When the Canadian Football League introduced Jeffrey Orridge as its 13th commissioner in March, Jim Lawson, the league’s chairman of the board, told The Globe and Mail establishing a bond with a new generation of fans would be one of his most pressing issues.
Lawson’s comments were an acknowledgement that millennials are just as likely to chat about a big game on Twitter, while watching its key plays on Vine and discovering its stars via YouTube. For people 13-35, the traditional TV broadcast is no longer the only way to engage with their favourite sport.
“A pre-condition to experiencing the game is that now it starts on social media, then it migrates to the web and ultimately winds up on the biggest screen available, which is the liner broadcast,” said Orridge, who last week announced a new content partnership with Whistle Sports – a New York based YouTube multi-channel network (MCN) that counts frisbee expert Brodie Smith and the comedy troupe Dude Perfect (sample video: “Dizzy Sports Battle”) among its stars.
While the CFL already operated its own YouTube channel, which boasts just shy of 14,000 subscribers, Orridge called the Whistle Sports partnership a “much more expansive approach” that provides it with an opportunity to create and distribute more innovative – and sometimes goofier – content.
One new video housed on its channel, for example, is a comedic “Would you rather…” video in which CFL prospects are asked if they would rather spend the rest of their life in clown makeup or a clown costume.
Orridge said millennial audiences have an “insatiable appetite” for fun and exciting entertainment content; it is incumbent on the CFL, he said, to offer fans and marketing partners the ability to engage with this content on the platform of their choosing.
“Certainly we want to reach a new generation of fans in innovative and exciting ways,” said Orridge, a New York native who spent four years as executive director of CBC Sports before taking over the CFL post late last month.
“We’re making a concerted effort to engage a younger fanbase and really it’s about reach, relevance and relationships,” he added. “Whistle Sports is a perfect example of [how we can] reach many more fans and create a larger fanbase.”
Originally conceived as what The New York Times described as “an ESPN for kids,” Whistle Sports was intended as an antidote to the bluster and sometimes mind-numbing analysis that constitutes modern-day sports coverage. Today, it boasts more than 17 million subscribers across 280 channels, while its videos have been viewed 1 billion times. It also boasts 31 million Facebook likes and six million Twitter followers.
“Great content, well amplified, has a way of finding fans,” said Brian Selander, executive vice-president of Whistle Sports (he also goes by the title offensive coordinator). “Partly that’s because millennial sports fans love to engage, share, comment and spread great news. We have a great base of existing fans and followers, but the CFL gives us a great new set of players, teams and fans to connect with and entertain.”
And the accolades are piling up along with the subscribers and views. Earlier this year, Whistle Sports was named the third most innovative company of the year in video by Fast Company; it is also a nominee in the Best in Digital Sports Media category – where its competitors include sports media titans like ESPN, NBC Sports and the National Football League – in SportsBusiness Journal’s upcoming Sports Business Awards.
The company also has partnerships in place with numerous professional leagues, including the NFL, NASCAR, Major League Baseball, The PGA Tour and the National Lacrosse League.
Selander said the CFL seemed a “natural choice” to expand on its relationships with other major pro leagues. The CFL also had Whistle Sports’ senior partner manager Josh Grunberg in its corner. The Humber College graduate had previously worked with both the Vancouver Canucks and TSN, and according to Selander, told company executives the league represented a “great opportunity” for original content.
The CFL partnership was the brainchild of Christina Litz, who took over as the league’s vice-president of broadcast and media assets in April 2014 after holding senior digital roles with both Corus Entertainment and Rogers Communications.
“Because she’s so proactive and connected within the digital space, and so well respected, she had a lot to do with Whistle Sports being interested in us and us being able to pull this deal together in such an efficient and effective way,” said Orridge.
The new commissioner said the CFL has the ability to connect with fans via Whistle Sports because of its unique combination of affordability and unrivaled player accessibility.
With an average CFL salary of $80,000 – and a league minimum of $50,000 – most CFL stars don’t live the cloistered existence of an NHL or NBA star. According to a September 2014 article in Maclean’s, for example, the Calgary Stampeders’ Jon Cornish works as a bank teller during the off-season, while the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Kory Sheets, the 2013 Grey Cup MVP, works as a truck driver.
“Even though they do some amazing things on the field, they’re still part of the community,” said Orridge. “They’re just regular people off the field, yet they do some super-human things on the field.”
Internally, the Whistle Sports partnership is being viewed as a great opportunity for CFL sponsors to attach themselves to engaging content – such as the 1:20 video of Hamilton Tiger Cats receiver Andy Fantuz setting a new world record for most one-handed catches. The video has been viewed nearly 71,000 times in six days, with Selander noting it has been seen by Whistle Sports fans in “multiple” countries.
“That’s the stuff that typically would not be expected of the CFL,” said Orridge. “Most people didn’t even know we had athletes that set these kinds of records.”
While no advertising deals have been finalized, Orridge said the league is experiencing “incredible interest” stemming from the Whistle Sports partnership. “We’ve always done creative and innovative things, and we’re going to continue to push the envelope,” he said. “That’s what people have come to expect from the CFL.”
The league also announced a “sweeping” multi-year partnership agreement with Shaw Communications that makes it the league’s official telecommunications partner. Shaw also becomes the first-ever presenting sponsor of the Grey Cup and will receive “prominent” branding across CFL broadcasts on TSN.
The company is also the new title sponsor of the Shaw Player Awards and a weekly player achievement program that gives fans the opportunity to recognize CFL talent. After Labour Day, Shaw will also partner with the official league broadcaster TSN on a series called Shaw Road to the Grey Cup, which will also be featured on both TSN and the league’s digital properties.
