David Clanachan is confident the Canadian Premier League’s media partnership with MEDIAPRO will deliver the sort of storytelling experience that has since been “unheard of” in Canadian soccer.

Speaking to TSN 1290 Radio in Winnipeg, the CPL Commissioner revealed a few more details regarding the league’s media partnership with MEDIAPRO, detailing how the deal developed and what Canadian soccer fans can expect in how their Canadian teams are covered.

“We talked to 16 different media companies, not just from Canada but from North America and around the globe,” Clanachan told TSN 1290 Radio.

“We whittled it down and we were standing in front of a company called MEDIAPRO out of Spain. Massive organization. They have a tremendous amount of soccer expertise, but more than that, they’re storytellers.”

When asked to clarify what the audience will be getting from MEDIAPRO, Clanachan offered: “So, what Canadians are going to see is what I like to call an Omni-channel around soccer, not only at the national level, but at the professional level and even to the next level down to leagues like League1 Ontario.

“They’re going to see not just live matches, which MEDIAPRO would refer to as the 360 degree model, where 180 degrees of what’s happening on the pitch; then they’re also going to see a tonne of content around the human interest stories. It’s all the things we want to embrace around sports today.

“We want to get to know the players, understand how they feel in the dressing room, on the training pitch, at home, how they interact with each other. Those are the things MEDIAPRO does a really great job at; they’ve done that with La Liga in Spain. They’ve signed a deal with France, but that won’t happen until about a year after us, and the third deal they signed is with Canada.

“So it’s unique for Canada, and it’s going to take the game and drive it to another level of engagement for fans and supporters for the game in Canada today, which is unheard of.”

Clanachan also affirmed that community is at the heart of the league, too.

“(Valour FC head coach ) Rob Gale says it really well … – ‘I’m not building a team; I’m building a club. I’m building something that’s here forever and that the community embraces and becomes a part of,'” Clanachan said. “It’s a great statement, and he does a great job articulating what the sport is all about. Those are the top two things we’ve got to do; get people out watching the game and fall in love with it, become part of the movement, and the second thing is making sure the entertainment on the pitch is top-notch for the people.”

Listen to the entire interview here.