A Sad Day!! It's Official NFL is More Popular(merged).

As stated, the NFL is the only thing on at this time of year, this is done intentionaly, because it makes absolutly no logical sence to have games played in the dead of WINTER , other than not having any Competition on T.V. ! The Gambling factor also has a major influence on people who tune in to NFL playoff games, where as people tune in to CFL games for the fun,enjoyment,and love _ of the game itself.

So your hatred for NFL is bigger than your love for CFL? By moving there you might get less NFL but you’ll be almost completely shut out of CFL. That is another country where NFL is covered/mentioned much more than the CFL I will gurantee you that.

Sorry but the bolded part is based on a very faulty logic. Just because 3.3 mil watched the CFL game doesn’t necessarily mean all or even most of those are CFL fans first. For all we know most could be NFL fans watching the big playoff CFL game the same way you say CFL fans are proping up the NFL playoff numbers. NFL’s 5.0 doesn’t mean only the exta 1.7 mil are NFL fans and the rest are CFL fans. Some of those might be, and some might be casual fans of both leagues equally and some might be NFL fans first but also love CFL. I just have to disagree with the “CFL fans outnumbering the NFL fans 2 to 1” part. If you said “NFL+CFL fans outnumber the NFL-only fans 2 to 1” it would be closer to the truth, IMO.

Well, it doesn't matter it's all football. Fact is gridiron beats the crap out of just about every sport except hockey. TFC can only dream about getting 1 million rating for a game and the CFL has had this even without a Toronto team playing.

Gridiron football, CFL/NFL is huge and the most popular brand of football in Canada spectator wise without a doubt and I don't see soccer challenging this in my lifetime, certainly not the MLS. Soccer is a great game, no question, but as a spectator sport on TV, it has light years to go. And baseball, well other than the Blue Jays, what does Canada have, a few American minor league teams that never get on TV.

And remember, even if the CFL folds this has no effect at all on NFL ratings in Canada, these will still beat the crap out of soccer for a very long time. And baseball, basketball. It's not a CFL vs NFL thing, it's a football thing vs whatever. I love watching CFL and NFL and a lot of people are just like me and who don't want a thing to do with soccer. It's not what we call football in North America, it's soccer. Soccer is a great game for putting your kids into, it's cheap and they don't get hurt. But the real audience is in other parts of the world that take it seriously, we don't in North America, it's a novelty here which is why it won't touch CFL/NFL ratings for a long long time.

I also watch both the CFL and NFL, but I don't know that I would say the NFL is taking over Canada. After all, look at the response in Toronto to the Bills games being played at SkyDome.

If Toronto got their own NFL team, TFC would be a forgotten team. Now maybe the Argos wouldn't exist, but I do believe the CFL would still exist and be strong even without a team in Toronto. That being said, if I'm a TFC fan, I don't want the NFL in Toronto, it will take a bit bite out of the "TFC buzz", as a TFC fan, you want to keep the NFL out. I doubt many TFC supporters get this though.

Also, if no NFL team in Toronto but the Argos get their own stadium, that will affect TFC as well. But no worries there, the Argos aren't getting their own stadium. And if the Jays get a nice comfy baseball specific stadium, that will affect TFC as well and the Argos. But Jays aren't getting a baseball specific stadium I don't think. It's quite a composite there in Toronto, that's for sure.

One thing I'll admit, TFC has a nice niche right now with their stadium that is all theirs. Well, that's what the city of Toronto and MLSE wanted and they are lucky C & S were too cheap to get in at the beginning and have it designed for the CFL as well. C & S did the TFC team a favour, they gave them a soccer specific stadium, but in return get shitttt upon by shorty pants TFC lovers. What do you expect, it's pansy soccer lovers. Whatever, as I say, Toronto doesn't know if it's coming or going these days.

The facts about the rating,s are that the CFL competes against the NBA, NHL ,NFL and MLB in the Fall , while the MFL only competse against the less popular NBA and the NHL in the dead of WINTER

What I forgot to say this isn't about Canada really. It's about the MLS vs NCAA football and NFL in the US and baseball. I can't see the day in the near future where even an MLS championship game will rival say something like a Rose Bowl that isn't even playing for a national championship title in the NCAA let alone the Super Bowl and NFL playoffs or the World Series. The mainstream football culture in the US is gridiron, even if the MLS is getting some 20,000 soccer specific stadiums built, which is great and that is all good for the MLS, I don't wish bad on them. But a pro football American based mainly league like the MLS in the US has a huge mountain to tackle in MLB, AAA, AA teams in the US and NCAA and NFL football. But they are carving out a niche there no question, as long as they realize they will be second class citizens to gridiron and baseball in most if not all areas of the US for a long time to come. But still, there is a dedicated soccer base and they deserve to be able to take their kids to a good game of soccer, no question. Even if TV ratings in the US stay in the low, low ratings. Which they will for quite a while, the sport just translates as boring on TV to most of us gridiron lovers. And even to most baseball fanatics, and there is a lot of them.

And how many Sunday hockey games are broadcast on a national basis head-to-head with the NFL. The NFL doesn’t really compete directly against other sports during their Sunday broadcasts or their Monday night broadcasts in the winter whereas there were times when the CFL was going head-to-head with the NFL and coming out with higher ratings.

Posted by Earl,

Soccer is a great game, no question, but as a spectator sport on TV, it has light years to go
Not to start an off-topic discussion (perhaps too late as 3 posts have already been made trying mostly to debase soccer when the topic at hand has nothing to do with it) but I disagree with the notion that soccer is having a hard time as a spectator sport. There are two parts to the sport of soccer: International soccer and Domestic soccer. International soccer is doing just fine with the World Cup (and some qualifiers), European Cup etc. with Canadian TV ratings. It's the domestic soccer portion that is struggling and for a young league with a dozen internal and external competitions that's not unexpected.

