CFL on TSN
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The ''CFL on TSN'' is TSN's presentation of the
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...
. The Sports Network (TSN) has broadcast CFL games since the 1987 season and has been the exclusive broadcaster of all CFL games (including the playoffs and
Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...
) since 2008. While the CFL on TSN shows all CFL games, a more entertainment-focused ''Thursday Night Football'' telecast (unrelated to the National Football League package of the same name) was added in 2015.


Commentators


Studio panel

The ''CFL on TSN''s studio panel consists of host Kate Beirness and a rotating crew of former CFL all-star players Milt Stegall, Davis Sanchez, Henoc Muamba, and former CFL coach Jim Barker. Former '' CFL on CBC'' studio host
Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a correspondent for ''NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchorman, anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in ...
occasionally contributed to the studio show also. TSN first used a studio panel in 1996. It featured Less Browne, Bob O'Billovich, and Marty York alongside host Darren Dutchyshen. Rod Smith replaced Dutchyshen for the 1997 season, with all three analysts returning. TSN replaced the entire panel for the 1998 season, with network newcomer James Duthie hosting and Chris Schultz and Eric Tillman providing analysis. Tillman became general manager of the
Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...
in 1999 and was replaced by former CFL quarterback Matt Dunigan. Tillman was fired after one season in Toronto and returned to the panel. In 2001, Dave Randorf took over hosting duties. The following season, slotback
Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...
Jock Climie retired to become an analyst for TSN. He replaced Tillman, who became the general manager of the expansion
Ottawa Renegades The Ottawa Renegades were a Canadian Football League franchise based in Ottawa, Ontario founded in 2002, six years after the storied Ottawa Rough Riders folded. After four seasons, the Renegades franchise was suspended indefinitely by the league d ...
. Dunigan left TSN in 2004 to become the head coach and general manager of the
Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...
. He was fired after a single season and returned to TSN, where he remained until 2024. Milt Stegall joined TSN as a guest analyst in 2009 after a 14-year playing career in the CFL. Dave Randorf left TSN for
Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...
in 2014 and was replaced by Rod Smith. Henry Burris joined TSN early in the 2017 season as a guest off-screen analyst narrating short explainer films of standard CFL plays using file footage, then joined the studio panel full-time late in 2017. The record-setting retired quarterback was named the league's Most Outstanding Player twice (
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
,
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
), won the Grey Cup three times (
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
,
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
,
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
), and was named the Grey Cup MVP twice (2008, 2016) during his 19-year CFL career. Burris works as a television host for the local Ottawa version of '' CTV Morning Live''. Davis Sanchez joined the CFL panel in 2018 after a stint with
CKGM CKGM (''TSN Radio, TSN 690 Montreal'') is an English language, English-language AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an network affiliate, affiliate of sports radio network "The Team (radio n ...
sports radio in Montreal commenting on Alouettes games. The 3-time Grey Cup-winning cornerback (
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
,
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
,
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
) and three-time East Division defensive All-Star (
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
,
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
,
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
) spent 10 seasons in the CFL and 2 in the NFL. Mike Benevides rejoined the CFL panel in 2019 after being let go from his last coaching role with the Edmonton Eskimos. Benevides was part of the coaching staff of 3 Grey Cup winning teams (
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
,
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
,
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
), and was previously a CFL commentator on TSN during the 2015 season. Beirness took over studio host duties from Rod Smith in 2021.


Game commentators

John Wells (play-by-play), Leif Pettersen (colour commentary), and Vic Rauter (host) made up TSN's first broadcast team. In 1995, the network added a second broadcast team of Gord Miller (play-by-play) and Glen Suitor (colour). For the 1997 season, David Archer was a third announcer in either the Wells–Pettersen or Miller–Suitor booths on Fridays. During the 1998 season, Pettersen retired to focus on his business commitments and Suitor took over as TSN's lead commentator. In 2005, Chris Cuthbert joined TSN after he was fired by the
CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...
and replaced Wells as the lead announcer. Rod Black and Leif Petterson served as the secondary broadcast team, with Wells calling some games that season. 3-time Grey Cup champion Danny McManus replaced Petterson, whose full-time job conflicted with TSN's schedule, in 2007. McManus lasted only one season and was replaced by Duane Forde. Cuthbert joined Rogers Sportsnet in June 2020 and Rod Black left in October 2021. Since then, TSN has used Rod Smith and Dustin Nielson on play-by-play and Glen Suitor and Duane Forde on commentary.


