Canadian Crossing

Super Bowl LVII through the eyes of Canada

Thank you, Canada. Music such as Rush, Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson, and Celine (Dion). Inventions such as peanut butter and the paint roller. Comedy legends including Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and Martin Short. Sports such as hockey, basketball, and yes, football. The Grey Cup is older than the NFL.

Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvava) is our guide through Canadian contributions in the Crown Royal ad during Super Bowl LVII. Thank you, Canada indeed.

We are used to seeing Canadians advertise American products to Americans during the final game of the NFL season. Crown Royal is Canadian as in whisky, not the American spelling of whiskey. Back when I was covering politics, I noted that Hillary Clinton drank Crown Royal in 2008 when running for president in Indiana.

Grohl was a good choice to talk through Canada's contributions. After all, Seattle can get CBC on cable.  

Super Bowl LVI through the eyes of Canada

Super Bowl LV through the eyes of Canada

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Sarah McLachlan had some fun poking at her saving the animals image in a Busch Light commercial in the Super Bowl. McLachlan talks about finding shelter for animals, which is not the right kind of shelter intended in the commercial.

Pulling the American light beer out of the stream reminds us of a classic Canadian joke: Why is American beer like being in a canoe? Because it's close to f*cking water.

People are more likely to remember McLachlan than the product (sorry Anheuser-Busch).

Since there are few individual major beer companies anymore, the Blue Moon ad can be traced back to Molson Coors, which owns Molson, Carling, and Brasseur de Montréal in Canada.

Need a sufficiently older man who isn't threatening for a parody of an ED ad for an EV? Jason Jones to the rescue for the new RAM 1500 REV. Jones gets on-camera and off-camera time in the parody ad.

The dialogue is better suited in a crowd that isn't a bar but as we see this ad for many more weeks to come, the ad will grow in appreciation.

The ad is also good for the Jones-Bee household since Samantha Bee lost her TBS show last fall. Bee is going out on tour in the United States in 2023. 

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

Canadians are generally shut out from Super Bowl ads during the game. Hopefully they can catch up today.

photo and video credits: the individual companies

Super Bowl LVI through the eyes of Canada

Canada didn't have as huge a presence in Super Bowl LVI as we saw the previous 2 years. Still, there were plenty of Canadians in this year's Super Bowl ads.

Toyota ran a beautiful ad that featured celebrated Paralympics athlete Brian McKeever and his brother Robin, who served as his guide.

U.S. viewers are used to seeing jingoistic stories about winter and summer athletes that having actual Canadians was a pleasant surprise. Brian McKeever won 17 medals, 13 of them being gold medals, at Winter Paralympics.

Eugene Levy is the star of the fictional film Thrill Driver featuring the all-new 2023 Nissan Z. Catherine O'Hara has a brief moment in the ad. They starred together in Canadian classic TV shows Schitt's Creek and SCTV. A special mention for Brie Larson, who is also in the ad. Larson won a Canadian Screen Award in 2016 for her performance in the Canadian film Room.

Eugene Levy had a much smaller role in a Snickers Super Bowl ad in 2016. This marks the 3rd straight Super Bowl that featured at least one Schitt's Creek actor in a Super Bowl ad. Dan Levy (M&Ms) was featured in 2021 and Emily Hampshire (Tide) in 2020.

NBC, home of Super Bowl LVI, ran a promo for Season 2 of Young Rock, the story of Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. He introduced the teams in the game in an on-field appearance.

The NBC promo shows Johnson in training camp with the "legendary Calgary Stampeders." The scene shows a coach yelling at him that he is offsides. The implication is that Johnson was in the middle of the 1-yard distance between offence and defence, an element in the CFL that does not exist in the NFL or in U.S. college football.

Young Rock runs on NBC in the United States and Citytv in Canada.

Super Bowl LV through the eyes of Canada

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Seth Rogen teamed up with Paul Rudd for the Lay's Golden Memories ad. The chips ended up in past memories the two friends had before the wedding for Rogen's character.

The characterization made Lay's chips seem cooler than the brand's usual image. Basic chips are now not so basic.

Rogen appeared in a Bud Light Super Bowl ad in 2018 with Amy Schumer.

Mike Myers returned as Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers world for General Motors. The premise was that Dr. Evil had to save the world so he could rule the world. This was one of quite a few electric vehicles ads during the game, battling the existential threat of climate change.

