Blue Jays hit the heights. Too bad about Friday's game.

Now here's a rarity on the summer sports scene: A Toronto Blue Jays game managed to draw more viewers than a Canadian Football League contest.

Granted, the CFL game was a dog with fleas, but still this doesn't happen very often. But as happy as the folks at Rogers Communications must be at seeing their team draw an average of 713,000 for last Friday's game against the Boston Red Sox, they have to be girding their loins for the viewer onslaught they will face Friday.

That's the next Jays game scheduled for Sportsnet One, the new channel that's available only on Rogers and to the 4,000 homes that subscribe to Cable Cable in Fenelon Falls, Ont. Yes, that breakthrough is the only cable deal Rogers has managed to secure for its new cash-grab channel, meaning more than half the country can't watch Friday's game at this point.

Sportsnet Junior's first week of Jays games drew flies, so you can be sure viewer outrage will be high as hundreds of thousands of Jays fans find that once again they've been shut out..

While Rogers is trying to get itself out of the mess it created with Sportsnet One, the CFL has to be a little worried about Friday's numbers. An age-old traditional rivalry between two teams based in the country's most populous region should be doing a lot better than 650,000 viewers -- even if it almost a touchdown-free game.

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

1. MLB, Blue Jays at Red Sox, Saturday, Sportsnet: 713,000

2. CFL, Tiger-Cats at Argos, Friday, TSN: 650,000

3. MLB, Blue Jays at Red Sox, Friday, Sportsnet: 558,000

4. MLB, Blue Jays at Red Sox, Sunday, Sportsnet: 441,000

5. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Saturday, TSN: 347,000*

6. NFL, Vikings at 49ers, Sunday, TSN: 267,000*

7. PGA, Wyndham Championship final round, Sunday, Global/CBS: 234,000

8. MLS, New York at Toronto FC, Saturday, CBC: 182,000

9. Tennis, ATP Cincinnati final, Sunday, TSN: 178,000*

10. PGA, Wyndham Championships third round, Saturday, Global/CBS: 171,000

11. Athletics, Diamond League track and field, Saturday, CBC: 149,000

12. Tennis, Rogers Cup, Friday, TSN: 137,000

* Viewers for U.S. networks not calculated

Comments

[Basshat]

I am still puzzled why you continue to limit your focus to the weekend only. Last time I checked, there are games on TV seven days a week and while many of them wouldn't make the top 15, you can be sure the Thursday night CFL game and some of the Blue Jays games would.

[Brett S]

It was a snooze-fest of a game, and the baseball game was a lot better as the Jays pummeled the Red Sox. A 16 to 12 football game will obviously drive away viewers, and some commenters will point to this like it's the doom of the CFL, the same way Rick has been trying to say it about baseball. This Sportsnet One is such a terrible idea, it shows that Rogers doesn't care if 30,000 people watch or 700,000 all they want is their $$$.

[DLind]

Those are some impressive Jays numbers. Really nice to see after all the fretting over poor attendance early in the year. Both on the field and off I think things are going in the right direction for that team.

Now cue a bunch of angry comments about how 'my sport is more popular than your sport' and 'my sport is great, your sport sucks'. Sigh.

[CanadianSportsFan]

I wonder what excuse Rick Grace will come up with as to why the Argo-Ti Cats game drew less than Jays-Red Sox.

Chris, the NASCAR race on Saturday was also on ABC and the ATP tennis on Sunday was also on CBS. So those events need an asterik too.

[Brett S]

The anti-CFL radicals will be on the way soon with their drivel, but to be fair, the Thursday game between Winnipeg and Montreal outrated the Sox-Jays game, and the Western bye meant that there was less exposure and build-up to this game. The next time Hamilton and Toronto play will be Labour Day, and you can bet a lot more eyeballs will be on that game. Also, remember Chris earlier this year when Hockey Night in Canada brought in lower-than normal ratings when the Leafs weren't involved? Well look what happens when the nation's most popular football team doesn't play (Riders), the ratings get lower. A close game the day after a big Jays blowout, combined with the natural appeal of arguably the two largest MLB fanbases in Canada, you have a perfect storm of viewership, and good on the Jays.

[peter brown-spotsinunderwear]

CFL, Tiger-Cats at Argos, Friday, TSN: 650,000 ha ha ha

how the mighty have fallen im sure ricky palin can explain it.
me and all my friends in toronto watched the Vikings at 49ers game in a bar i bet a million others did to so it should be the highest rated.

[John]

wow, peter brown - did you live up to the stereotype of an NFL fan, often clueless (too much drinking) and tendency to base arguments on incorrect facts (think too much of themselves and the league).

Vikings/49ers ratings were #6 which is lower than #2 ratings of Cats/Argos. Even if you generously assume the same amount watched on NBC, it doesn't come close to a million. Seriously, a million for a pre-season game was your guess? - don't you think people have something else to do on a summer night than watch something that quickly goes downhill after 1 quarter.

