Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

I'm agreeing with you? You cant tell me that for the past 8 seasons TFC wasn't anything more than a niche market in Toronto. Now they are starting to catch the attention of the city as a whole.

TFC is only 10 years old, not a century+ old. Comparing the days when it was playing in a rickety small stadium with artificial turf, minimal budget, an ownership that was learning the ropes on the job of how to run a soccer team, zero depth, no academy, and so little media coverage that most soccer fans in this city didn't even know a soccer team existed in this city is laughable. Infact, in the early years when they got the rights to an MLS team (we're still in this teams early years) MLSE was only planning for a minimal average attendance of 14,000 and found it would be a profitable business at that level of support. They weren't prepared for the passionate and much larger level of support they received. TFC has grown at a solid pace, infact the level of support is accelerating mostly through word of mouth as they don't have a consistent time slot on a consistent channel as they're shared between two networks that put them on random channels on random dates. MLS Live is almost a necessity to watch games on TV. Despite these odds they're thriving, they've consistently proven you doubters wrong and will take a first rate position in this market. I see a bright future for TFC, the Jays, Raptors and even the Leafs. Toronto is a great sports town with a massive untapped soccer market that is at least 2 million (in this region, the GTHA) strong, MLSE is surely but surely building up the quality of the franchise to bring aboard these fence sitting potential fans.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

God I absolutely cannot stand you delusional soccer fans. MLS figures havent "surpassed" anything. CFL figures have fell to match MLS figures For half a season so far. piss off!

Vancouver
Lions averaged 21,290 to the whitecaps 20,628 last season and are averaging 20,153 so far this year to the whitecaps 21,486

Montreal
Als averaged 21,430 to the impacts 17,750 and so far this season 20,810 to the impacts 21 472

Toronto is a special case obviously this season. Attendance figures could rise for the Argos yet as goes for both other said markets. CFL attendance generally rises in the "back 9" of the season

Every so often in some of his more dubious posts you can glean something from Oilkountry and in this case he's on to something.

There definitely seems to be an agenda of one poster to post numbers perpetuating what ol' oil is talking about. It beggars the question what would happen if i went to the MLS forum and posted their TV ratings or lack thereof. I don't think I was the only one suspicious of that behavior.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by elly63

Every so often in some of his more dubious posts you can glean something from Oilkountry and in this case he's on too something.

There definitely seems to be an agenda of one poster to post numbers perpetuating what ol' oil is talking about. It beggars the question what would happen if i went to the MLS forum and posted their TV ratings or lack thereof. I don't think I was the only one suspicious of that behavior.

This isn't a CFL Forum...that poster is posting facts for multiple leagues he's a fan of and because people appreciate his efforts. What Oilkountry fails to realize is that 2016 is a Montreal 1976 situation. That was the year Toronto moved ahead as the nations largest economic and population center, it hasn't looked back since. It wasnt the major cultural, media and sports center but in the decade or so to come it took those laurels too. The MLS has been in this country for 10 years and in all markets where both leagues are present the MLS franchises now have higher attendance, budgets and notoriety. TV viewership is the next step, it took MLS in the USA 20 years to get to this point where they're experiencing 34% viewership growth across the league and across demographics. In time, MLS will be a major TV property, but until then it will remain a cash cow and make no mistake, the next TV deal will go up considerably regardless.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

This isn't a CFL Forum...

Not an MLS forum either...

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by elly63

Not an MLS forum either...

Never claimed it was, but criticizing someone for posting neutral stats and going beyond to state that it wouldn't be respectful in a CFL Forum suggests an obvious factor needs to be pointed out to some.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by elly63

Every so often in some of his more dubious posts you can glean something from Oilkountry and in this case he's on to something.

There definitely seems to be an agenda of one poster to post numbers perpetuating what ol' oil is talking about. It beggars the question what would happen if i went to the MLS forum and posted their TV ratings or lack thereof. I don't think I was the only one suspicious of that behavior.

I must admit that as a person who fully recognizes that the MLS and its three Canadian clubs are ascendant, I am dumbfounded as to why their TV ratings aren't any better than they are.

