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CITY-TV's coverage of the Cincinnati Reds-Toronto Blue Jays game on Sunday had baseball fans scratching their heads, but the Jays are calling the telecast a triumph.
"From our point of view, we were delighted with it and we'll probably do it again if CITY-TV is interested," Jays president Paul Godfrey said yesterday from spring training at Dunedin, Fla.
Gord Martineau, the news anchor for the Toronto station, called his first baseball game. Reporter Kathryn Humphreys, speaking to Jays outfielder Alex Rios, asked questions such as, "Is it hard being so beautiful?" Several of the on-air personalities functioned as ticket-sales people.
But Godfrey says hyping the team and selling tickets were the objectives of the telecast. (CITY-TV and the Jays are owned by Rogers Communications.)
"It was billed as a way of promoting the Blue Jays by promoting the team, promoting sales and promoting sponsors," he said.
CITY-TV's participation increased ticket sales by 65 per cent from last year's first day of single-ticket sales, Godfrey said.
"It was higher than any other opening day ticket sales for the Jays since Rogers took over [in 2000]," he said.
But any similarity to a conventional baseball telecast was accidental. Martineau didn't know the players' names and Humphreys's reporting seemed just silly.
"Do you like stuff?" she asked Rios.
"What kind of stuff?" he asked.
"Any stuff," she said.
Art Martone, blogging in The Providence Journal, wrote that he was "befuddled" by the telecast, which was carried on MLB.com.
Godfrey said the club received generally positive reaction. "CITY-TV is not the traditional broadcaster and we realized we were using people who had never called a game before," he said. "But, I've got to tell you, the reaction that we've received so far as been most positive from phone calls that the Toronto office tells me they've received."
If CITY-TV hadn't aired the game, it would not have been seen in Toronto. TSN and Rogers Sportsnet were not planning to carry it.
Games producers hired
Gord Cutler was confirmed yesterday as the executive producer of the CTV-Rogers coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 and the London Summer Games in 2012.
Cutler, most recently the executive producer of NHL Network, will be in charge of live-event, studio and taped coverage of the two Games. He's worked in television for 22 years with TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, NBC, Fox and ESPN. He was a producer on NBC's coverage of the Salt Lake, Athens and Turin Olympics.
Also announced yesterday was Don Young as the executive producer of Olympic features.
He will oversee the production and development of features. Young, a veteran documentary producer, has worked for CTV, TSN, The Discovery Channel, CBS, FOX, ESPN and PBS.
Most recently, Young has taught a documentary financing class at the University of Winnipeg. He also has taught television writing and directing at Ryerson University and Carleton University.
Burke speculation
David Pratt, the afternoon drive co-host at Team 1040 in Vancouver, has a $100 wager with hockey analyst Ray Ferraro. Pratt is convinced Brian Burke will leave the Anaheim Ducks to take over as the president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ferraro isn't.
Burke speculation resurfaced a few days ago when TSN's Darren Dreger reported the Leafs rank him No. 1 among candidates for the vacant post of general manager.
Hockey Night in Canada followed with speculation that Burke's decision will be tied to the broadcasting opportunities for his wife, Jennifer Mather, who commutes to Vancouver from Anaheim to be host of a local CBC Television show.
Pratt is no fan of Burke. The two fought when Burke was the Vancouver Canucks' general manager. Pratt sees Burke as ambitious, egotistical and yearning for the attention and compensation that the Leafs' job would bring.
But others view him differently. They say he genuinely enjoys life on the West Coast, has an excellent relationship with Ducks owner Henry Samueli and also appreciates the clarity and simplicity of dealing with one owner rather than a committee, such as the Leafs have with owner Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's board.
Given the complexity and lack of clarity at MLSE, Burke is a long shot for Toronto.
- NBC earned its best overnight rating of the season (percentage of potential U.S. households tuned in) for Sunday's Philadelphia Flyers-New York Rangers telecast: 1.1.
- NBC's final rating for its NHL telecasts this season, not counting the Buffalo outdoor game, is only 0.8. The average last season was 1.0.