[Brett S]

Agreed 100% with John's comment. With a name like peter brown-spotsinunderwear I am willing to bet he is either a troll or a CFL fan trying to make NFL fans look dumb. I'm an enormous CFL and big NFL fan, I was watching the game on Sunday as well as the CFL game Friday and the baseball game on Saturday, and let me tell you (if you actually are serious) the majority of people were probably watching on TSN. It had been promoted all week on TSN, and a LOT of people watching were CFL fans and also people interested in seeing Brett Favre. The game didn't have a CFL game or Jays game to go against, because the NFL didn't once beat the CFL in head-to-head ratings last season. And if you think CFL fans don't go to bars to watch games either, you are greatly mistaken. Go to any bar outside the GTA on a CFL gameday and see what's on the tube

[peter brown-spotsinunderwear]

John
perhaps i cant prove a million people watched the Vikings/49ers but you cant prove they didn't. the cfl may play in the sticks but in the big city we watch nfl football in sports bars with our friends

[Rick Grace]

What are you people talking about?
Head to head on Friday, the Argos-Ticats outdrew the baseball by 70,000 viewers.
On Saturday, with no CFL, the baseabll did a bit better.
Still 700,000? The Leafs do 2 million on a Saturday night.
And I see again Sunday night baseball couldn't even make the top 15.
Meaning under 100,000 viewers.
Bringing down the baseball average big time.
But once again I ask.
Why do you guys take the success of the CFL as some kind of personal affront?
Its nice you have a baseball team in Toronto.
But few outside your city care. Accept it and move on.

[Bora Dragasevic]

blah, blah, blah excuses if anything the bye week in the CFL should have meant more viewers for the Argos games since there were only 2 games and "CFL fans?!" are all over the country and they are a loyal bunch who watch whoever is playing or in this case DON'T watch lol. Combined with the attendance of less than 25,000 for a "huge rivalry" isn't all that impressive considering how much media coverage this amateur league gets. The CFL will dissapear in Toronto once their fanbase of people whose average age is above 60 die off and Toronto gets a real pro football team. The other cities can continue with their small town minor league CFL and hey maybe they can name another team the Rough Riders or is it Roughriders? Soon real football starts and all the CFL teams are wagging their tongues because they'll be able to pick up some more NFL rejects to join the CFL soon and try to bring up the talent level a notch or 2.

[Mullah_Kintyre]

The ratings show how irrelevant the CFL is to southern Ontario, as compared to the rest of Canada, who had less interest in this game between the two Ontario teams. The Blue Jays are in their 17th year without playing a truly meaningful game, and outdraw anything else in sports this week. This is why it would be interesting to see the ratings just for the GTA or southern Ontario. I'll take a wild guess that when a CFL draws almost a million viewers across Canada, that the ratings in southern Ontario don't match that ranking as the most watched event of the week.

[Manny]

I'm from New York state, and i have been working up here in T.O for over 3 years. My job allows me to travel accross this great country of yours. I have been to CFL games in Calgary, BC, Hamilton and many Argo games. I love the CFL, it;s a great game, that's why I can't understand people from T.O. bashing the league and hoping it fails. The people in the US, don't care that T.O is the 4 highest market in North America, they won't watch a T.O team if they don;t have to. It says alot about your country when you cheer agaist your own league that has been operating for over 100 years, how sad

[D M]

Bora and Peter Brown, why all the hate? Do you so dispise the rest of the country that you want something that is truely Canadian die? What a sad bunch you are. If Toront gets an NFL team, will you pay the extra taxes for the new stadium or the massive upgrade that Rogers Centre requires? Will you lobby hard for a change to the local bylaws that make true NFL tailgating impossible in Toronto? Will you support the team when it cannot attract or keep star players which happens already with the Raptors and Blue Jays?
Also what are the chances of getting a team to move here or an expansion franchise? How many teams are too many for a league? Will you support your team if they never reach the Super Bowl let alone the playoffs?
BTW I watch the NFL as well but usually only the playoffs.

[Rick Grace]

I don't know Bora.
The Jays were playing supposedly a huge game on Saturday night with no competition.
Yet they could only muster 700,000 viewers?
LIke I said. The Leafs do 2 million plus.
Blue Jays aren't in Leafs territory.
They aren't in CFL territory.
Its a stagant sport that is losing interest from year to year.
Oh since you brought it up
30,000 for the Yankees?
With probably 7-8,000 Yankee fans in attendance?
You know what they say about glass houses eh pal?

[DLind]

Rick - as far as I can tell, most commenters are perfectly happy that the CFL is successful on television. But every week, you write about how sports like baseball are dead or dying, even though the numbers show that isn't the case. Your baiting and inability to be reasonable is what's making people gloat if there are weak CFL numbers, not because anyone takes its success as a personal affront.

[Mike]

" Accept it and move on. "
So says Ricky Palin who never stops gripping about this.

