as well as a commentator for Hometown Hockey and Hockey Day in Canada.

Rogers did hire Leah Hextall away from NESN. She will serve as a studio anchor, according to the Rogers press release.

Who's missing?

The Rogers press release doesn't mention Greg Millen as a national game analyst. Millen already works for Rogers as a game analyst for the Toronto Maple Leafs telecasts. Millen has lots of recent national experience working games for CBC on Saturday nights and the first round in the playoffs.

Perhaps Millen will fill in as needed, depending on the availability of Johnson and Pang, or serve as an ice-level analyst during the playoffs.

Press releases can be incomplete. We know Rogers hired Scott Oake, but he isn't on the press release.

Mark Lee isn't getting a chance to even be a fill in for Rogers. Perhaps Rick Ball will also serve as a backup play-by-play announcer.

Dean Brown has a day job as the radio voice for the Ottawa Senators. Brown has lost his national telecasts as well as the opportunity to do Ottawa games on TV. His voice will be missed on TV.

The fact that Kevin Weekes isn't on the list is not terribly surprising. Weekes is well-suited to his work on the NHL Network, but struggled at times on the CBC set. I think Weekes could have fit in better on the Sportsnet telecasts, but he does still have a day job.

Despite the major cutbacks at CBC Sports, David Amber has found a home there. Amber anchored some of the Olympics coverage in 2014, and his versatility is an asset with fewer resources at the CBC. Andi Petrillo stays with CBC Sports in part due to similar versatility.

Weekes and Amber did help add some colour (pun completely intended) to the CBC telecasts. Rogers doesn't have anyone on-camera with colour in its announced lineup. A bit surprising in 2014.

What is the takeaway?

Rogers is trying to retain the CBC feel, especially for the Saturday night telecasts. The on-air presence will have an air of familiarity.

Rogers would have loved the satisfaction of luring Mike Johnson away from TSN. But Johnson was let go before Rogers could "steal" him away.

Getting Darren Pang to do some national telecasts is a nice feather in Rogers cap, though we don't know how many games Pang will do with his day job in St. Louis. That will be a trend to watch.

How Rogers will use Glenn Healy will prove intriguing. Healy is strong in both categories, which led CBC to have Healy do both for Toronto home games. Rogers is using Studio 41 at the CBC, so the distance to the Air Canada Centre remains the same.

The press release lists 4 national analysts: if Healy and Simpson work the same game, someone will need to work a 4th game most weeks.

We also don't know if Paul Romanuk and Dave Randorf will have regular colour analysts or whether they will rotate people in based on availability.

Calgary and Edmonton strengthened their local broadcasts crews. Last season, the two Alberta crews were Rogers weak point, and the company stepped up to make that a lot better. Remenda's Canadian roots and his home in Saskatoon made things easier for Rogers to lure him north.

Burger King wants to have it its way with Tim Hortons

Editor's note: To no one's surprise, Burger King has purchased Tim Hortons for about $11 billion. That is a lot of dough(nuts).

Having a Canadian donut icon owned by a U.S. fast food burger franchise wouldn't be new for Tim Hortons. After all, the company dealt well enough being owned by Wendy's from 1995-2006. The new potential company would be the world's third-largest quick service restaurant.

The new takeover threat from Burger King has financial and political overtones between the two countries, as the Miami-based company wants to reduce its tax load by headquartering in Canada. The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35% with considerable deductions and loopholes. Canada's corporate federal tax rate is 15%. (The new company would have to pay Ontario corporate taxes so the combined rate would be 25% or higher. Florida has no state income tax for individuals.)

Burger King, which would be acquiring Tim Hortons, is actually majority-owned (70%) by 3G Capital, a New York-based investment firm with Brazilian roots. The company acquired the burger company in 2010.

The idea of Burger King being based in Oakville, Ontario is a bit hard to swallow. In this growing desire for U.S. companies to dodge U.S. taxes, they usually have very little to do with the destination country. Compared to McDonald's in Canada, at least anecdotally, I hardly see any Burger King locations north of the border. So Canada might not even get too many more Burger King locations, sad if you're Canadian and like Burger King.

