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.


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