[Brett S]

Sorry Bora, but Toronto obviously isn't interested or doesn't want an NFL team. They only had 12,000 seats sold to the Bills-Colts game, the rest were given away. I know a lot of people who got their tickets from Rogers booths set up in front of the stadium that were giving away tickets. 25,000 by the Argos may be bad, but that was 25,000 paid attendance, which not ONE of those Bills in Toronto games has drawn. Maybe when you guys can fill the stadium (which is too small for NFL anyway) or when you start supporting the team you already HAVE then you might be considered for an NFL team. But this enormous failure of an experiment with the Bills has pushed Toronto WAY down on the priority list for the NFL. There's no need in even responding to spotsinunderwear guy his name speaks for itself. I'm embarrased as a Canadian that some people actually hate the CFL. Thankfully they are the loud minority. Face it, the CFL is 2nd to the NHL in Canada (and 2nd to hockey in Toronto), and has been for about 100 years, and will be for another 100 years. I love how you call places where CFL is popular "the styx", yeah, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary are WAY out in the bush, not like the great cosmopolitan Buffalo, Green Bay or Oakland. The fact of the matter is that when the NFL goes against the CFL it loses the ratings battle EVERY time. Look at my other posts, I knew that when the CFL finishes SECOND it would draw the conspiracy theorists predicting the demise of the CFL! And I was right! Just go back to your "sports bar" with the other 10 people who worship the most boring football league on the continent, leave the rest of us with our league.

[peter brown-spotsinunderwear]

Brett S McCain and Ricky Palin

I'm more than happy to leave you to your little league football. Myself and my cosmopolitan friends in toronto prefer n.f.l and major league soccer. As for the bills experiment everyone in toronto knows if the press conference announcing the games had been held better it would have been a instant selloot that and the team is not good, in world class cities we don't support bad teams and leagues like they do in the sticks.

[Dan]

So Peter Brown if the press conference for the bills game was better it would have sold out, OMG what a bunch of B.S. if you think that T.O is a cosmopolitan city, then that show how much of the world you have seen. so perhaps you should get out of your parents basement and go to Europe to see what a real city looks like. As far as Major league, you got to be kidding, most citys in the USA don't even draw 10,000 people to those matches. Nobody takes MLS seriously. The world soccer organization raked Major league soccer as the 80 worst league out of 100 worl soccer leagues. you and your 1 freind are so cool watching the NFL, i bet you never picked up a football in your life, as if you had, youo would know the skill and guts it takes to play CFL and NFL ball. less then 3% of all collage players go on to even get a chance to play CFL or NFL

[Fred]

I have seen the rating for CFL football in the GTA and they are still better then any other Toronto sports team, with approx 41% of the Argos and Ticats rating coming from within 1 hour of the GTA. Look the Raptors would not even be in Toronto if they where not owned by MLS. My company has to buy Raptor tickets if I want to keep my Leaf tickets and there are about 4,500 of us like that, in the real expenses seats. People like Bora and his Mike Brown guy,make the rest of us from T.O. look so bad to the rest of the country.Why that some people from Toronto can't handle the fact that the CFL and the Argos are very highly rated sports TV property, i don't know. These people screaming that we want the NFL, while, I was at the game, where you. Forget about all the excuses, if you want the NFL in T.O, you had to be at these game, no matter what the cost. These people just put the nail in the NFL ever coming to T.O. As far as Major Soccer, give me a break, talk about hicks, have 18,000 coming to a TFC game makes us all look like Hicks to the rest of North America. TFC is starting to paper the house to, with TV rating as low as 8,000 for one game last month.TFC who cares

[Mike]

Peter Brown: Real person
peter brown-spotsinunderwear: fake person.
Am I the only one who can see that?

Fred, where do you see the regional ratings for the CFL?

[peter brown-spotsinunderwear]

: Freddy regan said

As far as Major Soccer, give me a break, talk about hicks, have 18,000 coming to a TFC game makes us all look like Hicks to the rest of North America. TFC is starting to paper the house to, with TV rating as low as 8,000 for one game last month.TFC who cares.

the red patch boys are the best fans in north america bar none they are on the same level as other world class cities in europe they are really putting toronto on the map. i dont see cfl fans with the commitment to organize chants,skits and songs. do cfl fans even throw streamers iv never seen it. m.ls and the nfl not to mention the raps are taking over toronto me and my cosmopaliton mates love nothing more than going to the pub for fish and chips and a few pints and cheering on the reds.

[Rick Grace]

Bora says the CFL is popular "in the sticks"?
Gee. Guess Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonon are in the sticks.
Anyways I'm tired of arguing with these little kids from Toronto.
Worship your American sports.
Run down anything Canadian.
Back it up with those ridiculous comments.
Just remember one thing while you wrap yourself in the Amrican flag.
They don't give a hoot about you.
Never have. Never will.

[Joel]

"Sorry Bora, but Toronto obviously isn't interested or doesn't want an NFL team. They only had 12,000 seats sold to the Bills-Colts game, the rest were given away"

"25,000 by the Argos may be bad, but that was 25,000 paid attendance, which not ONE of those Bills in Toronto games has drawn"

Proof?