Little love for Toronto FC on television -- yet

The CBC had better be right about Major League Soccer.

The people's network recently jettisoned the Raptors because it felt ratings weren't quite good enough to justify those weekend time slots. On the other hand, it expressed deep and abiding love for Toronto FC, which would give its left halfback to get the kind of ratings the Raptors drew.

Witness Saturday's poor draw, the latest in a series of poor ratings for the MLS club.Since its inception, the Toronto team has been a major hit at the gate and a semi-disaster on television.

But this isn't a case of the CBC not realizing that ratings aren't calculated like golf. Low numbers are bad, not good, in the TV game.

The CBC's faith in TFC stems from its belief that adding two more teams in Canada over the next two years will ignite interest in MLS. A Toronto team that barely draws flies on television will see ratings soar once it has more Canadian rivals in Vancouver and Montreal is how the CBC sees it.

It could happen. But it also could be a repeat of what we saw when there were two NBA franchises here: Apathy.

Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the CFL continues to dominate the summer ratings, though a near perfect game and a late playoff run by the Toronto Blue Jays helped their numbers soar.

Here are the most-watched sports events on English-language television over the weekend, according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:

1. CFL, Blue Bombers at Tiger-Cats, Saturday, TSN: 858,000

2. CFL, Roughriders at Alouettes, Friday, TSN: 853,000

3. CFL, Stampeders at Lions, Saturday, TSN: 795,000

4. MLB, Rays at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnets: 760,000

5. CFL, Argonauts at Eskimos, Friday, TSN: 649,000

6. MLB, Rays at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 493,000

7. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN: 448,000

8. MLB, Rays at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 446,000*

9. PGA, Bridgestone Invitational final round, Sunday, Global/CBS: 339,000

10. NFL, Bengals vs. Cowboys, Sunday, TSN: 305,000**

11. PGA, Bridgestone Invitational third round, Saturday, Global/CBS: 255,000

12. Auto racing, NASCAR Nationwide, Satuday, TSN: 182,000

13. MLB, Red Sox at Yankees, Sundady, TSN2: 164,000

14. MLS, Chivas at Toronto FC, Saturday, CBC: 134,000

* 3 channels only

** Ratings for NBC not calculated

Comments

[Julian]

I'm not sure what people are expecting in terms of ratings for TFC. They are a 4 year old club that has been one of the poorest in terms of quality and success in the league. You also have the fact that all of its games are versus American teams so the entire audience TFC gets are fans of the club. I don't think there were any Canadian Chivas fans watching the game this past saturday. Not to mention the fact that the Canadian tv broadcasters never show highlights from other MLS games so people aren't familiar with the other teams and players. It does make sense to believe that with Vancouver and Montreal coming into the league that interest will increase. Of course if the team plays better as well, interest will increase accordingly.

[bob]

The only reason cfl and the blue jays get good tv ratings is because there`s no hockey on. The raptors get bad tv ratings because they have to compete with hockey if they didn`t they will get the same ratings as the cfl.

[Nadia]

I wonder if the ticats games will be getting that high of a viewership if they moved to Quebec City/Moncton?

[Jamie]

I would watch more TFC games on TV if i knew when they were on. The CBC scheduale is chaotic at best, and the Champions league game(s) wasn't even on.

[Rick Grace]

Can't beleive Winnipeg Hamilton outdid Montreal Saskatchewan.
Then again when you add in RDS, I'm sure the Als Riders game did closer to 1.2 million.
Why not give the RDS ratigns as well then Chris, since it does have a huge impact on Alouette ratings?

[Steve Khan]

Where does Sunday's Jays game rank among other Jays games this season?

Also, is there anywhere to get ratings for during the week?

[Joel]

The Jays got 766,000 for their home opener.

[Mike]

Since it's been asked a bunch of times here are some RDS ratings.
In 2008, Alouettes regular season games averaged 208,000.
In 2009, thye averaged 249,000.
For the season opener on Canada Day, the game drew 378,000. That is also the regular season CFL game record for RDS.
Don't know about the other games this season but my bet is they are in the 250,000 to 300,000 range.

[Brett S]

bob, I disagree, CFL ratings traditionally get stronger after Labour Day, and (shocker) are highest during the playoffs in November. And Jays ratings really depend on the team's performance, when they are doing well the ratings will be good. Raptors ratings are bad because the team is bad, it isn't just because they are competing with hockey. The NFL gets great ratings and they compete with the NHL, and curling also gets excellent ratings. And Rick, the ratings don't include French numbers because advertisers only want to know English ratings, because their ads are presented in English.

[Rick Grace]

Chris.
Maybe you could expand your blog to include the total weekly ratings.
Judging from the number of comments each week after TV ratigns are posted, people are definitely interested. Especially CFL fans.

[Brett S]

I saw that the Riders-Lions game on Thursday did a million plus

[Peter Brown]

When you factor in the 1,000,000 who watched Bengals/Cowboys on NBC, that would make the Hall of Fame Game the highest rated sports broadcast of the weekend.

What? How do I know a million watched on NBC? Well, how do you know they didn't?

[Rick Grace]

Pete Brown.
YOu think one million watched an NFL exhibition game in Canada?
You keep beleiving that.
But don't try to post it as fact.
Because it ain't.

[tom]

peoples comments are so dumb.
CFL is a ratings monster, people. get used to it and give credit where credit is due.
CFL pregame show outdraws TFC.
CFL is second only to hockey in this country.
just because it may not be YOUR favorite doesnt mean millions of other canadians dont follow it.