Burger King gets a tax dodge and to be called "Canadian." But what does Tim Hortons get from the potential deal?

Reportedly, the two companies will be run separately (whew). Tim Hortons is interested in U.S. expansion and Burger King could help with that.

Burger King's recent philosophy has been to come up with lots of bad ideas (Satisfries), so Tim Hortons could teach Burger King about successful innovations.

Burger King may be counting on one other advantage in this tax shelter deal: Canada would be seen as a friendlier destination for a U.S. deserter corporation than Europe. Being next door looks better than having an ocean in between.

If the deal goes through, Burger King won't be anymore Canadian than Wendy's was during its ownership of Tim Hortons. And the Canadian icon can survive being owned by a U.S. burger company. The fear is that Burger King will benefit much better from the deal to the detriment of Tim Hortons. Nothing personal to 3G Capital, but being owned by an investment firm doesn't lend to long-term growth but cutting expenses.

Canada offers cheaper health care and stronger overall primary education as incentives to get companies to come to Canada. Those amenities won't help the company unless Burger King executives live in Canada or Burger King expands to more locations north of the 49th parallel. Seeing Canada as a business destination is a little cool, even if it is little more than paper.

Cleveland Cavaliers trade 2 young Canadians to help Lebron James

A NBA team drafts first in back-to-back seasons to get young talent to develop a successful team long-term. When that same NBA team gets back a star player, they suddenly don't have much appreciation for that young talent.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, known as "Canada South," officially traded two of those players — the last 2 first-overall picks — to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a deal to get forward Kevin Love.

The trade that sent this year's #1 pick, Andrew Wiggins, and last year's top pick Anthony Bennett was the worst kept secret, but necessary since Cleveland signed Wiggins, forcing a 30-day period where Wiggins couldn't get traded.

• Record-setting night for Canadians at 2014 NBA draft

• Anthony Bennett becomes first Canadian to be #1 in NBA draft

Kevin Love must be very valuable to be worth 2 first-round picks plus a future first-round draft pick. The Cavs, er Lebron James, have clearly decided that Love is worth that much.

Wiggins and Bennett aren't old enough to drink alcohol in the United States, so their potential is still rather high. The NBA policy of drafting players after their freshman year feels like picking fruit before it's ripe. How will you know if the fruit will be good if you pick it too early?

Cleveland's loss could be Minnesota's gain. The West isn't as strong as the East, and the Timberwolves will provide a better environment for younger players who need time and patience. Minnesota, like Cleveland, is close to Canada, though Cleveland is a lot closer to Toronto, and the Cavs will play Toronto a lot more during the season than Minnesota will.

Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett could have benefited from playing with Lebron James. Now he is the reason why they will make a new start in Minnesota.

Cleveland still has a Canadian presence. Dwight Powell (Toronto) of Stanford was drafted by Charlotte in the second round this year, but traded to Cleveland. Forward Tristan Thompson (Brampton, ON) was drafted by the Cavs 4th overall in 2011.

2014 CFL Week 9 preview

The West has one more good opportunity to add to its dominance over the East.

The Friday night contest finds Winnipeg back at home against an anemic Montréal offense. Edmonton comes back from its 2-game road trip out East against a Toronto squad that had to play twice in 6 days. This will also be the first Edmonton home game since the huge $348,534 50/50 jackpot was claimed.

A couple of Sunday games on the schedule: a bit unusual this time of the year for the CFL. The Stampeders, and Jon Cornish, will be in the nation's capital while the Roughriders go out to Vancouver for a local 4 pm start.

Hamilton gets another bye and a lot of home dates (hopefully at Tim Hortons Field) starting Labour Day. Unfortunately, Dan LeFevour is out for the year and Zach Collaros is still out. The TiCats have until Labour Day to figure out who will run the offense.

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TSN

Friday
Montréal @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Saturday
Toronto @ Edmonton, 4p
Sunday
Calgary @ Ottawa, 3p
Saskatchewan @ BC, 7p

Bye week

Hamilton

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The Argos win over Winnipeg was only the third time an East team beat a West team this season. The Argos have 2 of those wins. Ottawa came close against Edmonton. For the East's sake, this will stop becoming news soon.