This is the 3rd year in a row where Myers has appeared in a Super Bowl ad. Myers revived the Wayne character from Wayne's World for Uber Eats in 2020 and was in a Discover credit card ad (as Dr. Evil) in 2019.

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

Honourable mentions go to Canadian actors Ryan Reynolds, shown in scenes from The Adam Project coming to Netflix, and Sandra Oh, for the final season of Killing Eve on AMC+.

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

This marks the 3rd year in a row where the winning team had Canadians on the roster. The latest Canadians to play in the Super Bowl (and be on the winning side were defensive lineman Michael Hoecht and offensive lineman Alaric Jackson of the Los Angeles Rams.

video credits: the companies in the ads
photo credit: Young Rock/NBC

Super Bowl LV through the eyes of Canada

Dan Levy completed an amazing Super Bowl weekend with the M&Ms commercial during Super Bowl LV. Levy is the last in a series of people apologizing and offering the candy as compensation. Levy promises not to eat any more of the candy but reneges on that promise.

Levy hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend so M&Ms got their money's worth. Well, given the cost of a Super Bowl ad, maybe as much value as you can get.

As we noted yesterday, this is the second year in a row where a Schitt's Creek actor ended up in a Super Bowl ad. Emily Hampshire in the Tide ad was much more elaborate. Eugene Levy made it into a Snickers Super Bowl ad in 2016. Not sure if any other father-son combo have done Super Bowl ads.

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey got back together as Wayne's World for Uber Eats. Cardi B joined in to Eat Local as in local restaurants and Support Local. The Uber Eats message of eating and supporting local restaurants would be more germane if the national company took a reasonable percentage of the local restaurants delivery charge. If you really want to support local restaurants in a pandemic, pick up the food yourself or have them do the delivery.

Myers and Carvey still have what it takes to be Wayne and Garth even at their advanced age.

The State Farm Super Bowl ad is all about stand-ins for Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes (regular contributors in the ads), and Jake from State Farm. The stand-ins for the quarterbacks are not close (Paul Rudd for Mahomes) until we see the stand-in for Jake: Drake. Drake runs through the lines except Jake tells Drake that stand-ins don't have lines.

Drake also did a Super Bowl ad for T-Mobile in 2016.

The Weeknd was the largest Canadian presence on the telecast with the halftime show. The Weeknd is the first Canadian artist to perform at halftime during a Super Bowl since Shania Twain sang Man, I Feel Like a Woman and Up in 2003.

The Weeknd set list included Call Out My Name; Starboy; The Hills; Can't Feel My Face; I Feel It Coming; Save Your Tears; Earned It; House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls; and Blinding Lights.

The halftime show came 2 days after The Weeknd released The Highlights, a greatest hits collection. The album quickly became the most streamed album of all time on Spotify.

Dan Levy joins the list of Canadians who have hosted Saturday Night Live

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif chooses health care over the NFL

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Canadians won't be able to watch Super Bowl LIV ads

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was not on the Kansas City sideline. Tampa Bay backup tight end Antony Auclair became the 17th Canadian to appear in a Super Bowl. Auclair is from Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Quebec in the Beauce region. Auclair's younger brother Adam is a defensive back for the CFL Ottawa RedBlacks.

Duvernay-Tardif got a Super Bowl ring in 2020. Auclair will get a Super Bowl ring in 2021.

Super Bowl LV aired on CBS in the United States and CTV in Canada.

video credits: individual companies
photo credit: NFL/CBS

Southern Ontario fans of the Buffalo Bills success had to watch from afar

Canada loves the NFL. Canadians make up a chunk of the Buffalo Bills fan base in season tickets, tailgating, and viewers. Outside a pandemic, Canadians in southern Ontario cross the border for the Buffalo Bills home games.

The 2020 Buffalo Bills had an amazing season: a 13-3 record and won the AFC East for the first time since 1995. QB Josh Allen and WR Stefon Diggs led on offence.

The Bills won 9 of the last 10 games in the regular season. As the #2 seed in the AFC, Buffalo got to host a pair of playoff games. The games had limited attendance: 6,772 on January 9 against Indianapolis and January 16 against Baltimore. The Bills hadn't hosted a playoff game since 1996.

Canadian fans would have to fly to Buffalo, get a car to get to Orchard Park, fly back to southern Ontario, and quarantine for 14 days back in Canada.

