Introduction

This is the Northern 90 Podcast with Pat Sweet, Episode 7.

Welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast, covering the beautiful game in the great white north. For more Canadian Premier League content, head over to Northern90.ca. That’s Northern Nine Zero dot ca.

Welcome

Hello, Canada, and welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast!

And actually, before I move on, I should say hello to the rest of the world, too. In the three weeks since I launched the podcast, I’ve had visitors from:

  • Canada
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Netherlands
  • European Union
  • Ireland
  • Serbia
  • Panama
  • Honduras
  • Belgium

So, I should be saying “Hello, world!” and welcome to our great land. It’s great to have you.

In today’s episode, I’m going to do a deep dive into the recently-announced media rights partnership that was announced between Canadian Soccer Business and Mediapro – what’s good, what’s bad, and what questions remain unanswered.

But first, let’s tackle this week’s CPL headlines.

News

In this week’s headlines:

  • Portuguese-Canadian footballer Stephen Eustaquio commits to the Canadian Men’s National Team. This is huge for Canadian soccer. You look at the roster, and guys like Cyle Larin, Ballou Tabla, Jonathan David, Alphonso Davies, and now Eustaquio, are all solid and have enormous upsides. By the time Canada co-hosts World Cup in 2026, the men’s squad is going to be very, very good.
  • The Young Gaffers had a great show this week, with a really cool interview with Pacific FC’s Marcel de Jong. Go check that out. They made the argument that de Jong’s signing could really open doors for MLS players considering joining CPL, which I think is a good call on their part.
  • There’s finally a CPL schedule! Check it out here.

If you want even more CPL content, including the most important headlines delivered straight to your inbox, then sign up for the Northern 90 Supporters’ group. When you join, you get a weekly newsletter with the top headlines, podcast notifications, access to private supporter’s group Facebook group, and much much more. Also, it’s free. Check it out at northern90.ca/join.

Next up, a deep dive into the CSB’s media partnership with Mediapro.

Deep Dive into the CSB’s Media Rights Deal with Mediapro

In last week’s episode, I explained that the creatively named Canadian Soccer Business had announced a deal that would see it’s media rights for the next decade be sold to Mediapro for an undisclosed fee. If you didn’t catch the episode, you can check it out at northern90.ca/episode6, but to recap:

The Deal in a Nutshell

  • Mediapro is a global media company based in Spain, known for the “commercialization of competitions” like La Liga and UEFA Champions League, among others.
  • In this 10-year deal, Mediapro becomes the “Official Media Partner” to the CSB
  • They are acquiring the global and domestic rights to:
    • Canadian men’s and women’s national team home matches
    • Voyageur’s Cup
    • CPL games
    • League 1 Ontario games
  • Mediapro will be in charge of the production of all matches
  • Plans include an OTT soccer streaming channel that will be available through desktop, mobile, and smart TV platforms.
  • Content includes unique soccer shoulder programming including magazine shows, documentaries, and other Canadian soccer programming.
  • Quotes from Oscar Lopez, the CEO of Mediapro Canada:
    • “For us, the match is only half the story we want to tell. The other half is the story of the players, the cities, the training and processes, everything around the match and about the teams. That’s how we built La Liga, which is on seven days per week.”
    • “We know clearly that the agencies that only deal with buying and selling rights are coming to an end. We need to add more value to these rights.”
    • Mediapro will continue to work with CSB to contemplate all distribution opportunities, partnerships, and platforms that ensure the future success of CSB’s media assets.

What I think of CSB Deal with Mediapro

On the importance of cash

  • Think of the league as a start-up. Cash is the most important thing in the world right now. This deal gives us that, and cash into the future to plan on.
  • There have been no official reports on the cash value of the deal, but the guys over at the Young Gaffers podcast had heard it was a $20M/ year deal. If that’s true, then there will a lot of people at the league’s front office sleeping well for the first time in months.