The Argos crowd wasn't as lame as first feared but the RedBlacks crowd was much louder naturally. The difference in numbers was about 6,000 fans, or around Hamilton's official attendance. Sitting in the stands, you felt like you made a difference in the Ottawa crowd.

Toronto is a well-tooled machine (with a few parts missing) while Ottawa lacks the intensity needed to score a major. One TD and the RedBlacks would have had 2 home wins.

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One factoid that stands out for the Toronto Argonauts and why getting a new stadium is crucial. The Argos played 2 home games in a 6-day period. Once BC blew out the Argos Sunday night, the next Toronto home game is October 4 against Edmonton.

The Blue Jays fate will be sealed before the Argos come home again. Hopefully, we'll have issues with Rogers Centre in that the Blue Jays have made the playoffs. Then again, the Argos have a home game in every week in October, so something will have to give.

The Argos have done as well as could be expected with this crazy home schedule, but having to play every game on the road between now and October isn't a good way to run a schedule.

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The largest crowd to see a CFL game in an Eastern city is 24,326 in Ottawa's home debut. In fact, the RedBlacks have the 3 largest attendances of Eastern teams this season.

I was there at Toronto's largest crowd on Sunday with 18,283. Montréal totals have been between 20,000-21,000. Of course, Hamilton has registered 6,500 for every home game.

The disparity between the two divisions isn't just on the field. Only 2 West home games have drawn below Ottawa's highest mark. BC drew 24,236 in the August 8 home game against Hamilton. Saskatchewan dealt with huge downpours of rain in its home opener, drawing 19,285. Toronto hasn't drawn that high a number.

Here is a listing of all the CFL teams in win-loss record. Notice how all the West teams finish ahead of the East teams.

Calgary, Edmonton 6-1
Saskatchewan 5-2
Winnipeg, BC 5-3
Toronto 3-5
Hamilton, Ottawa, and Montréal 1-6

The East teams will have a chance to start beating up on each other next week. But they also need to draw better.

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Mark Cohon will step down as CFL commissioner and not run for a 3rd term. Cohon's contract expires in April 2015.

Cohon has held the position for the 3rd longest stint in CFL history.

Cohon can point to a number of success stories. His successor will have a tough road, but will be a bit easier thanks to Cohon's efforts.

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The ESPN family (minus ESPN3) have been taking a vacation from the CFL after August 1. We were hoping for a Labour Day return since well, nothing else is going on.

The current plan is for ESPN, the mothership, is to carry a CFL doubleheader on September 7, the opening Sunday of the NFL season.

We will go more than a month without CFL on the TV because of the NFL, and we get the CFL back opposite the NFL … on the flagship. As they say in Quebec, je ne comprend pas.

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Mark Lee and Steve Armitage were two of the latest CBC Sports cuts. Both called the CFL on CBC when I first started following the league. I was partial to their coverage, especially Lee. Both have been incredibly versatile announcers in their time with the network and they will be badly missed.

They will always be the first voices that helped me appreciate this great sport of Canadian football.

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Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor, like your humble narrator, spent a lot of time in Toronto last week. The duo worked both Toronto games (Tuesday and Sunday) and went to Hamilton on Saturday.

Rod Black and Duane Forde saw the low-scoring battle in the nation's capitalwhile Gord Miller and Matt Dunigan dealt with and their own low-scoring tilt in Regina.

Unanswered questions about the upcoming NHL season

We could do a 3-part series (similar to what we did for the CBC) on what we don't know about the TV coverage for the upcoming NHL season.

Let's settle for a few major questions … in one story.

Hockey Tonight

Rogers wants to run several hours of pregame for the Saturday telecasts and the City TV Sunday games.

Rogers may split off the last 30 minutes for a Saturday night pregame show for the NHL Network to simulcast in the United States. We don't know if Rogers will do so.

The other question is whether the CBC will be allowed to simulcast the Rogers version of "Hockey Tonight." CBC airs a 30-minute national newscast at 6 pm Eastern, but the network may be forced to extend the newscast to an hour if the network isn't allowed to carry the pregame coverage.

