Football -- both kinds -- dominate the sports ratings

There's no doubt that football is ruling the air waves in Canada this summer.

The sport the rest of the world calls football continued to score huge ratings for CBC, which averaged 1.89 million viewers per match in the World Cup quarter-finals. That's about a 400,000 per match boost over the round of 16.

As popular as the quadrennial soccer orgy has been on television, it's also a big hit online. Friday's games averaged more than 150,000 live streams.

The sport North Americans call football also had a great holiday weekend as Canadian Football League openers averaged 880,000 per game.

The big surprise of the weekend, though, had nothing to do with feet. The Queen's Plate, which featured an actual queen in attendance, hit 700,000 viewers for CBC. It's assumed most were watching the horses and not the royalty.

Here are the top-rated sports events on English-Canadian television over the July 1 weekend, according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:

1. World Cup, Argentina vs. Germany, Saturday, CBC: 1,950,000

2. World Cup, Paraguay vs. Spain, Saturday, CBC: 1,938,000

3. World Cup, Uruguay vs. Ghana, Friday, CBC: 1,853,000

4. World Cup, Netherlands vs. Brazil, Friday, CBC: 1,841,000

5. CFL, Alouettes at Roughriders, Thursday, TSN: 1,060,000

6. CFL, Lions at Eskimos, Sunday, TSN: 921,000

7. CFL, Tiger-Cats at Blue Bombers, Friday, TSN: 882,000

8. Horse racing, Queen's Plate, Sunday, CBC: 700,000

9. CFL, Argonauts at Stampeders, Thursday, TSN: 658,000

10. Track and Field, Diamond League, Saturday, CBC: 475,000

11. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Saturday, Sportsnet: 417,000

12. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Saturday, TSN: 405,000

13. Tennis, Wimbledon men's final, Sunday, NBC/Global: 378,000

14. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Saturday, Sportsnet: 341,000

OTHER STUFF: If you're wondering where Buck Martinez has been the past week or so, rest assured he hasn't jumped the Sportsnet ship. He was fulfillling previous commitments in the U.S. When the season started, Martinez was going to miss about eight games. But after Sportsnet bought TSN's 25, there were a few more conflicts. ... Speaking of Sportsnet, former anchor Jody Vance has a new gig in Vancouver. In addition to doing the afternoon drive show on  Vancouver radio station Shore 104.3, she's also filling in on the sports desk at CBC Vancouver.

Comments

[Brett S]

Can't believe that NFL borefest type game that was the BC-Edmonton game was almost as high as the Montreal-Sask game! I was at that Riders Als game and it was AWESOME! I believe counting RDS it seperates that game a lot from the others. WOW the Blue Jays vs Yankees are getting beat by Track and Field? OUCH.

[Table]

hopefully the WC ratings gives a kick in the pants to the portion of the mainstream sports journos who seem to believe it is a badge of honour to profess ignorance of the sport.

and saying that, they have no qualms about suggesting ways to North Americanized the sport to suit their tastes - blissfully unaware that most of their desired changes continues to show what boobs they are.

[Tim]

The ratings for the World Cup are very good, but once the WC is over, soccer ratings will plummet down to their normally low levels. The ratings for the Queen's Plate are a nice surprise while the CFL ratings remain high and consistent.

[Rick Grace]

I honestly believe now the pecking order for Canadian sports is NHL, CFL, soccer, then curling.
And how much higher can CFL ratings go?
If they expand out east and to Quebec, the sky is the limit.
Next TV deal it should be 15 million per team per year.
Not what it is now. Which is 15 mil for the season for the whole league.
Grey Cup included!

[Mike]

The Jay's and Raptors would kill to get the Argo ratings. However all you hear on the media today is Raptor this and Raptor that. The Raptors are the fouth place team in Toronto when it comes to ratings. Leaf"s Argos, Jay. Raptors, then the very bottom feeders, the Rock and Toronto FC. I do enjoy Rock games, there a lot of fun.

[Josh]

Rick, you seem to be forgetting the NFL, which would be about even with the CFL. Nice to see that you finally acknowledge soccer though, and I'd generally agree with you. While the World Cup does amazing, when you factor in Premier League, Champions League and the boring MLS, it brings it down a bit.

However, like I said before, adding a team to the Maritimes will have no impact on TSN's numbers, in fact it may bring them down a bit. I live here, I know as well as anyone that it won't. Lets just take a look at the numbers

-An average of 1 million Canadians watch a CFL game (that is 3%)
-If 3% more Maritimers watch the CFL then its only adding 50 000 new viewers.

So please explain your reasoning for thinking that the sky is the limit with a team in Moncton or Halifax. The Quebec fanbase already has the Alouettes, I'd be we'd see a minimal gain there too.

