Wow over 1 million for the Sask/BC game; thats incredible.
There's an old saying in the Canadian television world that goes something like this: Hockey is Canada's most popular sport. Everything else is tied for second.
While that may be a bit of an overstatement, the weekend TV ratings pretty much back that up. Not even a month into the NHL season, hockey ratings are almost doubling the next highest. Imagine what they'll be doing when the games start to actually mean something.
Saturday's NHL tripleheader on CBC averaged 2.3 million viewers, 1.1 million more than the runner-up.
The tie for second place may be down to two, though. The CFL took second place as an overtime Lions-Roughriders game topped the 1 million mark. CTV's NFL offerings on Sunday were close behind at 899,000 while the Rogers NFL Sunday combination (City and Sportsnet) pulled in 792,000.
As always, here are the top weekend audiences for sports broadcasts on English-language networks, as supplied by BBM overnight ratings:
NHL, Leafs at Canucks/Rangers at Habs/Bruins at Sens, Saturday, CBC: 2,306,000
CFL: Lions at Roughriders, Saturday, TSN: 1,202,000
NHL: Oilers at Flames, Saturday, CBC: 1,119,000
NFL: Early games, Sunday, CTV: 899,000
CFL: Eskimos at Stampeders, Friday, TSN: 714,000
CFL: Ticats at Argonauts, Friday, TSN: 706,000
CFL: Alouettes at Blue Bombers, Saturday, TSN: 637,000
NFL: Eagles at Redkins, Monday, TSN: 592,000
MLB: Angels at Yankees, Sunday, Sportsnet: 530,000*
NHL, Hockey Night In Canada pre-game, Saturday, CBC: 507,000
NFL: Late games, Sunday, Citytv: 492,000
Curling: Grand Slam quarterfinal, Saturday, CBC: 483,000
Curling: Grand Slam final, Sunday, CBC: 441,000
NFL: Cardinals at Giants, Sunday, TSN: 411,000**
NFL: Late games, Sunday, Sportsnet: 303,000
Two Sportsnet channels only, Fox viewers not calculated
Those are some good numbers, especially BC-Saskatchewan.
On a some what related note, is anyone else thrilled baseball is almost over? Can they just give the trophy to the phillies and get it over with? I mean it's November and there's still baseball.
I find it odd how CTV plays NFL games, but not CFL games, must be something in the TV contract. In the next contract the CFL should look to get some games played on CTV, atl east playoff games and the Grey Cup. I don't know the exact numbers, but I believe a lot more homes can access CTV in Canada than TSN, and the fact that CTV is a primo network would mean more viewers anyway. If the CFL played games on CTV, I have no question they would be over a million viewers. The fact that CTV plays NFL games kind of makes me wonder, yet they don't even play the Grey Cup.
Apparently the current television contract gives TSN the option of the Grey Cup being shown on CTV. That contract has been in effect for a couple of years but they haven't done it yet so I doubt they will.
I don't know why baseball is still playing now, it's too late in the season to think about baseball, baseball unlike football doesn't lend itself to cold conditions. Thank goodness there was something on game wise last night, the Leafs actually looked like a team for a change. Baseball should end a month earlier.
I love football, my favourite sport! Baseball has been pretty boring this year, although I wouldn’t call it a female sport just because I can throw harder than most guys
TSN is going to have to start charging more for commercials during games involving the Riders! That is the 2nd record set by a game involving the Riders this year (previous was just over a million).
I figure the Nov. 7 Sask - Calgary game will hit 1.5 million.
If this game drew 1.2M, can you guess what the numbers will be like next week with playoff implications for the Stamps-Riders and Ticats-BB.
I would guess both will be way over 1M and the Riders game in excess of 1.5M.
Wow, the playoff games could even beat HNIC at over 2M.
Leafs?!?!?! I wish I would’ve known the Raptors game was on. I would’ve loved to see them beat the Cavs. Judging from the highlights, it looked like the Raptors danced circles around them all night.