Even if the CBC carries the pregame show, the network may not get any advertising. So extra news might be more profitable if not complementary to Hockey Night in Canada coverage.

We know City is not carrying a 30-minute pregame show, but very little else.

• CBC's future limited in new NHL TV deal; TSN will be gone

Saturday night hockey

The NHL Network coincidentally will carry the CBC game in the first 4 weeks of the season. The U.S. version didn't pick games based on what channel they will air on in Canada.

The schedule is filled with Maple Leafs and Canadiens games with only the April 4 game (Washington at Ottawa) not featuring either Toronto or Montréal. The NHL Network has let local promos go on the Saturday night telecasts (but not other games). We'll see whether that continues with Rogers in charge.

The NHL Network has always faded out of the coverage even when the CBC switched to another game. We don't know if that will continue with the Rogers games.

Coach's Corner will run on the NHL Network on weeks where there is a Hockey Night in Canada game. The channel might try and make the feature available on other weeks, but finding it on TV was never easy.

What we don't know if whether Rogers will make the feature available online and to U.S. ISPs. In my limited attempts to play any video on the Rogers Sportsnet Web site, I haven't been able to play a single video. I had the best success playing Coach's Corner on the CBC Sports app on my phone. That won't be an option in October.

• NHL Network finally releases its 2014-2015 schedule

After Hours and Saturday night rebroadcasts

Scott Oake will work the Saturday night games for Rogers and CBC Sports will carry a late game every week. This would let itself to "After Hours" continuing on the CBC.

Rogers could allow the CBC to carry "After Hours" or move the program to a Rogers outlet or get rid of the show. We don't know the answer. If CBC can carry the show, does the network get to keep the revenue? Will "After Hours" count toward the 320 hours of hockey the CBC is allowed to carry?

"After Hours" hasn't be on NHL Center Ice, NHL GameCenter Live, or the NHL Network for some time. The program has been available for CBC viewers and on most weeks, online. Again, will we have to go through the Rogers Web site to watch "After Hours" online in the U.S.?

Even if the CBC is allowed to continue "After Hours," the 1-hour condensed rebroadcasts will likely drop off the schedule. The CBC could run newscasts and alternate programming to replace the hockey games. If the CBC dumps out of hockey coverage right after the second game, the network will have to replace almost 3 hours of programming for every Saturday night during the hockey season.

Sunday night hockey

We were pleased to see the NHL Network pick up some of the City telecasts. Unfortunately, all 6 Sunday night games on the NHL Network schedule air before Christmas.

Later in the season, NBCSN runs Sunday night telecasts, which would cut out any chance of the NHL Network picking up the Sunday night Hometown Hockey telecasts on City.

While the idea of Sunday night hockey is great for Canada, the NBCSN version will throw off chances for the NHL Network in the U.S. to air more of these games live.

Saturday matinees

Saturday matinees were implied in the original Rogers announcement. That isn't happening. Rogers isn't carrying any national games before 7 pm Eastern on Saturday outside of the lone Hockey Day in Canada matinee (Edmonton at Ottawa at 2 pm).

The CBC would carry quite a few Saturday matinees, including the two Super Bowl weekend matinees. Unfortunately, CBC isn't allowed to deviate from the Saturday night schedule.

The NHL Network is only carrying 8 Saturday matinees, only 1 that involves a Canadian team. Ironically, that is the Saturday version of the Habs Super Bowl matinee against Washington.

The NHL Network found other ways to get Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton on the schedule, even though Saturday matinees was the only way those teams got on the channel's schedule for the last few years.

Wednesday night telecasts on NHL Center Ice

Even with few games on Wednesday nights, Comcast refused to show the Canadian feed on NHL Center Ice unless the game was an all-Canadian matchup.

Will the pressure from Rogers force Comcast to rescind that policy?

The NHL Center Ice experience on Comcast went out on their way not to show TSN or TSN-local feeds, short of an all-Canadian matchup.

The situation can't get any worse with Rogers, but hopefully will be much better.