As for TFC/MLS not getting a million viewers in Canada for a while I completely agree, it’s just not gonna happen. Not until all the International soccer and the internal competitions (i.e. top Euro soccer leagues) cease to exist which is highly unlikely and until Canada has at least 8 MLS teams which is also unlikely. Luckily, TFC’s business model doesn’t call for a million viewers to be profitable, survive, and be valued at over $50 mil CAD.

To get back on topic, I don’t understand why some people concluded that Canada finds American football boring simply because an NFL team like the Bills are not doing too well in Toronto. Just because NFL teams with their current business model (high expense that requires 60,000+attendance, 2mil+ local TV ratings per game etc.) might not succeed in Canada doesn’t mean a smaller version of the league (lesser payroll and target of say 35,000 attendance, 500k local/1 mil national ratings per game etc.) wouldnt survive. I know I’m not gonna make any friend here with that comment as the last thing CFL needs is an NFL-Canada that might put them out of business. I’m just baffled sometimes when people try to speak for all of Canada when they put down the NFL or American football as boring, is all.

It’s possible and just like any personal preference, some people including myself do actually find American football boring.
For me the CFL games with the rules is light years ahead.

I think a majority of the people who want the NFL in Canada don’t want an NFL-Canada league. They want the NFL, playing against all of the American teams. As much as people make a big stink about 3 down vs 4 down (or number of players, or field size, or the rouge), I think that’s not really the issue. I think it has to do with the quality of the players. Much as I prefer the CFL rules over the NFL, I’m fairly certain I know which league has the better players, and I don’t think this would change if the CFL ever adopted NFL rules or a separate NFL-Canada was built from the ground up. More people will always want to watch the games with the best players, and that will be the NFL for a very long time, if not forever. The only way it could change is if, suddenly, Americans started paying attention to Canada in droves, and I don’t see that happening any time soon.

I doubt that TFC would be as popular as it is, either, if it were 1 of 8 teams in a Canadian league, rather than 1 of 8 Canadian teams in a US-based league. In fact, it seems there have been a number of attempts at professional Canadian soccer leagues over the years, but none have achieved much success (much like Canada’s national soccer team).

One of the appeals of the CFL to me is that it’s Canadian league (even though I don’t much care for nationalism-based marketing). I tend to root for the teams from Canada in those foreign leagues, if I’m following them at all, but it’s nice that we have a league of our own, despite the fact that it sometimes seems to barely sputter along and doesn’t have the glitz factor that those leagues have.

One fact favoring the NFL is the T.V. revenue the NFL recieves compared to the lack of equally lucrative contracts being offered and non competition by Canadian networks and media.

I know. That’s old news.

I'm just baffled sometimes when people try to speak for all of Canada when they put down the NFL or American football as boring, is all

TFCfan I don't think people speak for all of Canada, it's just a personal thing, just like some "NFL only counts" fans say they find the CFL boring or why some people find soccer boring etc. Different strokes for different folks. Personally for me it's a case of all gridiron football more popular than say soccer and I prefer as a rule, Canadian football over American but there are NFL games and US college games that are better some CFL games, no question. I've never watched a full soccer game and probably never will so when I say I find the sport boring, to be honest I haven't given it a chance, and don't think I can give it a chance since it just isn't my cup of tea as a spectator sport.

i would suspect that those ratings have alot to do with which teams were playing.

i would also suspect tho that most people who watch the nfl in canada, watch the cfl also.

id also imagine most people in canada wouldnt want to pay 5000 dollars a year for season tickets..

Same here. When you’re a fan of a sport that only has 16-18 regular season games the whole year you just crave more and are also likely to watch other brand of that sport.

NFL has more of a hype factor.

Come January when the masses realize it's playoff time, all of a sudden time to goto the bar and watch the games. Or watch at home, Simply because it's "The Playoffs" I wouldn't call those people sports fans but rather "Big Event Fans"

Or, "I like the superbowl because the beer told me so" fans

And the Superbowl being played in the middle of winter is an ideal time for people who are inside due to it being winter and it's so easy in Canada to feed off of all the American media attention the game gets which the Grey Cup doesn't being a Canadian affair. I'm always surprised that the Superbowl doesn't at least get double the ratings of the Grey Cup but I don't think that has ever happened as far as I know.

are we aloud to say suberbowl, or will budwiser shut down this site? i think "suberbowl" is a dumb name. very cheezy. i just say "NFL championship game" anyways, sidenote. i think last year, when the RDS ratings were put into the equation, the grey cup was more popular in Canada last year(when i say that, i mean grey cup 2008, superbowl 2009). The story lines were really good this year in the COnfrence finals for NFL, with Farve on one side, Vs the hurrricane Kids on the other. Going the other way, rookie QB vs the Future Hall of famer Manning. I feel Many people were watching for the "feel good stories" as well as the football.

Im curious to see the ratings in Canada for this years NFL championship game. I Personally watch both leagues, but have little to no interst in the game comming up. I am sure in southern ontario, its all NFL right now. but here in southern alberta, the sports radio and other medias have all but ignored the fact the "big game" is comming. i almost find it unfair for the NFL the be shunned. But the signings in the CFL have made headlines on the radio and Such, from all teams.

It didnt look like the RDS ratings were factored in on those posts. Did anyone notice how much the nfl also out rated the leafs? Maybe Canada doesnt care as much about the leafs as CBC thinx.