The closed Canada-U.S. border has disrupted lives and local economies on both sides. As we learned during the Buffalo Bills Toronto series, there is a solidarity with the NFL team and Canada's largest city. We also learned Bills fans in Toronto would rather tailgate in Orchard Park than not tailgate in Toronto.

Canadians wanting football are stuck watching the NFL on TV

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Toronto fans can finally root for the Buffalo Bills in the NFL playoffs

Southern Ontario fans of the Buffalo Bills have to hope the team remains in good shape. Kansas City thwarted the path for Buffalo to Super Bowl LV last night.

CFL fans saw the NFL play a complete season, including Super Bowl LV in Tampa on February. Still think the CFL could have had a 2020 season.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif chooses health care over the NFL

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif — Montréal native and Kansas City offensive guard — would normally be getting ready for Super Bowl LV. Duvernay-Tardif worked in the off-season in long-term care homes and chose to stay, despite the temptations of the NFL.

Duvernay-Tardif made a good decision, but watching his team get to another Super Bowl has to be a bit frustrating to not be there with his teammates.

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

The Weeknd will be the halftime musical guest at Super Bowl LV. In case you haven't kept track, CTV won't be able to run the U.S. Super Bowl ads. We will report on Canadians in Super Bowl ads.

logo credit: Buffalo Bills/NFL

Transplant back on Tuesday this week on NBC and CTV

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the news that Baroness von Sketch Show is running 5 bonus episodes on CBC early in 2021.

Transplant airs on Tuesday nights at 10 pm Eastern on NBC and CTV. The Baltimore-Pittsburgh NFL game started out on Thanksgiving night. The game was moved to Sunday due to COVID-19 numbers for the Baltimore Ravens. The game, originally scheduled to air on NBC, was moved to Tuesday.

NBC chose to move the Tuesday programming to Thursday nights, putting Season 1 Episode 11 Orphans on a 48-hour delay. Late yesterday, the NFL moved the game once again to Wednesday.

The network announced last night that the original Tuesday night programming will return to Tuesday night.

NBC Reveals Schedule Changes After Ravens-Steelers NFL Game Is Moved, Again https://t.co/9IVreluxdW

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 1, 2020

NBC normally has the Sunday Night Football package but gets the nighttime U.S. Thanksgiving game as part of the deal. NBC moved the programming to Thursday instead of Wednesday because the network was carrying coverage of the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, home of the NBC headquarters.

If you are a Transplant fan and not a fan of football, you might not have even known the show had been temporarily moved. We always remind people to check your local listings.

NBC is running the final 2 episodes of Transplant back-to-back a week from tonight December 8 at 9 pm and 10 pm Eastern.

The return to Tuesday nights is convenient to CTV, which is running a sim sub on the repeats in Canada that are new to the U.S. audience.

Trickster coming to the U.S. on the CW in January

Transplant makes U.S. debut on NBC

U.S. television turns to Canadian TV shows to fill gaps due to COVID-19

Their work has only just begun. #Nurses premieres Monday, December 7 at 10/9c on NBC. pic.twitter.com/QbSl7QUC3V

— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) November 28, 2020

Nurses is the latest Canadian TV drama to come to U.S. broadcast TV

Since we are updating Canadian television on U.S. channels, tomorrow night (December 2) marks the end of the 2 seasons for Coroner on the CW Network. The CBC drama had 16 episodes that ran on the CW since late summer. IFC is wrapping up the 8-episode final season of Baroness von Sketch Show tomorrow night. The CBC comedy has been running on IFC on Wednesdays at midnight Eastern.

Baroness von Sketch Show just announced that 5 bonus episodes will run on CBC starting January 5.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

NBC starts running the Global series Nurses Monday night at 10 pm Eastern. The first 2 episodes run on Mondays before moving into the Transplant timeslot Tuesday nights at 10 pm Eastern in 2021 on January 5.

Trickster from CBC hits the U.S. airwaves on the CW on January 12.

We have been very pleased with Transplant in its first season. We are mostly happy with Coroner though the show goes off on odd tangents. We implore the U.S. networks to keep these shows well past the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

photo credit: Transplant/CTV
Twitter captures: @Deadline; @NBC

Canadians wanting football are stuck watching the NFL on TV

The Buffalo Bills have a significant number of Canadian season ticket holders. The Bills have announced that money will be refunded accordingly as long as the border is closed.

The Bills aren't allowing any fans at its first two home games at Bills Stadium in accordance with New York state guidelines.