NHL Network matinee rebroadcasts

The NHL Network also went out of its way not to show games from TSN or TSN-local feeds in the next day rebroadcasts. This despite the fact that TSN has ownership in the NHL Network and uses its personnel and facilities.

The national telecasts on Wednesday (Rogers) and Sunday (City) would lend themselves well to next day rebroadcasts, but we don't know if the NHL Network will respond better to Rogers than TSN.

NHL Network finally releases its 2014-2015 schedule

The NHL Network decided to announce its schedule when most people were on vacation.

The schedule is decently Canadian friendly. Looks like about the same number of early Hockey Night in Canada games. Last year, we had 1 late HNIC game; this year, 0.

The U.S. based channel will pick up 6 City Sunday night Hometown Hockey telecasts. Well, the channel will carry those games. Of the 6 games, 3 of them involve Chicago, so blackouts for me. All of those telecasts will be in 2014.

The channel is only carrying one of the Hockey Day in Canada telecasts. In fact, 2 of the 3 February telecasts will be the Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.

Vancouver has 6 telecasts, 4 local, 1 HNIC, and 1 City TV game. Ottawa has 4 games: 1 local, 2 HNIC, and 1 City. Each team's City TV game is December 7 when the teams play each other at Canadian Tire Centre.

Winnipeg gets 1 home telecast, a Friday night in February. Unfortunately, it's against Chicago, so I get blacked out.

Calgary gets 2 games, perhaps to make up for not getting a game last season. The Flames are in Chicago on December 14 in a City TV game (against Chicago) and at home on March 23 against Colorado. We'll have to check the last time any U.S. outlet carried a live game in Alberta after we find our smelling salts.

Edmonton's lone contest is a Sunday night game that is not on City TV. The Oilers are at Madison Square Garden on November 9.

The NHL Network is picking up the Saturday matinee on Super Bowl weekend in Montréal. This traditionally was carried by the CBC, but Rogers does not have the game on its schedule.

The October 16 game at the Bell Centre against Boston will have to be a NESN pickup since the Habs don't have an English TV home. Every other Habs telecast on the NHL Network falls in the Rogers/City windows.

In 2015, only 4 telecasts are out of the Saturday night window, as the telecasts fall off after the New Year. The telecasts are plentiful in the first few weeks when NHL Center Ice would have picked up those games anyway.

Here is the NHL Network live game coverage of Canadian teams for the 2014-2015 season.

Sat Oct 11 Pittsburgh Toronto 7p
Sun Oct 12 Toronto NY Rangers 7p
Thu Oct 16 Boston Montréal 7:30p
Sat Oct 18 Toronto Detroit 7p
Thu Oct 23 Vancouver St. Louis 8p
Sat Oct 25 Boston Toronto 7p
Sun Oct 26 Ottawa Chicago 7p

Sat Nov 1 Chicago Toronto 7p
Sat Nov 8 Minnesota Montréal 7p
Sun Nov 9 Edmonton NY Rangers 6p
Sat Nov 22 Montréal Boston 7p
Sun Nov 23 Montréal NY Rangers 7p
Sat Nov 29 Buffalo Montréal 7p

Sun Dec 7 Vancouver Ottawa 7p
Sat Dec 13 Detroit Toronto 7p
Sun Dec 14 Calgary Chicago 8p
Sat Dec 20 Ottawa Montréal 7p
Sun Dec 21 Toronto Chicago 7p
Mon Dec 22 Arizona Vancouver 10p

Sat Jan 10 Pittsburgh Montréal 7p
Thu Jan 15 Vancouver Philadelphia 7p
Sat Jan 17 Toronto St. Louis 7p
Fri Jan 30 Buffalo Vancouver 10p
Sat Jan 31 Washington Montréal 1p

Fri Feb 6 Chicago Winnipeg 8p
Sat Feb 14 Toronto Montréal 7p
Sat Feb 28 Toronto Montréal 7p

Sat Mar 7 St. Louis Toronto 7p
Sat Mar 14 Toronto Vancouver 7p
Sat Mar 21 San Jose Montréal 7p
Mon Mar 23 Colorado Calgary 9p

Sat Apr 4 Washington Ottawa 7p

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• Montreal Canadiens biggest loser in new Rogers NHL TV deal

• 2014 NHL schedule released; breakdown of Canadian telecasts

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Mark Lee is a free agent. The long-time voice of the CBC, who also broadcast Hockey Night in Canada games, was one of the latest CBC Sports cuts.