[Mike]

Rick
Have you seen the rating for TFC, there anyware from 160,000 when they are on the CBC in prime time to as little as 8,000, yeas 8,000, TFC average perhaps 80,000 per game in TV ratings, soccer has a long way to go before it even catches up to the Raptors.

[Jgh]

Rick, Josh is correct about the NFL ....and the
CFL can't get that type of cash because while the games get good ratings...there aren't enough of them. You can only sell so much advertising for a handful of games a week the ROI isn't there for that kind of investment. That's why it is for jay baseball. Even when they aren't playing well, 6 or 7 games x 400k+ viewers is over 2.5m sets of eyeballs per week and about 25 hours of prime time programming. That is a lot of sponsorship and commercial time to recoup investment.

[Joel]

Brett S: 162 games compared to 1 race, theirs no comparison

Mike: Again, comparing Apples and oranges. The amount of games, promotion, etc have a effect. It's easier to watch 18 CFL games than it is to watch 82 NBA games."However all you hear on the media today is Raptor this and Raptor that" What are you watching? The media would rather talk about hockey in July than start a story on the NBA. Sure, the NBA is getting some coverage now. But we all know that has to do with Chris Bosh. And the reason why TFC and Raptors games are so low, is because the average Canadian looks down on anything that's not hockey. If only Canadians were supportive to ALL support you would see a increase. You know it's funny, Canadian fans are so angry that hockey gets little support in USA while in Canada you do the exact same thing to the NBA and MLS.

[Mike]

Other Mike, These ratings are from all of Canada and most of that 686,000 comes from outside the GTA. Inside the city, the Argos might be tied for third at best.

[Rick Grace]

NFL is not even with the CFL.
CFL did at least a couple hundred thousand more per game then the NFL on average.
NFL numbers only got respectable once the CFL season ended.
Because CFL fans were tuning into the NFL.
But when it comes to football in Canada, the CFL rules.
As it should be right?
And really. I doubt many Canadians care that the Americans don't like hockey.
I mean those people can sit through an entire baseball game.
Yet they find hockey boring?
Figure that one out eh?

[Rick Grace]

And to JGH.
CFL can't get 30 to 40 million a year for its rights?
The season goes for 5 months.
There's four games a week on.
The playoffs and Grey Cup do huge ratings.
The NHL gets 100 mil a year from CBC and TSN.
The Blue Jays and Raptors get peanuts for their TV rights.
I would split the difference and say the CFL should get at least 35 million a year its next TV deal.
If we can get Quebec and Moncton in, make it 50 million a year.

[Jimmy D]

These WC numbers are astounding. Anybody care to guess what type of viewership we would get if Canada was actually playing in the cup, lets say against the US or England.
I have seen this game grow in leaps and bounds in the thirty years I have been here. There are some good young Canadian players, and when Vancouver and Montreal join MLS that will just improve the development.
I would like to say a big thank you to all Canadians who are starting to embrace this game. CBC coverage has been fantastic, the Score and FSW have provided good analysis each night, and even the Fan has been providing coverage although their sports jocks are woefully lacking in knowledge about the game.

[Table]

football ratings will obviously drop after the WC but that is missing the bigger picture meaning

1. these WC ratings have blown away previous Euro & WC even with accounting for the change in ratings methodology

2. as with post other WC, we do see a ratings bump for EPL and other leagues; the absolute numbers will always be held back by the time differential and because you watch 4-5 matches every weekend from a couple of leagues with just basic cable or 10 matches+ from 4-5 leagues if you subscribe to any 1 of the footy channels.
the new variable this time is TFC & MLS - will we see a simlar bump?

3. basketball & footy ratings have the most room to increase while not so much for CFL, NFL, NHL, MLB etc.. other than when we have winning Cdn teams; and basketball ratings are largely dependent on Raptors success but who have been drifting and don't have much traction beyond the GTA

[VWater]

Reading the previous discussion (CFL on NFL network) and I think there are a few types (especially in the media, I actually think general fans are more open minded) you have Type A, people who like how things are, traditional sports with mostly Canadian content, then Type B is the people who think that if it doesn't have the seal of approval of the States, then it's no good. Then you have Type C (this is mostly electronic media) who follow and make their living on a single sports and feel the need to diminish other sports to make their sport seem more important.

TFC/MLS /Soccer will have a more difficult time than any other sport as they go against both Type A and Type B personalities. It's not a traditional national sport here so Type A are going to be against it, and soccer isn't a major sport in the States so Type B people will think less of it too. I think TFC has done remarkably well all things considered. They are probably the second best attendance/live gate in the city (behind the Leafs obviously, but the Raptors are close too) and the ratings they get compared to the lack of attention from the sports media I actually think it's respectable. Again the print media does a nice job but electronic media ignores it, I hear more TFC talk on FM music radio than i do on sports radio, hopefully with the shakeup on the Fan that will change.

