I was going to say so myself too he seems to think Conservative sport fans don't exist or something and that ratings declines are related to any issue under the sun except for the liberal social justice messaging turning off millions of fans oh no that would never happen? He must be too cloistered with his Toronto minions to ever think outside the Toronto bubble when it comes to things as there are people and opinions outside the GTA that he never wants to hear or see and just puts the blinders on.

Apparently Blue Jays playoff fever failed to result in even a small sneeze as Blue Jay playoff ratings did not even register in Canada.

https://torontosportsmedia.com/2020/...ation-pt-deux/

MLB?

“Regional Major League Baseball on FOX (Braves-Mets or White Sox-Reds) averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.28 million viewers last Saturday night, MLB’s smallest primetime audience on broadcast television since 2016 (Rays-Yankees: 1.02M). The game overlapped with a competing Rays-Orioles matchup on FS1, figures for which were unavailable.”

In Canada, the Jays didn’t crack the top 30 rated programs in Canada after September 6th when it was #28.

MLB local numbers are out:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybr...er-4-for-2020/

"The Blue Jays on Sportsnet averaged 500,000 viewers in 2020, up 23% year-over-year, and reached 9.8 million Canadians (27% of the population)."

A great contribution to the thread.

Surely a compacted and busy sports schedule is a better explanation than blaming SJWs for declining sports viewership in 2020. The Stanley Cup playoffs have never had to go head-to-head against the NFL before. Or simulaneously with the NBA playoffs also happening. Or simultaneously with MLB in a playoff run. Or simultaneously with the EPL. Or simultaneously with tennis majors. And when they do have to go head-to-head against these other sports in a highly competitive market? Canadian viewers are given Dallas and Tampa Bay. No wonder ratings are down. :haha:

But sure, blame the woke millennials. That explains everything.

This blog is at best rambling and at worst a collection of tweets from other people.

If someone disagrees with your POV just attack their character. Easy and simple.

I really, really doubt that politics are having any significant impact on sports viewership in Canada this year, but I most definitely believe that is likely to be part of the equation in the U.S.

I take your point re: the crowded TV sports marketplace this past summer and into the fall, but on that note above, you would think that by now Canadian hockey fans would have come to terms with SCFs involving two American teams as this has been the case in 21 of the last 25 years. I mean, there is a generation on the cusp of maturing without any recollection of seeing a Canadian team in the finals, let alone winning the cup.

I'd agree with this point, but I think there are some American teams that are more interesting for Canadians to watch and follow than others. Boston and Chicago making Cup runs were far better for Canadian viewers, IMO, than a Dallas or Tampa going deep. Likewise, Pittsburgh gets a lot of viewers in Canada compared to a San Jose or Nashville. Detroit and Buffalo have a decent amount of Canadian fans if they ever make runs, as well, but in the case of the latter it's been a while since that's happened.

This year's finals for Rogers was probably a worst case scenario (except for, say, the Isles instead of Tampa) but they still managed decent SCF figures despite the matchup and crowded sports market at the moment. Rogers only needs one or two deep Toronto or Montreal runs to make value on their current TV deal but we're halfway through it and they've come up pretty much empty so far.

^ I would have expected the Lightning to be of interest given the exciting style they play and the fact that they have a lot of big names that are familiar to fans. But I guess a matchup of non-traditional hockey markets can be a tough sell ;)

What are we even talking about here? The NFL just posted its best week 3 ratings in 6 years. What a surprise it's coming at the end of summer as people are winding down their extended quarantine getaways and new restrictions appear to be on the horizon. Anti social justice warriors must have just put away their outrage for the fall.

On one hand we have the biggest league in the world playing at its usual uninterrupted time, and on the other we have 3 leagues massively disrupted and now competing for the first time simultaneously with each other and the NFL juggernaut. What does Occam's razor tell us about the likely cause here?

Didn't you hear? People are tuning out of sports because black people are asking for rights it's crazy stuff to watch.

It's crazy how those protests really drove away all white people from watching sports this year. Truly crazy.

Black Lives Matter is why fewer people are watching sports dude I don't know what else to tell you. Politics in sports is bad but only politics I don't agree with!

:P

The above post is the biggest joke of all considering how you have a history of cancelling other people's opinions by your deletions of posts you don't agree with. But don't let that get in the way of the agenda. It's very easy to hide in your own bubble and only allow what you want to hear when you have your finger on the delete (cancel) button.

NBA Playoff Ratings Slip As Fans Grumble That League Has Become ‘Too Political’
Kurt Badenhausen Forbes Staff SportsMoney Sep 2, 2020

...

A new Harris Poll backs Trump’s critique of the NBA, with 39% of sports fans saying they are watching fewer games. And the chief reason why? Politics. The longtime polling agency surveyed nearly 2,000 people over the weekend and gave those who identified as sports fans—two-thirds of the total—ten options to choose from on why they are watching less basketball.

