Sports Page BC has officially launched, a new platform covering sports across British Columbia that aims to revive the legacy of the iconic TV sports program.
Helmed by longtime sportscaster Scott Rintoul, the platform’s name embodies the spirit of the long-running Sports Page that aired on CKVU-TV (now Citytv) Vancouver from 1977 to 2001 and then continued on Victoria’s CHEK-TV until the fall of 2005.
An alum of the show as well as Sportsnet and TSN Radio in the market, Rintoul says Sports Page BC will bring local sports across the province together in one place, including news, original reporting, podcasts, and local creators.
“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,” wrote Rintoul, in his inaugural column on the site. “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.”
With the recent volatility in the Vancouver sports broadcasting landscape, including this summer’s closure of its last remaining sports radio station, Sportsnet 650 (CISL-AM), and TSN 1040 (CKST-AM) in 2021, Rintoul says Sports Page BC aims to be a connection point.
“From a BC sports standpoint, losing so many people and platforms has cost us something specific: a shared sports community,” he continued.
“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,” Rintoul added. “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.”
At launch, the platform includes aggregate content from outlets including Daily Hive, CBC Sports, The Hockey Writers and several university websites, in addition to articles penned by Rintoul.
