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Leafs Radio Crew On The Road For Playoffs, But Rogers/Bell Not Paying
How cheap is cheap? When it comes to their properties, there seems to be no end to the penuriousness of Rogers and Bell.
It turns out they've allowed the Leaf radio crews to actually go on the road during the playoffs, instead of just calling the action from a Toronto studio. But it appears the only reason they gave approval is because they don't have to pick up the tab. Instead, the NHL is paying the freight.
There's no immediate explanation for how that came about, but according to The Daily Hive, it may trace back to a blown Joe Bowen call from last year when the veteran announcer couldn't see the action and credited the wrong player with scoring a key goal.
But the Leaf crew is the lucky exception. Rogers has kept the Canucks radio play-by-play crew at home during the playoffs instead of letting them fly to Nashville to cover the action on scene.
Rogers is also keeping its Jays' radio crew home for the year, sitting in a studio in downtown Toronto instead of heading out with the Boys In Blue & White for half the season. No word if that will change if the Jays make the playoffs, which is still a long, long way off. But I will always believe that being where the game is being played provides better coverage than if they stay at home. Sadly, this seems to be the new normal for Canadian teams.
- RadioActive
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Re: Leafs Radio Crew On The Road For Playoffs, But Rogers/Bell Not Paying
Jim Robson, who was mentioned with deserved praise in a separate thread, is incensed about this no-travel trend, with his Canucks the only team relegated to sitting in a studio while the squad is trying to advance to the next round.
“I think it’s so unfair. There are things that happen in the game that you don’t see on screen, like a fight developing in the corner or what have you,” Robson said Thursday. “It’s unfair to Brendan [Batchelor]. He does a very good job.”
Being there in person means you are automatically raising the quality of your call because of that ability to see what’s going on outside the confines of the TV picture that you’re looking at when you’re calling from a studio."
Honestly, you have to wonder how much it really costs to send a crew of between two and four on the road for a few games. Outside of airfare, hotel, meals and a few other expenses, it can't come to very much for a company like Rogers or Bell. They likely spend more than that for a few corporate lunches. A classic case of pennywise, pound foolish.
Canucks' Sportsnet radio crew not travelling for playoffs — and Jim Robson isn't impressed
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Thread Starter- Binson Echorec
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Re: Leafs Radio Crew On The Road For Playoffs, But Rogers/Bell Not Paying
RadioActive wrote:
Honestly, you have to wonder how much it really costs to send a crew of between two and four on the road for a few games.
In my experience, most of the behind the scenes people are provided by the home team so you'd only send your PBP and Colour out on the road.
If Rogers could figure out how to keep the entire Leafs team at home, they would.
- Dale Patterson
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Re: Leafs Radio Crew On The Road For Playoffs, But Rogers/Bell Not Paying
=12px>> If Rogers could figure out how to keep the entire Leafs team at home, they would.
They likely will be, after this round.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
- torontostan
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Re: Leafs Radio Crew On The Road For Playoffs, But Rogers/Bell Not Paying
Honestly, you have to wonder how much it really costs to send a crew of between two and four on the road for a few games. Outside of airfare, hotel, meals and a few other expenses, it can't come to very much for a company like Rogers or Bell. They likely spend more than that for a few corporate lunches. A classic case of pennywise, pound foolish.
Tens of thousands. If you operated a company as if it has one big chequing account, then it will not do well. Why should Rogers Ignite revenue offset the cost of some random radio guy in a different division? The fact of the matter is that very few people listen to games on the radio anymore, it would be less than 1% of the total audience. The vast majority of those listening to the game on radio are doing so because they're not near a TV, so it's simply treated as a backup option. I'm nostalgic for the way things used to be, and of course my preference would be to have these guys travel to all games, but unfortunately there's no business model for sending crews on the road anymore. The cost of doing so (even if small in the grand scheme), will not be offset by anything, and the stakes are so low that it doesn't matter in the same way that the TV announcers must be there to ensure a top-notch product. We need to stop whining about this. These guys are paid to watch hockey for a living.. there are bigger problems facing the industry.
- RadioActive
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Re: Leafs Radio Crew On The Road For Playoffs, But Rogers/Bell Not Paying
OK, but think of how embarrassing it is when their lack of sight lines leads to a red faced on-air error. People still talk about Joe Bowen's mistake from a previous playoff, and it all happened because he couldn't see who scored on his monitor.
I've also heard Ben Shulman admit he can't always tell listeners what happened on a play during a Jays' away game because he couldn't see it.
There's a price for excellence. It's sad to me that with huge money makers like these teams, Rogers isn't willing to pay it.
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Thread Starter- ED1
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Re: Leafs Radio Crew On The Road For Playoffs, But Rogers/Bell Not Paying
Not sure about the Winnipeg Jets, but my understanding is that the Oilers' on-air team are on the hockey team's payroll, not CHED/Corus. So that's why those guys get to go. The arrangement in Winnipeg is probably structured the same way.
- paterson1
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Good point torontostan. Can we get over this please and stop whining about it every month or two. TV play by play announcers and colour commentators make mistakes from time to time as well, and they are at the game. As long as the mistake is corrected quickly, who cares?
And you know for a fact these teams are "huge" money makers?? I understand the Jays have been losing money, or marginally profitable other years. And they just spent $300 million to fix up the stadium.
From Forbes..