Buffalo opened up its home season yesterday with the New York Jets. The next home game is September 27 against the Los Angeles Rams. Yesterday marked the first time Buffalo had major league baseball and football in the area at the same time.

We noted that those in Buffalo couldn't get the Toronto Blue Jays on television. The Buffalo Sabres had a limited deal with Bell Media to get their games in the immediate southern Ontario area from 2013-2016.

Toronto fans of the Buffalo Bills can easily watch the team. The sim sub usually ends up on CFTO-TV Channel 9, the CTV station in Toronto. Fans with an antenna can get the games via WIVB-TV 4, CBS in Buffalo, and WUTV, Fox 29 in Buffalo.

The Detroit Lions get a lot of Canadian fans to cross the border in season ticket holders and fans for individual games. The Windsor bus systems runs buses straight to Ford Field on game days. The Seattle Seahawks get a lot of Canadian fans even if the drive is longer than Windsor to Detroit.

Some NFL teams are allowed to have home fans if their state's rules are more lenient. The Miami Dolphins are scheduled to let in 13,000 people for its first home game.

NFL fans in Canada could travel to the U.S. to watch the games. The problems are that they have to fly to their destination and have to quarantine for 14 days when they get back.

Canadians can easily get their games on television with no border crossings.

CFL dream: What if U.S. sports fans suddenly cared about the CFL

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Toronto fans can finally root for the Buffalo Bills in the NFL playoffs

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has changed the sports world. The CFL cancelled its season in great part because they couldn't let in significant crowds. Quebec has a 250 maximum; the MLS Montréal Impact allowed that number in for recent games against Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Long-time readers will remember that the Buffalo Bills used to play games in Toronto at Rogers Centre. That certainly couldn't have happened in 2020.

The Buffalo Bills got snowed out in 2014 and moved a game to Detroit. The thought of moving the game to Toronto was thwarted since not all the players had passports.

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

Despite the attendance issues in the Bills Toronto series, the NFL is very popular in Canada. Without the CFL, the NFL will grow in stature, especially in Toronto and Vancouver.

U.S. NFL fans might think they get a decent amount of games on a Sunday. Canadians get way more games thanks to CTV stations across the country (with time shifting on cable or satellite) and TSN. Now that TSN doesn't have CFL games, Canadians may get even more NFL games.

@KennyAlbert has been in a safe bubble in #Edmonton for the @NHL playoffs. The @NFL made up a rule where anyone who has been outside the U.S. has to #quarantine for 14 days to call a game on site. #Canada is safer than any NFL city right now. https://t.co/ljs9aEMSTr

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) September 12, 2020

Kenny Albert has been in one of the safest places in North America in the NHL bubble in Edmonton for NBCSN. Albert was scheduled to leave the bubble to cover the NFL for Fox. The NFL has had this peculiar rule, even more odd since the NFL plays in London and Mexico City and used to play in Toronto. Albert flew from Edmonton through Toronto to Detroit when he found out en route that he wouldn't be able to call the NFL game.

Fox replaced Albert for the game in Detroit with Dick Stockton, who reportedly came in from Arizona. Edmonton, even outside the bubble, is safer than Arizona.

We profiled Kenny Albert's life in the bubble. The NHL gets full credit for how the bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto have gone. The NFL could learn something from the NHL.

The NFL rule doesn't specifically say Canada, yet the national announcers are either in Canada (Albert) or the United States (everyone else). Sam Rosen, who is calling NHL playoff games on the radio, isn't on Fox's list of NFL announcers.

logo credit: Buffalo Bills/NFL
Twitter capture: @canadian_xing

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif chooses health care over the NFL

My decision regarding the 2020 NFL season pic.twitter.com/jrY3nZfNWO

— Laurent D. Tardif (@LaurentDTardif) July 25, 2020

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif — Montréal native and Kansas City offensive guard — was in a quandry. The good doctor wasn't in a residency program so he had to stay on the medical sidelines. Given that Montréal was the hardest hit city in Quebec and Canada, Duvernay-Tardif chose to cheer on medical personnel from the sidelines rather than play for the Alouettes.

When we had our CFL dream back in June, we figured Laurent Duvernay-Tardif would have a dilemma about whether to play football or stick with health care. We figured he would choose health care over football.

"If I am to take risks, I will do it caring for patients."

Duvernay-Tardif has been working at Centre Gertrude-Lafrance, a facility in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, south of Montréal, according to social media accounts. He earned a medical degree from McGill University. Long-term care homes in the Montréal area suffered some of the worst damage from COVID-19 in all of Canada.