Given that I don't really believe the argument that it's just because tons of people are live streaming the games.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by elly63

Every so often in some of his more dubious posts you can glean something from Oilkountry and in this case he's on to something.

There definitely seems to be an agenda of one poster to post numbers perpetuating what ol' oil is talking about. It beggars the question what would happen if i went to the MLS forum and posted their TV ratings or lack thereof. I don't think I was the only one suspicious of that behavior.

It's to the credit of CFL fans that none of us engage in the passive aggressive posting of MLS' downright embarrassing TV viewership stats in the soccer thread. I'd say it's driven by a desire to take the high road but in reality it's probably a case of football fans just not giving that much thought to soccer.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's to the credit of CFL fans that none of us engage in the passive aggressive posting of MLS' downright embarrassing TV viewership stats in the soccer thread. I'd say it's driven by a desire to take the high road but in reality it's probably a case of football fans just not giving that much thought to soccer.

Righttt. Yet they consistently bring up a specific soccer team in this thread whenever another CFL fan posts gridiron attendance stats, seems like soccer is top of mind.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Or how about we start a CFL vs Soccer bitch fest thread and move all talk about f**king TV ratings and attendance in there - because the same stuff gets regurgitated every month or so with the same arguments from the same people.




Back on the topic of arenas - what's gonna be the first test event in the new Edmonton arena?

[esquire]

^ I live in Winnipeg, man. If it weren't for you and commercials on TSN, I wouldn't hear anything about TFC... it's not exactly top of mind around here.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I live in Winnipeg, man. If it weren't for you and commercials on TSN, I wouldn't hear anything about TFC... it's not exactly top of mind around here.

I never spoke about you specifically, but it is odd that MLS comes up a lot around here, primarily from CFL fans to make a negative comment, you just choose to ignore that fact. Infact i mostly come to this thread only to rebut comments against my hometown team or to post about BMO field, most of the MLS comments around here are instigated by numerous CFL fanboys.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's to the credit of CFL fans that none of us engage in the passive aggressive posting of MLS' downright embarrassing TV viewership stats in the soccer thread. I'd say it's driven by a desire to take the high road but in reality it's probably a case of football fans just not giving that much thought to soccer.

It's not all bad. The Whitecaps drew 198 000 for a recent Saturday match against Orlando, which was top 10 for sports broadcasts. Pretty good considering viewership came mainly from the Lower Mainland. I presume Montreal and Toronto have much lower ratings as they don't show up on the list.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-gam...-defy-the-summer-dog-days-202909965.html

[Marshal]

I should have known better (I did actually), but this thread verges on useless for most interesting issues related to its title.

Blather on.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by logan5

It's not all bad. The Whitecaps drew 198 000 for a recent Saturday match against Orlando, which was top 10 for sports broadcasts. Pretty good considering viewership came mainly from the Lower Mainland. I presume Montreal and Toronto have much lower ratings as they don't show up on the list.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-gam...-defy-the-summer-dog-days-202909965.html

Montreal actually gets fairly decent ratings but they don't show up in articles as French language networks aren't usually taken into account.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

Infact i mostly come to this thread only to rebut comments against my hometown team or to post about BMO field, most of the MLS comments around here are instigated by numerous CFL fanboys.

Good one, get back to me when you find a CFL forum that has as its most popular thread something like a 166 page CFL/Argo hate thread that you happily contribute to, then tell me who instigates this stuff.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I live in Winnipeg, man. If it weren't for you and commercials on TSN, I wouldn't hear anything about TFC... it's not exactly top of mind around here.

I live in Toronto and have literally never heard anyone mention TFC in real life. The Argos aren't much better, to be fair.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

I never spoke about you specifically, but it is odd that MLS comes up a lot around here, primarily from CFL fans to make a negative comment, you just choose to ignore that fact. Infact i mostly come to this thread only to rebut comments against my hometown team or to post about BMO field, most of the MLS comments around here are instigated by numerous CFL fanboys.

Lol, you're the biggest instigater of all, belittling CFL fans and more specifically Argo fans. You continually try to insult the CFL fan base.... Remember when I called you out on this previously?! And you simply replied "aww did I hurt your wittle feelings" and "kissy kissy I wuv you".