On the long-term deal

  • A 10-year deal is interesting.
  • On one hand, it represents a risk for CSB that they’ve left money on the table. It’s possible they could have gone with a shorter deal and gone back to the market in a couple of years in the hopes of getting more money once the league has matured a bit.
  • On the other hand, having a longer-term deal puts Mediapro in a spot where they’re all in. If they hope to reap the benefits of their investment in these rights, they have to produce excellent content to sell to consumers directly, to other distribution channels, or to sell the rights to someone else.
  • The ten-year deal means everyone’s in this together – it creates a win-win situation. When the league produces great soccer, Mediapro wins. When Mediapro produces great content, the league wins. In both cases, the fans win.
  • I suspect there’s also an eye being put toward world cup in 2026 as well – there will be a natural groundswell of soccer support in this country at that time. Canadian players will be on the world stage, at home, and the CanPL will get a ton of organic marketing through that. Following the tournament, Mediapro will find that there’s much more demand for their content, both direct to customers and through the major networks.

On Mediapro

  • The other encouraging thing about the deal is that that’s a major vote of confidence from Mediapro – an organization with significant experience in and exposure to leagues all over the world.
  • This deal allows the league and CSB to focus on football. They’re not a media company. Mediapro is. This will lead to better overall product quality on the pitch and on your screen.
  • Mediapro will end up hiring Canadians and staffing offices here. That’s good.

On the products being promised

  • I’m excited that the content will be delivered over the top.
  • Thrilled about the scope of what will be delivered – having national team games and Canadian Championship games included is awesome.
  • Coverage of League 1 Ontario intrigues me. It makes me wonder what the CPL’s plans are for that league. I can only imagine that there’s work being done already to sort out how to integrate it formally into the larger Canadian Soccer Pyramid and with the CPL.
  • There has been consternation online about not having the league shared directly with casual fans on major networks. I think it’s important to remember we’re early adopters. The league isn’t looking for mass adoption right away. OTT is just fine. Even better, it’ll give Mediapro better feedback through which to improve the programming quickly. Once the product is refined on and off the pitch, it can go to a wider audience.

Overall score

  • My gut reaction is that this gets an A. The long-term nature of the deal is a win. The cash is a win. The partner is a win.
  • Not worried about the lack of big cable deal. Distribution has to satisfy the early adopters first, then move on once that market has been served, and the needs are very different.

What do you think?

If you’ve listened to the show, you know I love to hear from you guys. I’d love to know what you think of this deal. You can:

  • Leave a comment at northern90.ca/episode7
  • Write to me at pat at northern90.ca
  • Fire me a note on Twitter @northernninety

Next up, the mailbag.

Mailbag

Some great messages and ideas this week to share with you.

  • Barry from Scotland wrote to tell me he liked the show and to provide some good feedback, so I really appreciate that Barry.
  • Paul wrote to ask for some clarification on the 3 U-21 players and the 1000 minutes minimum rule.
  • Reddit user TheUrbanEast made some great suggestions about what I could do in future episodes by doing interviews and having guest hosts on the show. I love the idea, and I’m already working on that. I’ve got some irons in the fire that include other soccer content creators, analysts and league office folks, so stay tuned for that.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love getting your mail. Keep it coming! The best thing about doing this podcast is meeting other fans and talking about the game, so thank you for that.

Outroduction

That’s all we’ve got for the show today. If you liked the show, don’t forget to subscribe to it, and when you do leave an honest review. That helps me make the show better and others find it.

Also, if you’ve been enjoying this show, you should join my supporters’ group. When you join you get a weekly newsletter with curated CPL content, access to a members-only Facebook group, contests, giveaways, fantasy leagues, all sorts of good stuff. And it’s free. Check it out at northern90.ca/join.

Next week, I’ll dig into the newly-released CPL schedule, so be sure to send me your questions and comments.

Until then, have a great week.

 

Credits

Featured Image

Stocksnap.io: Sven Scheuermeier

Intro music

Move Like This by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Texas Radio Fish, Alex Beroza, and Snowflake

Main Content Intro Music

260809 Funky Nurykabe by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Mailbag Music

I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque

Outro music

Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Morusque, Jeris, CSoul, Alex Beroza