The CFL would love to take its new broadcasting agreement with ESPN and turn it into something even bigger down the road.

That is the reason why the league entered into an exclusive, multi-year deal with “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” late last month. One ESPN platform or another will carry every CFL game this season.

“What we are looking at is something that gives us great exposure, and what we hope for after a four- or five-year period is that we’ll be able to really build an audience with ESPN and build a U.S. audience,” CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said earlier this month.

Last year the network aired six games on ESPN2 and another package of contests on ESPN3, its digital network. Cohon said the ESPN2 matches drew approximately 300,000 viewers south of the border, and the network was happy with the results.

“The ESPN2 games did adequate in the spots we programmed them,” Gregg Morriss, ESPN’s manager of programming and acquisitions, told the Sun.

“It was more kind of an experiment to see how they would do, and they met those expectations. Now, with a little more consistency and having more ability to do more games, working directly with the league, we see some upside there.”

Cohon is shooting for the stars. ESPN was part of a new broadcasting deal with Major League Soccer in May. Three networks, including ESPN, are reportedly paying a combined $90 million per season for the MLS broadcasting rights.

“I’m not saying that we can get to an MLS-style deal, but if you look at Major League Soccer, they had similar sized audiences,” Cohon said.

“Over time, five years from now or six years from now, it would be great if this league was announcing a major deal in the U.S. with some revenues for the league.”

The current deal with ESPN is only just the beginning, as Cohon said it is netting the league only six figures. The fact every game can be seen on one network is likely the best news for the CFL, which ESPN aired often during its early days.

“We’ve had a fairly long history with the league, kind of stretching back to our inception in the early ’80s. There’s some familiarity there,” Morriss said. “And certainly the growth of the appetite for football in the U.S. is, as it’s stretched to a year-round proposition, this is really quality content for us to program in the off-season for the NFL — especially in the summer. But we also think there’s some appeal to it into the fall, and having digital networks now to be able to distribute all the games is certainly helpful in that regard.”

Morriss said the number of people watching the CFL on the digital platform of ESPN3 is not huge, but they are engaged.

“It’s not the largest audience, but they’re staying and they’re watching a lot,” Morriss said. “Now we’re just trying to find a way to get more people in that door. Once they’re in there, I think they’ll stay.”

OPPORTUNITY LOST

ESPN was going to show one CFL game on its main network this summer, but it has decided to push it back to ESPN3.

The contest was going to be Hamilton’s second home game at brand new Tim Hortons Field, on July 31 against Winnipeg, but the park isn’t ready yet, so the game is moving to McMaster’s Ron Joyce Stadium.

“Originally this game was scheduled to be on ESPN to showcase Hamilton’s new stadium,” ESPN said in a statement.

“But since the game has been moved to Ron Joyce Stadium, it will now be carried on ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. ESPN will explore opportunities to feature Hamilton’s new stadium on one of its linear TV networks later on in the season.”

LATE HITS

Here’s hoping this week’s battle of the unbeatens — Calgary (3-0) at Edmonton (4-0) on Thursday night — is better than last week’s, when the Eskimos throttled the Bombers 26-3 … Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell has a chance on Thursday to tie Jeff Garcia’s record of seven consecutive victories to start his CFL career. Mitchell is currently tied with Jim Van Pelt (1958) and Darian Durant (2008-09). As the Calgary Sun’s Scott Mitchell wrote on the weekend, Mitchell spent the off-season training under Garcia at the latter’s quarterback camp in San Diego … Many in the league are thinking about former Lions kicking great Lui Passaglia, who is battling colon cancer … The Roughriders signed running back Will Ford on Tuesday. The Bombers released Ford last week, and the Riders were quick to scoop him up after Anthony Allen and Hugh Charles, who was cut last week, struggled to hold on to the ball in the early going. For those wondering, Ford touched the ball 165 times last season for the Bombers and fumbled twice … There has been plenty of talk about the number of penalties called this season, but there should have been two more flags thrown over the weekend that could have impacted games. First, Argos quarterback Ricky Ray took a shot to the head late in the game against Ottawa that should have been called, and then Tiger-Cats holder Luke Tasker got drilled with a helmet-to-helmet smack that also needs to be taken out of the game. Penalties like that shouldn’t be overlooked because they would have big impacts on the result. More consistency is needed … Speaking of bad Hamilton holds in Calgary, when Tasker was unable to get the ball on the tee for what would’ve been Justin Medlock’s game-tying field goal it reminded many of Andy Fantuz’s similar mistake in the snow at McMahon two years ago that cost Hamilton a victory … The players of the week are Lions receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux (offence), Eskimos defensive end Odell Willis (defence), RedBlacks kicker Brett Maher (special teams) and Lions running back Andrew Harris (Canadian).

POWER RANKINGS

1. Edmonton (2)

The Green and Gold are clicking on all cylinders right now, but its smothering defence is driving the bus.

2. Calgary (1)

Not exactly a dominant win over Hamilton, a team they should have dominated, but it’s hard to argue with a 3-0 record.