"Laurent is a person with a lot of convictions and has always been true to his beliefs and what he thinks is the right thing to do for him," said Sasha Ghavami, Duvernay-Tardif's agent and longtime friend.

Duvernay-Tardif is not the only relatively well-known figure with a medical degree to help out. Joannie Rochette, Olympic bronze medal winning figure skater (2010, Vancouver), also has a recent medical degree and is working in a care home.

The NFL and NFLPA agreed to offer a US$150,000 stipend to players such as Duvernay-Tardif who opt out of the upcoming season. Duvernay-Tardif is the first NFL player to opt out of the 2020 season.

CFL dream: What if U.S. sports fans suddenly cared about the CFL

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, born in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QC, started 2020 as only the fourth non-kicking Canadian to start in a Super Bowl. Duvernay-Tardif won a Super Bowl ring for the Kansas City NFL team.

Twitter capture and photo credit: @LaurentDTardif

Washington NFL nickname switch should inspire a similar move from the Edmonton CFL team

Editor's note: Reports on July 16 note that the Edmonton CFL team will drop its racist nickname.

The Washington NFL team will have a new nickname, the first change to the team nickname since 1933. The R-word finally will be gone.

The Atlanta MLB team sent out an e-mail to season ticket holders Sunday saying the nickname would stay but would reevaluate the "tomahawk chop" chant. I was at a MLB game in Atlanta many years ago; that sound will haunt me for the rest of my life.

The Chicago NHL team also said its nickname will not be changed. Their rationale is they are honouring Black Hawk of Illinois' Sac & Fox Nation (they aren't) and they will expand awareness. Difficult to expand awareness when you hardly show any awareness now. The logo is the worst.

The Edmonton CFL team should change its nickname.

CanadianCrossing.com has a strict policy to not use the sports team nicknames that are offensive or demeaning. This includes the Atlanta MLB team, the Cleveland MLB team, the Edmonton CFL team, and the Chicago NHL team.

When the Washington NFL team came to Toronto to play the Buffalo Bills in 2011, we avoided the nickname.

The Esks is already a part of the team moniker even if we know what that is short for saying. Our suggestion is to switch one letter and be the Edmonton Elks. The Elks nickname was used by the Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club for the 1922 season. Unlike the Washington NFL team, no need to change the Edmonton logo.

The elk is a dominant animal in that part of Alberta and is definitely part of the eating experience in Alberta.

The Edmonton CFL team issue is not at the top of the worst of the nicknames. The Washington nickname is at the top of the list. Team founder George Preston Marshall renamed the Boston team (the team shared the nickname with the NL team at that point, the same team that is now in Atlanta) the dreaded R-word in 1933 and moved the team to D.C. in 1937.

High school and university nicknames have been easier to change with alumni having more clout than season ticket holders. McGill University in Montréal changed its derogatory nickname to the Team for the previous athletic season and a new nickname will be announced soon.

Longtime Toronto Blue Jays radio announcer Jerry Howarth went out of his way to not say the Cleveland MLB team nickname, a difficulty especially during the 2016 American League Championship Series.

Some white people have argued that the Vancouver Canucks, Minnesota Vikings, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are also problematic. Canucks is slang for Canadians. Generally, this falls in the Montréal Canadiens category. Not the greatest nickname but not so much as to be offensive or demeaning. The orca whale that is in the logo could be a future nickname switch.

The nicknames tied to native people are more hurtful because of how society treated them then and now. If all the offensive nicknames against indigenous people were removed, logos and all, then we can think about the Vikings.

2019 CFL Week 16 preview

Australian comic Jim Jeffries took on the topic last fall on the The Jim Jeffries Show on Comedy Central in the United States and CTV Comedy Channel in Canada.

We posted the video as well. Jeffries talks to Edmonton CFL fans and actual Inuit people in the segment.

A letter to NFL fans who might want to follow the CFL

CFL kicks up Diversity Is Strength campaign

Michael Sam will find Montreal a great place to be a trailblazer

The CFL is about diversity. When the NFL went out of their way not to have black quarterbacks, the CFL welcomed them. Warren Moon is the most famous example but not the only one.

The Michael Sam story didn't last long in Montréal but not because of bigotry.