“The league has become too political” was the clear choice, with 38% of respondents who identified themselves as sports fans. “Boring without fans” captured 28% of the vote while the NBA’s association with China caused 19% of sports fans to turn the dial,

Here, i'll reply with some Canadian ratings for NBA, since this thread is about..*checks thread title* Canadian ratings, and not American:

https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/...celtics-game-7

"An average of 2.65 million Canadians tuned in to the Toronto Raptors' Game 7 against Boston Celtics on Friday night, setting a new second round viewership record, according to the NBA.

Toronto's first round playoff viewership against the Brooklyn Nets saw its average audience increase by 24% compared to last year. Game 1 of the series had an average audience of 1.05 million viewers, making it the most-watched first round playoff game in Sportsnet history."

Emphasis added mine.

Whatever is happening south of the border isn't happening in Canada re: NBA ratings.

This thread isn't about US numbers. Period. :haha:

It is when YOU want it to be. Just sayin :haha:

This thread isn't about American ratings so i'll keep it short:

Have you ever stopped to consider that perhaps NBA and NFL ratings are both down because they're going head-to-head not only between each other but also with other sports during critical periods in their seasons?

"Thursday’s Texans-Chiefs NFL Kickoff Game averaged an 11.2 rating and 20.54 million viewers on NBC, down 13% in ratings and 7% in viewership from Packers-Bears last year (12.8, 22.03M) but flat and up 8% respectively from Falcons-Eagles in 2018 (11.2, 18.98M).

I dunno... are we supposed to be happy that people are turning off sports because they don't want to hear and/or don't agree that black people protesting to be treated equally - which really isn't a political issue... it's an issue of humanity.

I wish it was but I don't think it is.

Will I ever recover from this? Stay tuned next week.

---

Anyway, since people seem to be getting confused, the Raptors playoffs were up 10% this year compared to last and the Jays in total were up 23% this year. NHL couldn't compete this year for eyeballs. The NFL so far is down slightly but mostly due to competition from the NHL, which also declined due to competition from the NFL and no general Canadian performance.

NFL's first MNF was down because SCF Game 2 was also on.
SCF Game 2 was down because MNF was also on.
Raps are up because they're hot right now.
Jays are up because they're more competitive.
Make sense? :hmmm:

Jays ratings could also be up because of no CFL this season and their fan bases are similar. Same goes for strong NFL ratings in Canada with no CFL football fans still need their fix.

As to the social justice issue melding into sports I think it turns off many fans because it is young millionaire athletes in their 20's with very little education and life experience lecturing others on very important issues that have many layers of complexity to them. I think people especially in 2020 were looking to sports as an escape from the news not more of it and last I checked these athletes were paid millions of dollars to entertain fans with their athletic ability not lecture them on politics. I much rather hear and take much more seriously the point of view of black pastors, police officers and black business owners than that of millionaire athletes who just randomly walked off the job protesting and what did that accomplish? Black doctors, police officers, business people, trades people walking off the job protesting now that is something worth listening to but oh wait they still went to work and did their job.

You know I really didn't want to get into this topic because the sides are so polarized and neither will cede any ground or appreciate another's point. I often don't agree with you but your post was truly inspiring and insightful. POY candidate in my opinion. The real victims are the ones not being talked about.

Couldn't you say the same thing when athletes lecture about donating to charities, or wanting us to honor veterans, etc? I mean, they're young millionaires athletes with little education and life experience - what do they know about cancer and other diseases or about serving their country in the military?

You don't think these black athletes have first-hand knowledge about racism? You don't think they were ever exposed to it in their lifetime? Getting pulled over by cops for nothing more than being black? Just because they make good money doesn't mean they haven't experienced what others are protesting against.

And athletes and entertainers get the most amount of exposure. That's why they're used to sell products in commercials and get people to donate to charities (which no one seems to have a problem with). Like it or not, a doctor or trades person isn't going to get nearly the same amount of exposure for any cause.

thank you I just say it like I see it no point trying to be popular on here I think the evidence bares it out when the NBA finals ratings are the lowest in NBA history down almost 70% this year with fans having limited access to bars and restaurants and virtually no movies or concerts to compete with for getting viewers this year as MLB and NFL still draw decent numbers right now. Go woke and go broke, still have not seen any Canadian NBA playoff ratings since the Raptors lost out to the celtics to see if the NBA is growing in popularity here or if it just a temporary blip like the blue jays surge in popularity from their playoff run 5 years ago that quickly evaporated once the jays were not as good anymore.

I agree with your first point the other 2 points are valid but I think should be done off the court and similar to how Ali and Jim Brown handled it in the 60's where they did interviews and press conferences but they did not have it meld with their profession while boxing or playing football.