[Brent]

To get the discussion back on point again, one of the greatest issues that TFC has, (and for that matter the Raptors had) is consistency of schedule. The earlier comment of never being able to know when or where the games are is a big one. If you look at the Jays or the CFL as an example, the broadcast schedule is so ingrained in the audience's brain they don't even have to look it up. (we know that the Jays will be on every night they play normally on sportsnet and we know the CFL will always be around on Friday night and Saturday game. Even if you are a TFC fan, try finding a game with any consistency. It may be broadcast on CBC or maybe you have to pay more because you have to sign up for GolTV. There is no promotion or marketing for the games either(on tv or not), and that hurts. Does anyone know that TFC is playing tomorrow night? Does the media? Who can tell me if it's on TV or not? This is the issue with trying to build ratings, if those questions can't be answered by the lay fan, then ratings will always be low.

[Matt B]

The complaint that they don't know when TFC is on is a little weak — they play the same day (Saturday) at the same time(s) 1:30, or 4pm. I do think when TFC play MOntrela and Vancouver there will be a jump in viewership. I know I wuldn't watch a WhiteCaps games if it were nationally televised (depending on who they played) but I would certainly tune in for matches agaist Cdn teams and other good MLS teams.

[Peter Brown]

Rick,

You miss the point (again). Of course I have no idea how many people watched Bengals/Cowboys on NBC. I was merely pointing out how stupid our Canadian rating system is if it can't (or chooses not to) measure that number. But if 305,000 watched on TSN, a service which is in fewer homes than NBC, it's certainly plausible that another 500,000 watched on NBC, which would put an NFL exhibition game in the same ballpark as your beloved CFL.

[Rick Grace]

No Pete Brown.
You can't assume that.
And its not my beloved CFL.
Its millions beloved CFL.

[Brett S]

The game was promoted on all Bell Globemedia channels as being on TSN for a week beforehand Peter, I can guarantee most people watched it on TSN. I watched it on TSN for what it's worth. But there's no way there were enough people watching on NBC to put it up to CFL levels.

[SmackTO]

Funny how no one has mentioned the obvious problem with TFC on TV. Problem is that TFC is a soccer team and Canadians aren't soccer fans.

[Dave]

Pete Brown, Toronto also assummed that we have millions of Bills and NFL fans in this city too. Yet again on Thursday, thousands and thousands of tickets will be given away, or go for 10Bucks. My community football team recieved over 1,000 tickets to this game. That's just for our league of boys, we were told if you want more just ask. Local TV ratings for the Argo/ticats game, will kil the local ratings for this Thursaday NFL game

[Jimmy D]

SmackTO

I think there are a lot of soccer fans in Canada, the World Cup ratings proved that. How many other sports could get the viewership that the World Cup got here, esp when that country is so abysmal at the game. The problem is a lot people see MLS as second rate. I have season tickets, but I have a hard time getting some of my mates from Scotland and England to come to the matches cos they think the league is a joke. Incidentally, the league is not all that bad.
Also, I find it strange in Canada that a lot of people that dont watch soccer feel the need to really go on about how much they HATE the sport. I have never seen anything like it.. When I go back home, the numbers watching hockey, baseball and football on cable or satellite are miniscule, but I dont hear the people that dont watch these sports go on about how much they HATE the North American games. As I have said before, there is room here for all sports to grow. I really hope soccer grows here, I believe it is. It is not the guys like you Smack that I care about turning on to the game, it is the Eurosnobs first and then the casual sports viewer next.
I have opened up my viewing to some sports here, and I now enjoy the Stanley Cup Playoffs, same with the NBA playoffs and a bit of football.

[Peter Brown]

I guess I didn't watch much Bell Globemedia, because I had no idea TSN was carrying it until you guys mentioned it on this blog. As an NFL fan, I already knew that NBC was carrying the game. NBC is in more Canadian households than TSN, so I still contend that NBC had higher viewership.

Re: Bill/Colts tonight. First off, I agree that Rogers is run by pinheads. Southern Ontario is not a Bills market. It's an NFL market, with every NFL fan having a favourite team, probably not the Bills. The only way I would go to Rogers Centre to see the BIlls is if Buff. was playing my favourite team. Of course they are papering the house at Rogers Centre, especially for this over-priced exhibition game. The only reason anyone attends NFL exhbition games in the States is because they are forced to buy the tickets as part of their season ticket package. And since the game is broadcast on the fledgling Sportsnet One, of course it's going to get pounded in the ratings by Argos/Ticats. No shocker there.

Rogers' biggest mistake was not thinking that we're all Bills fans, it was thinking that we would consider the NFL so exotic that we would pay an average ticket price *4* times what BIlls tickets cost in Orchard Park. If you're a true NFL fan, you attend games regularly in Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and so on. Why go to Toronto, pay four times the regular rate for the privilege of *not* tailgating? In a smallish stadium?

[Peter Brown]

One other point about Colts/Bills on Sportsnet One tonight. The game is also being broadcast on WKBW, the Buffalo ABC affiliate. So anyone in the GTA and beyond who wants to watch that game can already do it on basic cable or rabbit ears. And none of that audience is being measured. So, ya, the numbers on Sportsnet One will be extremely small. And will not reflect anything real about NFL fandom in southern Ontario.

[Peter Brown]

And yet another point about last night's Colts/Bills. There was another NFL preseason game (Pats/Falcons) on FOX, another network available free to anyone with basic cable/satellite or antenna. So the audience of people likely to watch an NFL preseason game was already being split. Same issue as regular season NFL Sundays. I've got 9 or 10 games at 1 p.m. to choose from on my Sunday Ticket package. Between 3 and 5 at 4 p.m. So no one game is going to get a high rating. CFL ratings are always going to higher because there are never two CFL games competing with each other for viewers.