As I've noted a few times, I am a Mark Lee fan. We knew he didn't go in the first wave to Rogers, but Lee could be an asset to Rogers as a fill-in person. If Bob Cole can't go in a particular week or if there are 5 games, Lee could fill in.

The most obvious spot is the Calgary Flames, still looking for a play-by-play voice.

We still don't know if a lot of the CBC voices will be on Rogers coverage. But it would be sad if Mark Lee wasn't one of them.

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Paul Romanuk will get extra practice calling NHL games for Rogers this season as the new Toronto Maple Leafs play-by-play person for the 16 Rogers Sportsnet Ontario games next season.

Romanuk will call those games with Greg Millen. Joe Bowen, the radio and TV voice for the Leafs, shifts to radio only.

The other 26 Toronto Maple Leafs local telecasts will be handled by TSN. As part of TSN's move to 5 channels, the Winnipeg Jets will be on TSN3, Toronto Maple Leafs on TSN4, and Ottawa Senators on TSN5.

Only those in the proper region can access those telecasts; the rest of the country will be blacked out on those channels during live games.

Perhaps if there was a TSN6, the Canadiens could get an English language home.

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Another free agent is Mike Johnson. From what we can tell in the TSN press releases, Jamie McLennan has replaced Johnson in that role of secondary colour analyst.

Johnson and Kevin Weekes have steady gigs at the NHL Network, and they'll be glad to have those come October. We haven't heard anything about colour analysts or studio personnel.

Garry Galley, Glenn Healy, Kelly Hrudey, Weekes, Johnson, P.J. Stock -- they may be in the mix at Rogers, but we still don't know.

Mark Lee and Kelly Hrudey could reunite in the Calgary TV booth, a huge upgrade over what the team has had in the last few years.

Bring back NHL regular season games to neutral sites

Even with the warm weather, the NHL season is coming up soon. While we'll see exhibition games in neutral arenas, the NHL used to hold regular season games in neutral cities, some of them in Canada.

Saskatoon, Hamilton, Halifax — each of these Canadian cities got to host NHL regular season games in the 1990s. If the league were to bring that back, Quebec City and perhaps Saint John could be added to that list.

As you can tell from this chart, these games started before Gary Bettman arrived as commissioner and continued 14 months into his term. And the 1994-95 lockout may have had to do more with the cancellation of this idea.

I have narrowed the original chart from all neutral sites games to those games in Canada or featuring Canadian opponents. Click here to see the original chart.

The three Canadian loctions were SaskPlace in Saskatoon, Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, and the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax.

City	Dates	Attendance	Average
Hamilton	8	106,203	13,275
Saskatoon	6	58,020	9,670
Halifax	3	26,984	8,995

 

Of all the neutral sites, Hamilton had the highest average attendance (8 dates/106,203 fans = 13,275 average). Then again, 3 of the top 4 averages didn't get an NHL team: Milwaukee (2) and Cleveland (4). Miami had 1 date at 12,842 and got a franchise; though the team is drawing about that much with its own team.

The attendance in Saskatoon and Halifax are limited by the size of the arenas.

I was pleasantly stunned to see so many U.S. based games featuring Canadian teams. Using Montréal to sell Phoenix makes some sense, but Calgary in Cincinnati and Edmonton in Cleveland is a bit of a surprise.

The Southern cities dominated the neutral sites that did get franchises: Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix. The only Southern city that didn't get a franchise was Oklahoma City, home of Edmonton's farm team. The only northern city to get a franchise was Minneapolis, but the drive to get a new team in the Twin Cities came almost as soon as the old team left.

So sadly, this may not have been an exercise in building fan support in neutral cities, but a justification for markets that were less worthy than others.

