I can't believe I'm going to be working here.
"I can't believe I'm going to be working here."
That was my reaction when Barry Macdonald offered me a job at Sports Page in September of 2001. It felt like I'd won the lottery. Not from a financial standpoint, mind you — my job was only four hours a week. Every Sunday morning at 9:45am, I'd arrive at 180 West 2nd Ave in Vancouver to find a list of NFL games I needed to record. I'd identify the correct satellite channels, load the requisite number of large tapes into the Betamax machines, and press record. Then I'd sink into a chair with a pen and paper, watching each game for plays that might make that night's highlight packs, writing down time codes so the producer could find them easily during the edit.
Someone is paying me money to watch football every Sunday. This is incredible.
The opportunity was far more than that, of course. Sports Page was THE show every sports fan around the province with access to UTV was watching at 11pm. Local newscasts gave sports maybe five minutes. The national networks were both based in Toronto, so BC teams and athletes were usually an afterthought.
Sports Page flipped that script.
It was common for a feature on a prominent BC high school player, like Bret Anderson, to run ahead of Maple Leafs highlights. Not because anyone was trying to disrespect the Leafs (the hosts saved those wisecracks for the highlights themselves). It's because the people who built the show understood something simple: people in BC care more about the teams and players in their own backyard than about whoever's deemed more important nationally.
That's the premise Sports Page BC is built on.
A lot has changed since then. When I started at Sports Page, the province's top-rated sports program had one computer that could access the internet.
One.
Today, you're probably reading this on a device that gives you instant access to more sports content than anyone in 2001 could have imagined.
Broadcasting has always been a volatile industry, and it's never been more evident than now. We've all watched sports shows, stations, and personalities get cast aside over the past decade as a small part of the much larger erosion of the media landscape. I empathize with everyone who's had the rug pulled out from under them professionally, usually for reasons that had nothing to do with their work.
From a BC sports standpoint, losing so many people and platforms has cost us something specific: a shared sports community.
We have more choice than ever for what we consume. For example, if you're a North American cricket fan, you now have more ways to find games, insight, and commentary than geography or availability ever used to allow. That's a real win for niche audiences.
But it's also quietly closed the local watering holes sports fans used to drink from together. Sports Page and Team 1040 were that common gathering point. It didn't matter whether you agreed with every host, their opinions, or even if you liked them. You were part of something that connected you to people around the province who cared about the same things you did. We don't really have that to the same extent.
Make no mistake: BC sports coverage hasn't disappeared. Matt Sekeres, Blake Price, Don Taylor, Rick Dhaliwal, Mike Halford, and Jason Brough are among those who have kept strong local shows going. Podcasters cover individual teams in real depth. Community outlets still tell local stories well. What's missing is the connective tissue between all those audiences.
Sports Page BC aims to be a point of connection.
In the spirit of what Sports Page, Team 1040, and the halcyon days of BCTV Sports and CKNW built, we want to bring BC sports fans back together by sharing the best of what's happening across the province.
That means professional sports, but it also means junior, university, high school and community sports. It means established stars and athletes most people haven't heard of yet. It means the community coach making an enormous difference in young people's lives and the professional athlete performing on the biggest stage. It means stories that deserve a wider audience but might otherwise remain hidden because the people who once covered them have been let go, or the platforms that once amplified them no longer exist.
They deserve better. So do BC's sports fans.
Unlike how a lot of this industry operates, we're not here to pull you away from what you already watch, listen to, or read. In fact, you'll see us pointing to the good work others are doing, not pretending it doesn't exist. We want to expose you to more of what's happening in BC sport. And we want you to be part of building that, not just consuming it.
Know a story that deserves more attention? Tell us. Or better yet, tell it yourself.
Part of the Sports Page legacy is the number of broadcasters, producers, and writers who learned their craft because the people running that show gave them a shot. Continuing that legacy is part of why this site exists.
We're not trying to reboot a pioneering show. We're trying to carry its spirit forward in a different form.
What made Sports Page great was a simple idea: that an impactful community coach could belong on the same platform as a superstar professional athlete.
It understood that the story happening in your hometown could matter just as much as the one dominating national headlines.
It understood that sports could bring people together. And you could have a lot of fun doing it.
It was a big part of what made me so proud to work at Sports Page all those years ago.
And it's why I'm proud to help launch Sports Page BC.
Welcome.
