[Shootmaster_44]

I realize this is a long way off right now. But I was curious if the TV rights had been finalized for the 2015 Pan-Am Games in the GTA? I know CBC had the rights to the last few games (not sure if the 2007 or this upcoming 2011 Pan-Ams will be televised) but the 1999 and 2003 games were covered by CBC. Seems to me TSN had a hand in the 1999 Games from Winnipeg.

 

[NB Josh]

I'd think CBC will be the front runner, maybe backed by Shaw or Rogers. CTV/TSN have the resources to do a Pan-Ams themselves, so I could certainly see them putting in a bid too, especially if they win the 2016 Olympics in Rio. This is all just personal opinion though. Rights probably won't be decided for a couple years, unless CBC goes out an buys 2011 and 2015 this summer.

 

[Jase88]

It's too early to tell. Shaw Media has applied for a specialty sports channel license. They might try for a big push by bidding on the games. And of course the existing players will likely bid...

Either way, I'm not confident that conventional networks like CBC or CTV will be covering the games...as much as I would prefer that.

 

[Walter Dnes]

How much viewership do you expect for the Games? It's not the Olympics, so less prestige. If it gets into a bidding war for the rights, the "winner" could take a financial beating.

 

[Shootmaster_44]

I expect big viewership for the 2015 games since it is in the GTA. Seems to me the 1999 Winnipeg Pan-Ams were well viewed. Mind you, back then the Pan-Ams were the Olympic qualifiers for many events. I'm not sure that that is still the case. I know baseball had held their own qualifiers for the 2008 games, even though the Pan-Ams had a baseball competition. But since the IOC has dropped baseball, that isn't a sport to put much stock in.

I assume that the Pan-Ams will get at least the treatment that the Canada Winter Games are getting from TSN. I believe they are showing one live event per day and a wrapup show. Since Canadians tend to watch baseball, I'd anticipate that all of Canada's ballgames will be shown, plus anything featuring big names (i.e. track or swimming).

 

[hugh]

I expect the games will be well watched in this country for no other reason than the games are in the backyard of about a quarter of the nations population.

My guess is a Sportsnet /TSN team up ala the Olympics.

 

[NB Josh]

How much coverage they would get would probably depend on the network. With TSN/TSN2 at least one doesn't have primetime programming most nights in the summer, so it would be easy to have live primetime coverage of swimming, athletics, diving etc. On the other hand, Sportsnet has the Jays most nights, so we might see more delayed coverage if they had rights. CBC probably wouldn't devote primetime hours, so we might see a 1-2 hour wrap up show at 11:00pm, with lots of live coverage on the weekend.