What I find interesting is that in spite of what the late 20th century did to the demographics of the Miami area (lots of Cubans and also people from other parts of Latin America), pro soccer and baseball (the latter being very popular in Cuba) have always been a tough sell there as well.

It doesn't help that the Marlins are the closest equivalent the MLB has to something like the Cleveland Browns or even the Leafs before 2015, that being a continually mismanaged/cursed team. Every time it looks like they're putting something together, management has a fire sale in anticipation of actually having to pay the players they developed. Not too dissimilar to what's happened with Melnyk and the Senators to be honest. Add in the untimely death of a superstar pitcher a few years ago and it's not hard to see why fan support is low.

That being said they might be the only team to ever win a World Series while coming last place in attendance in the NL (2003), so no guarantees that success would actually fix all their problems.

I tend to agree with this...Florida's a bizarre place for a lot of sports teams but leagues can't simply ignore a state of 20 million people, either. Orlando seems to be a particularly weird market with both the basketball and soccer teams being very inconsistent. I guess we'll see how Miami fares in MLS this year...

It would be great if the Panthers were actually located in Miami but alas they're stuck in the middle of nowhere, similar to another team in their division.

[QUOTE=wave46;8805667]Florida is just a weird market in general. I'm not sure about basketball or football (the Dolphins seem to be OK?), but baseball's struggles in Florida have been notable.

The Marlins thought that a new modern stadium would help, but they still don't draw very well. The Rays also struggle despite being a competitive team, hence the overtures for a new stadium (which IMO won't fix the problem).

I'm not surprised that the NHL has struggled in Florida, the current Tampa Bay Lightning excepted. It almost seems like the culture of the place is unfriendly to sports in general.

But hey, there's a reason I'm not part of the NHL/NFL/MLB/NBA braintrust.[/Q

Every SINGLE team there has dirt cheap tix.....Bucs and Dolphins - still get tickets under $50 - maybe that's why they continue to suck every year. Compared to the S' Hawks - $190US for Row TT - 7 rows from the top of Century Link this past season. 10 years ago the Lightening had - 4 tix + 4 beers + 4 Dogs for $40. 2 years ago....it was only slightly more expensive....

https://www.cebl.ca/mediapro-canada-...he-cbc-in-2020

MEDIAPRO Canada selected as exclusive supplier for all CEBL games airing live on the CBC in 2020

January 30th, 2020: MEDIAPRO Canada has been selected by the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) as exclusive supplier for all games that will be aired live on the CBC in 2020, including the season-ending CEBL Championship in August.

MEDIAPRO, Canada’s fastest-growing broadcast facility provider, will be supplying all the technical facilities, production crew and transmission services to bring exciting live basketball coverage from venues across Canada.

...

MEDIAPRO will produce seven regular-season games from May through July as well as the season-ending Championship Game in August, according to the following schedule:

CEBL on the CBC

Saturday, May 30, 2020 (4 p.m. Eastern) - Ottawa at Hamilton
Saturday, June 6, 2020 (2 p.m. Eastern) - Edmonton at Guelph
Saturday, June 13, 2020 (4 p.m. Eastern) - Fraser Valley at Edmonton
Saturday, June 20, 2020 (4 p.m. Eastern) - Saskatchewan at Fraser Valley
Saturday, June 27, 2020 (4 p.m. Eastern) - Hamilton at Guelph
Saturday, July 4, 2020 (2 p.m. Eastern) - Hamilton at Niagara
Saturday, July 18, 2020 (4 p.m. Eastern) - Niagara at Saskatchewan
Sunday, August 16, 2020 (3 p.m. Eastern) - CEBL Championship Game

Considering how nearly all of the less-prominent leagues with a presence in Canada now have at least some level of video production intended for streaming audiences (CHL, AHL, NLL, CPL, USports, etc.) , it would be nice to see a new sports channel emerge that actually broadcasts these events on television. The way it is right now, only hardcore fans subscribe to streaming packages... it would be nice to get a taste of a game on TV without having to throw down a hundred dollars for a season pass or whatever.

It's nice that CBC is at least doing some CEBL and, I'm assuming here, CPL coverage on broadcast television, but it could be so much more...

