Shit, no wonder Cabot never hosts the Canadian Open. :haha:

The ol' CFL double standard at work yet again. Johnny "Canadian" Football's debut (for one of the worst teams in recent memory) gets a very solid 730k total eyeballs (TSN/RDS) but it doesn't meet the imaginary "expectations"

And the huge Saskatchewan number is conveniently downplayed to the supposed Manziel "failure"

TSN ratings for Manziel’s debut fall short of expectations
Drew Edwards 3downnation August 7, 2018

While Johnny Manziel may have posted a big TV number for ESPN in the United States – relative to their usual audience – the ratings in Canada were far less impressive.

Manziel’s debut as the starting quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last Friday drew just 575,200 viewers for TSN. According to the CFL, another 155,000 people watched on RDS.

While the TSN audience was almost 13 per cent higher than the league average through the first seven weeks of the season, it is far less than the massive number most people were anticipating.

It wasn’t even the most-watched CFL game of the week. Saskatchewan’s matchup with Edmonton on Thursday evening did a huge 907,800 on TSN making it the top-rated game of the season by a wide margin.

Week 8 TSN English-language ratings

Thursday
Ottawa at Toronto: 428,000

Thursday
Saskatchewan at Edmonton: 907,800

Friday
Hamilton at Montreal: 730,000 (575,200 TSN plus 155,000 RDS)

Saturday
B.C. at Calgary: 462,700

Johnny Manziel’s debut draws highest CFL rating ever on ESPN
3Down Staff August 7, 2018

Johnny Manziel’s highly anticipated CFL debut was reflected in the comparatively large United States television ratings.

The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner made his first CFL start last Friday and the game was carried in the USA on ESPN2. Manziel threw four interceptions as his Montreal Alouettes were beaten down by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 50-11. Americans tuned in to watch in droves.

https://i.imgur.com/fMJntCo.png

That made it the most-watched game for ESPN since it started showing CFL contests in 1980. The previous record was a Saskatchewan-Edmonton game in June 2013 that drew an average of 347,000 viewers on ESPN2.

Over 130,000 more viewers saw Manziel’s first CFL start than any other CFL game on ESPN outlets in 2018 – all CFL games are being shown on ESPN2, ESPNNews or ESPN+. The 2017 Grey Cup game between the Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts drew 237,000 viewers.

Manziel beat out The Basketball Tournament final which has a $2 million in winner-take-all cash prize on the main ESPN channel head-to-head.

Do the MLS tv ratings not get reported? I am interested in seeing what ratings Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver get. I am sure they have increased substantially since TSC’s championship season along with this year being a World Cup of Soccer year, I’m sure we interest has spiked.

Johnny Football's hype is largely USA based. USA College football is almost religion down there, and Johnny Manziel is Sports leading story down there. How many Canadian know the ins and outs of his Texas A&M days? Not many, he isn't going to get the buzz up here and I (hope) Canadian TV executives knew that.

They didn't used to get reported because they were so low. The top 20 rated weekly sports broadcasts used to bottom out at 100k viewers, MLS seldom made the list. And at that time the Caps almost always out-rated TFC.

Two or three years before their championship season TFC averaged 38k viewers, not in Toronto, not in Ontario, but for all of Canada. TSN was close to cancelling the contract. In their championship season they almost doubled their regular season ratings from the year before from 58k to 95k IIRC.

That's a long way from the Manziel "failure" of 730k

I think the top watched sports broadcast in Canada in recent weeks is American Ninja Warrior.

Last week it had 1,104,00 viewers. I think the only sports broadcast in the top weekly 30 this summer besides Blue Jays Baseball and the FIFA WC .

I love ANW!

• Video Link

I find it hard to believe TFC doesn’t get good ratings, it seems they have a very supportive fan base.

Also, why do they average 80% capacity after a championship season, with the greatest player in MLS history. I don’t believe they’ve had a sellout this seaso... not to say they don’t consistently get good turnouts though.

A fan base that doesn't extend beyond the shadow of the stadium.

Actually part of it is a strange conundrum, unlike the history of hockey and the many years of the two solitudes Leafs and Habs, the splitting of the three Canadian MLS teams has virtually killed any interest in the ROC. Each team's fanbase is basically relegated to their city and even if they were lucky their province. They just don't seem to go beyond that.

I think that has to do with soccer culture at large. People who come from other countries and are soccer fans are probably used to cheering for local teams, because every city has a local team. So to come to a non-Big 3 city here and then suddenly have to throw your support to a city across the country is a little strange, I imagine.

Course that could be completely out to lunch as well. If there is anything that is going to make soccer a more popular spectator sport in the rest of the country, it is the CPL.

IIRC capacity is technically listed somewhere around 28K. I think TFC have two sellouts on the season (one in MLS play and one in CONCACAF play). Given the added home dates from Champions League and the Canadian Championship the TFC total attendance for the year if looking just at MLS matches is a bit deceiving. There's been something like six additional home matches on top of the normal MLS schedule.

Grassroots plays a big role in soccer fandom as a whole, as you pointed out. CPL teams beyond York haven't been having much difficulty in getting good numbers out for ticket deposits and friendly matches. Soccer in Canada reaches well beyond the simple grasp of MLS.