The Edmonton team said last week they would be "accelerating our ongoing process of review" following calls by sponsors. That includes longtime sponsor Belair Direct, one of the team's 13 premier partners, saying its use of the derogatory nickname is no longer appropriate.

We would love to write the story of the Edmonton CFL team changing to the Elks or whatever nickname they choose.

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

Would be really nice to watch a CFL game and have the announcer say, "The Elks look like they recovered the fumble." The current nickname is a fumble. Recover the fumble.

photo credit: Edmonton CFL team

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

Emily Hampshire and Charlie Day were in a Tide commercial that sprinkled in Bud Light and the Pepsi halftime show during Super Bowl LIV. Hampshire dressed as Stevie Budd from Schitt's Creek. Hampshire gets a stain on Day's shirt. Day did the subsequent ads about delaying laundry until tomorrow.

Hampshire and Day played older versions of themselves and replicated that in a later ad.

While Hampshire appears in the commercial as Emily (herself), visually she appears to be Stevie Budd. A small Canadian TV show on a U.S. outlet that most cable subscribers have never watched is connected to an American Super Bowl ad.

Lilly Singh (comedian) and Busy Philipps (actor) with actual astronaut Nicole Stott played astronauts in an ad for Olay Regenerist. The theme was about how girls/women can do anything. The company is donating $1 to Girls Who Code for every mention of #MakeSpaceForWomen.

Cobie Smulders came along to rescue people left behind in a Toyota Highlander that can travel through time and dimensions.

Mike Myers, the late John Candy, Matthew Perry all said "no" in an ad for whether the Discover card has annual fees. The appearances came from the Austin Powers series (Myers), Uncle Buck (Candy), and Friends (?) (Perry). Not quite sure how you can appear in an ad without permission. There was a similar Discover ad where "yes" was the theme. In the "no" ad, there were 8 people and 3 of them were Canadian.

Will Arnett appeared on promos as the host of Lego Masters, a new Fox series.

Canadians won't be able to watch Super Bowl LIV ads

CTV aired American ads during Super Bowl LIII with no confirmed trade deal

Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦#football #nfl #chiefs #chiefskingdom #canada #quebec pic.twitter.com/5SlMsM1fl3

— Laurent D. Tardif (@LaurentDTardif) July 1, 2019

Canadians have made very few on the field contributions to the Super Bowl. Most of those contributors are kickers and punters.

Kansas City's Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, born in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QC, is only the fourth non-kicking Canadian to start in a Super Bowl.

Duvernay-Tardif is the 16th Canadian to start in a Super Bowl and the first medical doctor from any country to play in a Super Bowl.

Ryan Hunter (North Bay, ON) would have been the 17th player but Hunter was a healthy scratch for Kansas City.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau beamed with pride for Duvernay-Tardif in part because both of them were McGill University graduates.

Here are the previous non-kickers, according to NFL Canada:

Austin Collie (Hamilton) wide receiver, Indianapolis, 2010
J.P. Darche (St-Laurent, QC) long-snapper, Seattle, 2006
Nick Kaczur (Brantford, ON) offensive lineman, New England, 2008
Allan Kennedy (Vancouver) offensive lineman, San Francisco, 1982, 1985
Mike Labinjo (Toronto) linebacker, Philadelphia, 2005
Mark Rypien (Calgary) quarterback, Washington, 1988, 1992
O.J. Santiago (Whitby, ON) tight end, Atlanta, 1999
Luke Willson (LaSalle, ON) tight end, Seattle, 2014-2015

Here are the previous kickers, according to NFL Canada:

Mitch Berger (Kamloops, BC) punter, Pittsburgh, 2009
Steve Christie (Oakville, ON) kicker, Buffalo, 1992-1994
Roy Gerela (Sarrail, AB) kicker, Pittsburgh, 1975-1976, 1979
Eddie Murray (Halifax) kicker, Dallas, 1994
Jon Ryan (Regina) punter, Seattle, 2014-2015
Shaun Suisham (Wallaceburg, ON) kicker, Pittsburgh, 2011
Klaus Wilmsmeyer (Mississauga, ON) punter, San Francisco, 1995

Non Canadian-born players who grew up in Canada and played in the Super Bowl:

Ken Clark (Southampton, England; Mississauga, ON) punter, Los Angeles Rams, 1980
Orlando Franklin (Kingston, Jamaica; Toronto) offensive lineman, Denver, 2014
Harald Hasselbach (Amsterdam; Tsawwassen, BC) defensive lineman, Denver, 1998-1999
Israel Idonije (Lagos, Nigeria; Brandon, MB) defensive lineman, Chicago, 2007
Markus Koch (Niedermarsberg, Germany; Kitchener, ON), defensive lineman, Washington, 1988, (IR) 1992
Tom Nutten (Toledo, Ohio; Magog, QC) centre, St. Louis Rams, 2000, 2002

Super Bowl LII ads light on Canadian content

Bell Media Super Bowl LI ratings drop 39% from last year

Canada makes little presence in Super Bowl LI ads

Canadians can watch Super Bowl LI ads but not without U.S. pressure

Super Bowl XLIX preview: CRTC to allow Super Bowl ads in 2017

Canadians get a lot of U.S. TV, but normally get shut out of Super Bowl ads

CanadianCrossing.com NFL coverage

CanadianCrossing.com advertising coverage

UPDATE: The Canadian ratings for Super Bowl LIV were significantly improved. The CTV/TSN/RDS average numbers were 9.5 million compared to 5.3 million. Some of those figures won't convert with what we posted before the Super Bowl since these numbers include RDS. The U.S. numbers were down, the second-least-watched over the last 11 years.

We are curious but not as curious as Bell Media is about the Super Bowl LIV ratings. CTV gets credit for people watching on the Fox affiliates in cable and satellite since Bell Media wasn't able to carry the U.S. Super Bowl ads. We will be intrigued to see if CTV returned to the 2016 numbers, especially if the U.S. ratings fell over last year.

photos credit: Tide; Olay
videos credit: YouTube/Tide; YouTube/Toyota USA
Twitter capture: @LaurentDTardif

Canadians won't be able to watch Super Bowl LIV ads

The CUSMA | USMCA has a petty provision that nullifies the CRTC ruling that allowed Super Bowl ads to be shown on Canadian television. The NFL and Bell Media, holders of the Canadian rights to the NFL and the Super Bowl, worked hard to get the ruling reversed.

The language in the trade deal had Canada agreeing to rescind "Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-34 and Broadcasting Order CRTC 2016-335."

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 7-2 last month that the CRTC went too far outside the Broadcasting Act. So CTV and TSN won't have to show the American ads during the Super Bowl.

Whatever side you are on this battle, Canadians should make that decision, not Americans.

The U.S. Congress has passed the new trade deal earlier this month. Canada has not passed NAFTA 2.0.

CUSMA passes through U.S. Congress

Simultaneous substitution during live programming allows Canadian networks to acquire programming from the United States and simsub Canadian ads to cover the U.S. ads. This policy applies to the Canadian broadcaster. Canadians who can pick up the U.S. digital feed (Windsor, Toronto) can see the U.S. ads. Digital signals travel shorter distances than analog signals and are less reliable.

Fox will carry the Super Bowl for those desperate to see the U.S. ads. Those in Windsor can tune into Fox 2/WJBK from Detroit. Those in Toronto and Hamilton can get Fox 29/WUTV Buffalo. Montréal is a long shot but those in the region can try to pull in Fox 44 WFFF in Burlington, Vermont.

CTV aired American ads during Super Bowl LIII with no confirmed trade deal

Bell Media Super Bowl LI ratings drop 39% from last year

Canadians can watch Super Bowl LI ads but not without U.S. pressure

Super Bowl XLIX preview: CRTC to allow Super Bowl ads in 2017

The CTV page for Super Bowl LIV isn't filled with incentives to get viewers to watch the Super Bowl. No contests to keep you glued to the Canadian feed. CTV knows you will watch because the Super Bowl is the biggest NFL game. Canadians will likely see many not-so-great ads for Canadian Tire and other companies. A Canadian Super Bowl ad wouldn't have to be that expensive to produce. The bar is really low. Give Canadian viewers something fun to watch in between tackles.

CTV had been drawing about 7 million Canadians in 2016 before the CRTC stepped in on the Super Bowl ads for the last 3 Super Bowls. The numbers fell to about 4.5 million where the American ads could air on the U.S. stations. Bell Media hopes those numbers will rebound substantially.

TSN 1/3/4/5 will simulcast the CTV Super Bowl LIV feed because, why not. TSN2 will have a rebroadcast of the Toronto Raptors game from earlier in the day.

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Super Bowl LIV will air this Sunday at 6:30 pm Eastern on Fox in the United States and CTV and TSN in Canada.

photo credit: Bell Media