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by logan5

It's not all bad. The Whitecaps drew 198 000 for a recent Saturday match against Orlando, which was top 10 for sports broadcasts. Pretty good considering viewership came mainly from the Lower Mainland. I presume Montreal and Toronto have much lower ratings as they don't show up on the list.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-gam...-defy-the-summer-dog-days-202909965.html

The Whitecaps definitely seem to be the only MLS team that registers somewhere on the national sports ratings landscape (although usually at the bottom of a long list and only from time to time). Unfortunately, as per usual, no MLS teams registered in the latest week of sports, but in encouraging news to Canadian soccer/sports fans a national women's game did bring up the rear:

The Great Canadian Ratings Report: CFL bounces back as audiences rise 10 per cent

By Chris Zelkovich
Yahoo Sports
26 July, 2016 4:18 PM

...

After two years or TV ratings declines, the CFL is averaging 631,000 viewers a game this season -- a 10 per cent increase over 2015. And it certainly had an impressive weekend, with Friday's Ottawa-Saskatchewan game averaging 904,000 viewers on TSN and another 46,000 on RDS.

That's almost one million viewers, numbers usually not seen until Labour Day.

That game even managed to prevent the Toronto Blue Jays from completing a sweep of weekend ratings.

Even more encouraging for the league is the television performance of the Toronto Argonauts, the team critics cite as the weakest link in the league. But, according to TSN, the Argos are averaging 649,000 viewers in their first three games -- an 11 per cent increase over last year....

Possibly the most encouraging statistic is the fact that the number of viewers in the 18-34 age group is up 59 per cent over last season....


Here are the most-watched English-language sports broadcasts from the past weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:

1. MLB, Mariners at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 1,040,000

2. MLB, Mariners at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 947,000

3. CFL, Redblacks at Roughriders, Friday, TSN: 904,000

4. MLB, Mariners at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 694,000

5. CFL, Tiger-Cats at Eskimos, Saturday, TSN: 672,000

6. PGA, Canadian Open final round, Sunday, Global: 453,000

7. Auto racing, NASCAR Crown Royal 400, Sunday, TSN: 256,000

8. Auto racing, F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 241,000

9. PGA, Canadian Open third round, Saturday, Global: 235,000

10. MLB, Giants at Yankees, Saturday, Sportsnet: 166,000

11. Athletics, Diamond League track, Saturday, CBC: 164,000

12. MLB, Twins at Red Sox, Saturday, Sportsnet: 152,000

13. Show jumping, Rolex Grand Prix, Saturday, CBC: 142,000

14. PGA, Canadian Open round 2, Friday, TSN: 130,000

15. MLB, Dodgers at Cardinals, Sunday, TSN: 127,000

16. Soccer, Canada vs. France (women), Saturday, CBC: 122,000

Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-gam...udiences-rise-10-per-cent-201845861.html

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by elly63

Good one, get back to me when you find a CFL forum that has as its most popular thread something like a 166 page CFL/Argo hate thread that you happily contribute to, then tell me who instigates this stuff.

CFL forums dont need one thread, seems like half of the threads are full of anti-MLS hate, anti-Jays hate, anti-Raptors hate, you name it it's there...

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

Lol, you're the biggest instigater of all, belittling CFL fans and more specifically Argo fans. You continually try to insult the CFL fan base.... Remember when I called you out on this previously?! And you simply replied "aww did I hurt your wittle feelings" and "kissy kissy I wuv you".

I haven't belittled the CFL or its fanbase on this forum for a while (mind you they were always in response to anti-soccer nonsense and not via instigating) which is why i couldn't remember what interactions you and I even had? I just don't remember you man but it's clear i did hurt your feelings hence my comments. I made it a point to not say anything about the new Argos and their attendance even despite all the flack i got from CFL fanboys, who outnumber me here 10 to 1, that TFC will fold and the Argos will take over BMO Field and have higher attendance and a brighter future, etc. etc. I tried to take the high road but you guys can't help yourselves with the constant instigating.