It's the whole chicken & the egg thing, if the media pays more attention to other sports, will those ratings go up? I'm hearing a lot more soccer talk on this World Cup than ever before, is that helping the ratings from being very good to now record breaking amazing. If they give a quarter of that attention to TFC, will TFC ratings start raising up as well? I don't think anybody expect World Cup numbers for TFC but I think if the sport is treated more as a genuine equal to the others in the market, I can see the numbers going up. I always thought this whole thing was silly to begin with, we have so many hours in a day there is enough time to talk all sports and focus on the stories that are important. The problem I see most is that it's laziness and maybe fear of "other sports" taking over the sport the host is most comfortable with.

Talking specific of this article, what really amazes me about the World Cup is the consistent strong numbers. I mean Ghana-Uruguay isn't exactly a huge Marquee match up but it's ratings were just as good as all the other games (and on a Friday too) , I wonder if that's a normal Track and Field number or is it higher because of a strong lead in on Saturday due to the World Cup? I was going to say it's nice to see a female hosting sports radio but notice it was a music station.

[Joel]

Rick, If people dislike the CFL, it doesn't mean that their anti Canadian.

[Rick Grace]

I don't care if people don't like the CFL.
I care when people don't like something because its not American.
And millions of other Canadians in the silent majority share my same viewpoint.

[Jgh]

I like the NFL because I prefer the brand of football, which is played by the best players in the world. I like the jays and MLB because I think baseball is a great sport. The fact that it's American doesn't factor in at all. I see it as a north American market. I don't care what country any of my entertainment comes from..music, movies, tv, magazines, books, sports...who cares? Doesn't make anyone anti-Canadian.

[Brett S]

Joel: Not "162 games compared to 1 race, theirs no comparison"...it's 1 game compared to 1 race actually. The CBC shows Track and Field every week, so it's not like this is an exlusive, highly anticipated event. And sorry, but I bet the coverage for the Jays is over 162X bigger than Track and Field anyway, and the game was against the Yankees! Yet the T&F still beat a Saturday game against the Yankees, a month ago that was a gold mine for ratings. Shows how fair weather Canadian/Toronto baseball fans are.

[Table]

VWater, TFC actaually tapped a portion of the sports audience largely ignored by the mainstream which is probably why you missed it completely in your thesis.

The core TFC supporter is someone who grew up watching the explosion of footy on TV over the past 20 years in Canada. Each WC adds another layer to this audience. They are also kids of parents who probably followed their old country league & club and/or played footy as a kid and still enjoy playing it. TFC gives them the avenue to express their passion for the sport in local terms while the previous generation couldn't care less about the sport in Canada.

With 3 Cdn MLS teams by 2012, your so-called Type A sports fan will start to come on board. The so-called B guys will probably still scatching their heads as MLS is American and footy is getting an uplift in the States also but it isn't the best (and never will be as there can be 3-4 leagues that can be described as the best at any given time) - it's just doesn't fit their world of NFL, MLB, NBA which has largely brainwashed their sports world view.

By the way, 2.5m watched Germany/Spain & 354k online. Just over 2m watched Tuesday.

[Jgh]

Brett, i believe joel was referring to the fact that if track was on 162 nights a year, it would draw flies. Same as when figure beats hockey a couple nights a year. If figure skating had the massive exposure that hockey has, it would have a handful of viewers.

[Rick Grace]

American NFL football is the best football in the world?
Gee. Its the only American football played in the world.
So thats kind of a moot point wouldn't ya say?
.
There are no major North American sports.
There's major Ameican sports. And major Canadian sports.
And outside of the NHL, whats major down there ain't major up here.

[Jgh]

I said BRAND of football played by the best football PLAYERS in the world. I actually enjoy both brands of football, i thought the argo/bomber game last night was awesome..And I disagree completely of your assessment of major. NFL is major up here..gets excellent ratings considering there is no home or away market do draw from (we have gone through this before but you don't seem to understand) baseball, nab and golf are major as well. Don't forget, you are looking at two teams that are not that competitive right now in the raps and jays ...you have seen what happens when they get competitive .. People watch - again, only one market for the ratings though...

[Mike]

Rick Grace: The Sarah Palin of sports.

[Studmuffin69]

Jgh

People watch - again, only one market for the ratings though...
yes jgh tfc raps and jays have only one home market but it is what almost three time the size of the riders and bombers market combined and only a montreal and vancouver game could match that one market in population. and cfl still get better ratings than tfc raps and jays.