3. B.C. (4)

The Leos have overcome their early-season woes and are beating the teams they should be beating.

4. Winnipeg (4)

Deficiencies were exposed in the loss to the Eskimos, and now they face a tough test against the Lions.

5. Ottawa (8)

It was a gutsy win over the Argos in their home-opener, but the offence needs to find the next gear.

6. Saskatchewan (7)

They didn’t play last week, but they move up because of how poorly the next three teams are playing.

7, Hamilton (9)

The banged-up Tabbies should have at least taken one of the CFL’s top teams to overtime were it not for a bad hold.

8. Toronto (6)

When you’re as banged up as the Boatmen are right now, there are going to be some rough waters.

9. Montreal (5)

Les Alouettes were downright dismal on the Left Coast, even more so than they usually are out there.

BIG BOSS BLUNDER

Biggest coaching mistake in Week 4

Alouettes boss Tom Higgins has been out of the head-coaching game for a while, but he hasn’t been gone so long that he shouldn’t know when to give his quarterback the hook.

The Alouettes always have trouble winning in B.C., but Troy Smith’s performance was worse than a Montreal quarterback usually plays at B.C. Place.

The game was already lost when it was time to take Smith out, but giving him a chance to watch the game from the sideline in the second half would have been much better than having his confidence sink even lower than it must be now after he finished 5-for-17 for 45 yards.

ALL RIGHT BETWEEN THE POSTS

There were plenty of chuckles around the league when the Ottawa RedBlacks released ALL of their kickers during the final cutdown day in training camp. The RedBlacks are laughing now after Brett Maher (above No. 3), who was one of those kickers let go, connected on all six of his field-goal attempts on Friday night to give Ottawa its first win in its home opener.

The Bombers brought Maher, the former University of Nebraska kicker, to the CFL this season, but he was released when he couldn’t beat out Lirim Hajrullahu.

Winnipeg’s trash was Ottawa’s treasure, and now the RedBlacks have a trusty kicker for a season that — given their offensive woes — could require plenty of field-goal attempts.

BY THE NUMBERS

53: The league’s average red-zone success rate.

29: RedBlacks’ red-zone success rate after scoring just twice in seven trips inside the 20-yard line.

133: Penalty yards per game for the Argonauts.

0:Interceptions thrown by Stamps quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.

2-0: Eskimos' record when trailing at the half this year.

PENTON'S PREDICTIONS

Calgary at Edmonton (Even)

Thursday, 9 p.m., TSN

As well as the Eskimos are playing, the Stamps are still the better team — even without Cornish.

KIRK SAYS: Stamps by 3

Winnipeg at B.C. (-7)

Friday, 10 p.m., TSN

The Lions are flying high, while the Bombers have some work to do and injuries to overcome.

KIRK SAYS: Lions by 8

Ottawa at Hamilton (-4.5)

Saturday, 7 p.m., TSN

The RedBlacks are having too much trouble scoring touchdowns, and the Tabbies are due.

KIRK SAYS: Tiger-Cats by 5

Toronto at Saskatchewan (-6)

Saturday, 10 p.m., TSN

The Boatmen are taking on a lot of water right now, and it will allow Gang Green to bounce back.

KIRK SAYS: Riders by 7

THE INSIDERS

CFL coaches and execs give their anonymous thoughts on what they’re talking about behind closed doors:

Huf (John Hufnagel) hates (Chris) Jones. When coaches have to try and convince you it isn’t personal, it is personal … Pass-interference review has gone well. It’s not over-used, and officials have handled it well … Most of the time we focus on defence and offence. Kind of take what kickers do for granted. But look at that (Swayze) Waters kid down in Toronto. He’s leading the league in punting average and in field-goal percentage, too, I think … Edmonton has been getting penalties, but no one has capitalized on them. Calgary needs to create some big plays on offence on Thursday night … Ottawa is very well-prepared. Good in-game changes to stay in the games. Oddity is their Canadians are outplaying their Americans. They need some wide receivers to make a few plays. And some of the vet CFL guys need to step up or likely get replaced … B.C. is physical on defence. That’s what I like best about them. That and the improvement in their offensive line since the first week. (Dan) Dorazio does a hell of a job. He always gets the best out his guys upfront. That’s coaching … The Bombers are somewhere in the middle of their 3-0 start and their 26-3 loss to the Eskimos. They couldn’t run the ball against the Esks, had a bad night on offence and poor tackling. They are not good enough to bring their B game to the field and expect success … I’ve seen cheerleaders bigger than number 16 (Brandon Banks) in Hamilton … I’m looking forward to the Chris Jones-Dave Dickenson battle on Thursday night. That’ll be the game within the game … I was reminding some of our guys that (Jim) Popp wanted to be the head coach over there in Montreal. He thinks he can coach, and I wish that owner had let Popp coach that team he put together. (Tom) Higgins? Got no chance with Troy Smith. Trying to win with a 50% quarterback. Can’t do it … Edmonton’s wide receivers hold almost every play. Run plays. Short passes. Why not? The refs never look for it.

kirk.penton@sunmedia.ca