Nevertheless, enjoy the fruits of the chart and think about what might have been and what would be if the NHL ever brought back the concept.

Date	Game	Arena	City	Crowd
10/13/92	Calgary 4, Minnesota 3	SaskPlace	Saskatoon	8,783
10/20/92	Toronto 5, Ottawa 3	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	7,186
11/17/92	Quebec 3, Toronto 1	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	17,026
11/18/92	New Jersey 3, Buffalo 2	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	6,972
12/8/92	Montréal 5, Los Angeles 5	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Phoenix	12,276
12/13/92	NY Islanders 4, Edmonton 1	Myriad Convention Center	Oklahoma City	11,110
1/4/93	Montréal 2, San Jose 1	ARCO Arena	Sacramento	11,814
1/18/93	Winnipeg 8, Hartford 7	SaskPlace	Saskatoon	7,756
2/16/93	Calgary 4, Philadelphia 4 (OT)	Riverfront Coliseum	Cincinnati	7,973
2/19/93	Quebec 5, Tampa Bay 2	Halifax Metro Centre	Halifax	9,584
2/23/93	Winnipeg 8, Ottawa 2	SaskPlace	Saskatoon	7,245
3/1/93	Vancouver 5, Buffalo 2	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	17,098
3/11/93	Minnesota 4, Vancouver 3	SaskPlace	Saskatoon	12,006
3/21/93	Pittsburgh 6, Edmonton 4	Richfield Coliseum	Cleveland	18,782
10/31/93	NY Rangers 4, New Jersey 1	Halifax Metro Centre	Halifax	8,200
11/18/93	NY Islanders 5, Montréal 1	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	17,008
12/9/93	Dallas 6, Ottawa 1	Target Center	Minneapolis	14,058
12/23/93	Vancouver 4, Calgary 3	SaskPlace	Saskatoon	11,429
1/4/94	Tampa Bay 1, Toronto 0	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	17,526
1/5/94	Montréal 2, Québec 0	America West Arena	Phoenix	11,393
1/24/94	Calgary 3, Los Angeles 3 (OT)	America West Arena	Phoenix	14,864
1/24/94	Vancouver 5, Edmonton 4 (OT)	SaskPlace	Saskatoon	10,801
2/22/94	Florida 3, Winnipeg 2	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	6,291
3/4/94	Winnipeg 6, Ottawa 1	Target Center	Minneapolis	6,388
3/9/94	NY Rangers 7, Washington 5	Halifax Metro Centre	Halifax	9,200
3/23/94	Florida 1, Toronto 1 (OT)	Copps Coliseum	Hamilton	17,096
3/27/94	New Jersey 5, Quebec 2	Target Center	Minneapolis	6,222
4/3/94	Los Angeles 6, Edmonton 1	ARCO Arena	Sacramento	10,363

2014 CFL Week 8 preview

If it's Tuesday, it must be a new CFL week.

This is a bit unusual where we have 5 games in this CFL week, including 2 Argos home games at Rogers Centre. Toronto will host Winnipeg tonight and BC on Sunday.

Ottawa welcomes another Western team to TD Place as Edmonton comes to the nation's capital Friday night.

Saturday gets the doubleheader with Hamilton hosting another game at Ron Joyce Stadium, this time against Calgary. The Alouettes travel to Green Nation as the Roughriders host Montréal.

Once again, all the games are available on ESPN3. The CFL site has condensed versions of the games.

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TSN

Tuesday
Winnipeg @ Toronto, 7:30p
Friday
Edmonton @ Ottawa, 7:30p
Saturday
Calgary @ Hamilton, 3p
Montréal @ Saskatchewan, 7p
Sunday
BC @ Toronto, 7:30p

Bye week

None

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We are trying to experience as much of the CFL in person this week. Please forgive a lack of update. We'll do what we can when we return. Merci.

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Unless something significantly changed, the announcers for this past weekend were Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor at Winnipeg on Thursday and Calgary on Saturday. Rod Black and Duane Forde called the first half of the Friday night doubleheader from Montréal. Gord Miller and Matt Dunigan handled the nightcap in Vancouver.

