Canadian broadcaster CBC Sports has secured a deal with Mediapro Canada, an arm of the international production and media-rights agency, to become the exclusive linear television broadcaster of the 2020 Canadian Premier League season.
In the absence of a traditional season in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the CPL campaign will held as a quarantined tournament in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in an event known as The Island Games.
CBC’s coverage will consist of four consecutive Saturday double-header broadcasts, starting this weekend. All eight games will be simultaneously streamed via the free CBC Gem streaming service, cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports App, and will be produced by Mediapro.
CBC Sports will also offer CPL videos, player profiles and highlight shows across its platforms.
The Island Games will start on August 13 and finish in September, with all games behind closed doors.
All 35 games will be aired live on OneSoccer, Mediapro’s Canada’s subscription streaming service.
The CPL selected Charlottetown as the site for the event over rival bids from the City of Langford, British Columbia, and Moncton, New Brunswick.
All eight CPL teams, including expansion team Atlético Ottawa, will initially play a round-robin tournament of 28 regular-season games, with each team playing each other once. The top four teams will move to the second round group phase, with the top two then progressing to the single-match championship game.
The winner will earn a place in the 2021 Concacaf League, a qualifying tournament for the Concacaf Champions League.
Mediapro has also announced the release of Bringing It Home, a four-part original documentary series featuring behind-the-scenes stories of the first CPL season.
It will follow a group of players and coaches throughout the year, from the first-ever CPL match on April 27, 2019 at Forge FC’s home ground in Hamilton to the second leg of the final at Cavalry FC’s iconic Spruce Meadows stadium in Calgary on November 2.
Further reading: Atlético Madrid looks to CPL team to expand the club’s brand in North America