Roger Federer's absence: Rogers Cup draws lower attendance than 2017

AUGUST 14, 2018 08:10
by LUIGI GATTO

In 2017, 216,000 people attended the Rogers Cup in Montreal. This year, in Toronto, the number was much lower and Roger Federer's absence played a part in it, as well as the rain. Speaking during a conference call on Sunday to reporters, the tournament director Karl Hale still showed his satisfaction for how the event went. 'We're over 150,000 attendance for the week,' Hale said. 'Something we're really proud of, especially with the rain. We would have beat that tremendously. So Rob Swan who leads that department does a tremendous job, and we're really happy with it,' said Hale.

Commenting on the tournament development, Hale added: 'The grandstand upgrading to 1,000 more seats to 4,000 and the covered area was a huge hit for the fans. Especially when we had to move Denis over there, we needed those seats. So it worked out great throughout the week.

https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tenni...nce-than-2017/

I managed to catch that Shapovalov match on Grandstand (as well as all the Wednesday rain) and it was a really great atmosphere as a whole. Stadium felt tight and intimate and having it at capacity for the match added to the overall atmosphere. A nice supplementary stadium to Aviva.

CFL Commissioner Ambrosie was on TSN1040 this morning and gave some insight into some marketing and branding work the CFL is doing:

• The conversation was prompted by a poll asking listeners how to improve gameday experience at BC Lions games and that led into a discussion surrounding the league's three big markets (Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal). There seemed to be some tacit understanding that there's difficulties and differences in those cities that need to be acknowledged.
  
• The league is currently working on a strategy specifically tailored to large markets and they're moving away from a one-size-fits-all attitude to one that specifies unique attributes in each market. Ambrosie mentioned demographics more than once, as well as how people get to games, where they're coming from, and how the scheduling can be better tailored to people in the local area.
• Specific to Vancouver, tickets are currently available at $20 for adults and $10 for children. The hosts mentioned $5 beers as suggested by a listener prior to Ambrosie calling in but this cannot be done due to the lease agreement at BC Place. [The Argos are currently running $5 beer at games.] Seems to be issues regarding getting people to come into Vancouver for games.
  
• TV ratings on TSN are up 2% on the year, up 17% in the 18-49 demographic.
• Ambrosie stressed that the league has begun working on an international strategy to attract international players and viewers. Specifically mentioned gridiron football in Japan and Mexico as two examples and said they should be aiming to attract more international players into the CFL. Really stressed making the CFL a global game.

Interview can be found here.

Its not going to be fixed overnight, but I believe Ambrosie gets it more than most. He is a details guys with a great business acumen and the best thing to happen to this league in a long time.....
I listened to that show too and many of the suggestions for what to do and it still frustrates me that people think it is too expensive (it's not), saying the food is not as good as Rogers Arena or even the Whitecaps. You can find almost everything these including vegan dishes.
Beer prices, I get it, I would like it to be cheaper too, but almost ALL stadium beer is expensive.

The biggest thing for me is atmosphere, the more people there, the better the atmosphere and all that other stuff does not matter as much
I think BC needs more Saturday at 4pm games. Better to get out of town folks as well as families with children to a game and home at a reasonable time, and try to get a deal with BC transit to include transit as well.

RE: Beer Prices

That is the issue you get when you chase budget fans and families, nobody should go to a sports game and expecting rock bottom beer prices as you are typically getting gouged for food and beverages. Very silly this is brought up as an issue from fans. Also, the Toronto model should not be used as an example to emulate as they are A/B testing various strategies to get people into the seats.

Overall splitting the marketing strategies for the major metros versus the rest of the CFL markets is wise. The Big 3 cities face unique challenges which are focused primarily on demographics that the rest of the league does not share.

Next, the international approach is unique and not one I have heard. My only hesitation is that we see the behemoth of the NFL struggle to "grow the game" internationally. Japan is used as an example as I recall they have some smaller leagues creeping up getting teens on the football field. The core issue is that for many international locations, where it extends beyond casual watching on TV, you get into teens playing "Gridiron American Football" with 4 downs and typical field sizes. In many places, they simply just paint the line on a soccer field and calls it a day, won't be easy to shift CFL infrastructure to overseas. If the goal is just to market a sports entertainment product then that is much different. From the NFL's experience, they were not able to flip over markets until the locals actually had enough grasp of the sport and made attempts to play. Germany, for example, is the strongest football market outside of North America as they have a (now) tradition of little leagues where people are playing actual Gridiron football. When the NFL experimented with the Euro League Germany was the only place that got any traction.

I bring up the NFL of course as they have attempted (and failed) many times are growing the international scope of the league. They are doubling down on London but I don't see anything there. NFL is looking to force itself into that market when it is largely just USA expats who attend the games.

Random... from what I have heard from my friends in South America Gridiron football has a sizeable following in Brazil, it isn't front page or top of the radar but there is a noticeable amount of folks who enjoy Gridiron football down there.

CFL News‏
@CFL_News
2m2 minutes ago
"Overall our TV ratings are up 2% this year.

But importantly the 17-49 year age group is up 17%." - @RandyAmbrosie

As of Week 10 CFL ratings are up 4% over 2017 on TSN. Number has been floating around 2%-4% all season.

http://3downnation.com/2018/08/23/cf...-audience-tsn/

When I worked for Hockey Night in Canada 5 years ago it was well known that the second highest rating sport the CBC broadcast after hockey was curling. I only found that out from my time there, I never would have guessed that.

I've long wondered why curling was on television all the time. I assumed it was because some head honcho at CBC Sports is a curler and it was cheap to produce.

Looks like we're stuck with it on television till the younger generations become the demographic majority. I doubt they want to watch it.

Young people have a funny habit of eventually getting old ;)

Seriously, it's like golf. Go ask the typical 65 year old golf viewer whether they watched golf 40 years ago.