International broadcasts

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...
, the online arm of
ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by the Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. Founded by Bill Rasmussen in 1979, it owns and operates local and global cable and ...
, carried most CFL games from 2008 through 2017; beginning in 2018, live broadcasts moved behind a
paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...
to
ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...
, ESPN's subscription over-the-top service, with ESPN3 continuing to offer replays of games originally carried on one of ESPN's linear networks. As part of the 2013 contract extension, which included both U.S. and Canadian broadcast rights, ESPN's terrestrial networks (particularly
ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...
) have carried TSN's coverage of select CFL games on U.S. television. Since 2017, the broadcast schedule began on opening weekend, when most (if not all) of the 4 games would be aired on traditional cable. After that, about one game (usually on a Thursday or Friday Night) every week would also air on cable, though ESPN has not arranged a specific/consistent timeslot for when that game would occur. This lasts throughout the summer, up until the start of the NCAA College Football season in late August/early September, when nearly all of the games move exclusively to ESPN+. This lasts until the start of the playoffs, when the broadcasts are back on cable (playoff games are divided between ESPN2 and ESPNnews, and the Grey Cup is consistently held on ESPN2, which it has been every year since 2014). In total, around 20 games are carried throughout the season on the ESPN networks, with the other 65 airing on ESPN+. The TSN deal also allows for CFL games to be simulcast on ESPN's other international networks, as well as through
BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...
, ESPN's licensing partner in the
British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
.


Prior agreements

In the early 1990s, Prime Network simulcast TSN's coverage. In 2008, Friday night games were shown on the World Sport channel of Voom HD. However, in January 2009,
Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
shut down Voom HD.
America One America One was an American television network established in 1995 by USFR Media Group through its America One Television subsidiary.
held the rights to other TSN and (prior to 2008) CBC simulcasts through the 2009 season; America One syndicated its games to various regional sports networks across the United States. After that agreement ended, the CFL secured one-year limited broadcast deals with
NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...
(2010–11) and NBC Sports Network (2012–13). Currently, United States broadcast rights to a game of the week format belong to
CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...
as of 2023.


Personalities


Play-by-play

* John Wells: 1987–2004 (lead play-by-play announcer), 2005 (secondary play-by-play announcer) * Chris Cuthbert: 2005–2019 (lead play-by-play announcer) * Gord Miller: 1993–1998, 2009–2019 (secondary play-by-play announcer) * Rod Smith: 1998–1999, 2012–2019 (secondary play-by-play announcer), 2021–present (lead play-by-play announcer) * Dave Randorf: 1999–2000 (secondary play-by-play announcer) * Rod Black: 2005–2021 (secondary play-by-play announcer) * Matt Devlin: 2012–2017 (secondary play-by-play announcer) * Dustin Nielson: 2019–present (secondary play-by-play announcer)


Colour commentator

* Leif Pettersen: 1987–1998 (lead colour commentator), 2005–2006 (secondary colour commentator) * Dan Ferrone: 1993 (secondary colour commentator) * Glen Suitor: 1995–1998 (secondary colour commentator), 1998–present (lead colour commentator) * David Archer: 1997 * Matt Dunigan: 1999, 2009–2024 (secondary colour commentator) * Danny McManus: 2007 (secondary colour commentator) * Duane Forde: 2008–present (secondary colour commentator) * Paul LaPolice: 2025–present (secondary colour commentator)


Studio hosts

* Vic Rauter: 1987–1991 * Gord Miller: 1992–1994 * Darren Dutchyshen: 1995–1996 * Rod Smith: 1997, 2014–2019 * James Duthie: 1998–2000 * Dave Randorf: 2001–2013 * Kate Beirness: 2018–present


Studio analysts

* Bob O'Billovich: 1996–1997 * Less Browne: 1996–1997 * Marty York: 1996–1997 * Chris Schultz: 1998–2017 * Eric Tillman: 1998, 2000–2001 * Matt Dunigan: 1999–2003, 2005–2024 * Jock Climie: 2002–2018 * Milt Stegall: 2009–present * Paul LaPolice: 2013–2015, 2023–present * Mike Benevides: 2015, 2019 * Henry Burris: 2017–2019 * Davis Sanchez: 2018–present * Henoc Muamba: 2024–present


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cfl On Tsn The Sports Network original programming Canadian Football League on television 1990 Canadian television series debuts 1980s Canadian sports television series 1990s Canadian sports television series 2000s Canadian sports television series 2010s Canadian sports television series