Football notebook: Dream of seeing 4 CFL games in a week in jeopardy

When I saw the 2014 CFL schedule, I saw an opportunity to take in 4 CFL games in less than a week without stretching the travel budget.

The plan was so good that only one thing could go wrong. And that one thing went very wrong.

Watch the Argos host Winnipeg on Tuesday, then travel to Ottawa to see the Esks on Friday. Come back to the GTA to go to Hamilton Saturday afternoon as the Tiger-Cats host Calgary, followed by a Sunday night visit by BC at Rogers Centre.

So what went wrong? Tim Hortons Field won't be ready in time for the August 16 home game against the Stampeders.

Whether that game would be the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd game ever in the new stadium, getting a ticket was going to be difficult. The new stadium seats fewer people than Ivor Wynne Stadium. You have a pent up fan base eager to see the black and gold live in person. 22,000 is a heck of a lot more people than the 6,500 crammed into Ron Joyce Stadium.

Getting a ticket to the 2 Argos games isn't in doubt. I hustled to make sure I had a ticket in Canada's capital. But getting into Fort Knox might be easier than Ron Joyce Stadium.

Seats do open up since some patrons hang out in the end zone sections, since beer isn't allowed in the seating area. I would sacrifice a potential beer to be able to stay in the seating area.

Rogers Centre has been available for the dates of the first 3 Tiger-Cats home games. If the August 16 game had been placed there, all the Tiger-Cats fans would have fit in Rogers Centre with room even for me.

The concept was wonderful: be able to see 7 CFL teams live in person. The only 2 missed teams would be the Montréal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders. The feat would be even more significant since none of the games are televised back to the States.

5 of the 9 teams is still impressive, but not as cool as 7 teams. A chance to see the two newest stadiums; now only one.

I'm not alone in wanting to be at Ron Joyce Stadium on Saturday, enough people to fill the place 4 times.

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"The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were informed … that a plan is in place to allow the team to play the Labour Day Classic at Tim Hortons Field."

The team and league and fans sure want the stadium to be ready for the Labour Day Classic, especially since their options are limited.

The Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts can't play at Ron Joyce Stadium, since McMaster will host Guelph. Theoretically, this means Guelph is available, but that isn't a fun option for either team. Rogers Centre is technically available but the New York Yankees play on Sunday. However, the impression from the Tuesday night games is that turning around the stadium that quickly isn't viable.

There is great pressure to have the stadium safe enough to play on September 1. After that day, the pressure isn't as high.

Even if Tim Hortons Field is in good enough shape to play on Labour Day, the Tiger-Cats will likely go back to McMaster until the stadium is 100% ready.

The Tiger-Cats don't play again at home until September 14; McMaster plays September 13, but conversion isn't an issue.

We don't know if the ESPN family will carry the Labour Day games. We'll have to wait and see to find out if an incomplete Tim Hortons Field will be enough reason to not carry the early contest.

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The NFL is not coming to Toronto full-time. If Jon Bon Jovi and his group end up buying the NFL Buffalo Bills, the plan is to try and keep the team in Western New York. Yes, Bon Jovi specifically didn't guarantee the prospect of staying in Buffalo, but Toronto isn't a full-time option.

The Toronto Argonauts are being kicked out of Rogers Centre in part because of football seats. If the Bills can survive without those seats, then the Argos could too.

The Bills Toronto series was a chance to show what Toronto could do with a NFL franchise. We don't even know when or if the Bills are coming back to Toronto for the series.

The Argonauts need a deal to reconfigure BMO Field to accommodate the team. Hopefully, this will not come down to MLSE buying the team, but the only path to BMO might be MLSE. Regardless, the Argos need a good place to play, and soon.

The Bills can't play at BMO Field and they aren't getting a new NFL stadium in Toronto. Rogers Centre is the only option and that has drawbacks. The way Rogers has run the Bills Toronto series does not inspire confidence in making that work for 8 games a year.

The NFL doesn't benefit as much from a team in Canada. London (England, not Ontario) is where the league thinks of in terms of international growth.