There may be a problem here… and then there may not. Nobody will know except in the long term, but in terms of “big four” sports, it is unprecedented and never happened before: a league that is exclusively broadcast on cable or satellite television.

But that is how the CFL is broadcast now, exclusively on cable channel TSN. That would not be an issue except for the economic realities of North America.

Since 1990, waves of recessions have periodically washed over the continent, culminating in the “Mortgage Meltdown.” Each one leaves more and more people out in the cold.

In the United States, over 44 million people – almost 9 million more than the present population of Canada – are unofficially labeled “poor”.

Now pretend that the entire 44 million people immigrate north to Canada to seek a better life. Would that increase CFL television viewership?

Most likely not at all, because in most cases these people, added to Canada’s own real poor, might be able to afford a cheap television and an aerial if they are lucky, but not an expensive cable television package.

That is the chance that the CFL is taking by being broadcast exclusively on TSN. There may be many people in Canada who would like CFL football but will not be able to watch it even on television because they cannot afford to do it.

There is nothing wrong with the CFL broadcasts themselves, or the money TSN is paying to the league, but in effect, the CFL has restricted its market in Canada.

Nobody will know the effects until the long-term, but it is now possible that a sizeable amount of the Canadian population who may love football can grow up in Canada and never see a CFL game or know anything about the league.

Ironically the NFL, whom the CFL is desperately battling in southern Ontario, is still available for free each Sunday on the major US networks.

In previous decades, the CFL used to be available for free on CBC and CTV, but those days are gone.

This is the big experiment; riches now and possible long-term damage in the future.

What will these sports television outcasts do? Grow up in Canada and become fans exclusively of the NFL and some other sports which they can see for free? What will the long-term effect be on the CFL? There is no precedent to measure the effects with.

Maybe nothing significant at all will occur. So maybe there is a problem… and maybe not.

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