I don't know if it's worth the cost and effort. Traditional TV subscribers are falling annually 3-4% and traditional TV ad revenues are also declining. Ad revenues on online/streaming/internet services are increasing at an incredible rate, so it makes sense to focus on those efforts rather than trying to work with Bell/Rogers directly, or creating an entirely new channel for what is a declining space. Still, last I read OneSoccer was looking at adding a broadcast TV channel in conjunction with its current streaming platform.

You can if you have a smart TV - OneSoccer and DAZN are available on the likes of AppleTV, Roku, etc. For CPL at least, Season ticket holders receive a free subscription to OneSoccer, and some streaming packages offer free month packages or deals if you're looking for a sample.

SN/TSN have shown no interest in showing Canadian sports, so it is what it is.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif sent Super Bowl ratings through the roof in Quebec.

RDS got a record 1.6 million viewers, which is up from 900,000 last year.

And about 700,000 people in Quebec watched CTV's simulcast of the American broadcast.

Also, did the media in Anglo-Canada play up the fact that there is another Canadian on the Chiefs? Ryan Hunter from North Bay, Ontario.

I never knew about him until I saw him joking around with LDT in this video on RDS:

https://www.rds.ca/videos/football/n...rdif-3.1359432

Was a great game ... comeback kids... Lets see if the NHL or NBA can top it later this year during their finals - just need a Canadian team in it!

SUPER BOWL LIV Breaks All-Time Record with 9.5 Million Canadian Viewers on CTV, TSN, and RDS

https://www.bellmedia.ca/the-lede/al...v-tsn-and-rds/

Not surprising in the least. Chiefs are an exciting team and the Niners have a good solid fanbase in Canada... and it was destined to be a great game. Amazing numbers without a Canadian team even playing.

Anecdotal... every Super Bowl I order a pizza and delivery takes longer than normal. But yesterday I ordered it at 2:00pm, long before the game started, and the usual 25 minutes on normal days took 75 instead. The driver said the SB is the busiest time of the year for them, but yesterday was extra nuts.

The NFL just keeps growing in Canada.

How will this play into the narrative that Toronto loves America the most? :hmmm:

Pretty interesting to see the SB peaking in Canada whilst it continues a steady decline south of the border, relatively-speaking. I imagine most of this increase is due to Quebec doubling its viewership this year.

I think this puts to a rest the narrative that interest in football is on the decline as both Grey Cup and Super Bowl see large ratings increases this year in Canada. Football just needs to tackle player safety to increase participation rates in the sport be it getting rid of helmets which are actually more harmful than protective and switching to rugby style tackling instead of collision hits that cause brain damage.

Unless the Chiefs and LDT repeat as AFC champs and play in the Super Bowl again next year, ratings in Quebec in 2021 will drop down to where they usually are.

I'm sure another reason for the increased viewership was due to the Patriots not being in it. Having them play in the SB 3 years in a row, and 9 times in the last 18 years (50% rate!) gets tiring unless you're a Patriots fan.

Were the commercials blocked in Canada again? I didn't watch the game, but I know the SCC overturned the CRTC's decision to prevent Bell from simulcasting the game.

Ratings on RDS were increasing anyway prior to LDT's appearance. They increased from 755K to 900K IIRC previously, and were trending towards 1M+ for this year. LDT simply raised viewership very quickly.

The GC only saw an increase in 2019 because its 2018 decrease was so rough on its viewership numbers. 2019 was still well below previous iterations of the broadcast on TSN. If anything, the SB in the US is mirroring the GC in Canada: Hit a peak around 2012/2013 with a steady decline since then. The SB in Canada seems to be bucking that trend for the time being.

Commercials were blocked. I'm sure sent a lot of people to their US-station-reaching antennas and their illegal streaming options.

This is a huge part of what drives Super Bowl viewership... it is a bit of a pop culture event beyond any other sports matchup. I mean, my wife was technically a viewer because she watched the halftime show, as I'm sure many women did even though they had little or no interest in the game itself.

The Super Bowl stands alone in that regard... it is probably the only sports event apart from the Olympics to attract viewers who normally don't give a crap about that sport.

But not really in Canada - since we aren't able to see those commercials through the regular sources. And people tune in at the game's kickoff and continue to tune in after the half-time show - so I'm not sure it makes that big a difference regardless of how much they advertise it. Hell, The Who was the halftime performer a few years back - not exactly a big draw for youngsters and women.