Which Grey Cup matchup would draw best on t.v.?

Montreal and the RDS factor have to be taken into account as that is a whole province of fans in one of the top three metro cities that did not watch for the most part from the year before. They have only been on RDS for just about 5 years. I dont think anyone saw this coming that it would be such a huge part of the TV market. Now that it is a factor it was a smart move to introduce the french province to the rest of the CFL by beginning to televise games that do not include Montreal on RDS or RDS2. Along with televising all of Ottawa's games on RDS starting in 2014. 30+% of the Ottawa Gatineua Metro region are French first language speakers. Within 5 years the hope would be to have a Province of not just Montreal or Ottawa fans but also a province of CFL fans that will watch the Grey cup regardless of who is playing much like the rest of Canada.

TSN and the CFL has always been available in Quebec, they have a choice, it’s not like the CFL is new in Quebec it’s always been available on TSN. It’s just that it’s only been around in the French language on RDS for 5 or 6 years.
I lived in St Jean Quebec for two years and watched the CFL in English, also got all the US channels to watch the NFL.

 We went to a Super Bowl party in Montreal a few years ago and when the bar televised the game on RDS, most in the bar were yelling them to turn it to the US station.   

We don’t know the TSN TV ratings breakdown, we don’t know how many in Quebec watched the Grey Cup on TSN instead of RDS.

yet another place mikem claims to have lived for 2 years. :roll:
wherever the topic of conversation is based, mikem has lived there and knows everything about it.
sheeesh.

one option, which no one talks about, is owners from outside Quebec.
the Als’ owner is american.
perhaps commish Cohon can convince someone from outside QC or the province of Quebec to invest in a franchise there?

Drummergod wrote

yet another place mikem claims to have lived for 2 years. :roll: wherever the topic of conversation is based, mikem has lived there and knows everything about it. sheeesh.
Yes, when you spend your whole working life in the Military you get sent all over the country and have to live in places that you don't want to. I had no choice but to go to St Jean, but I did enjoy it, for your info it's Canada's major recruit base and all recruits end up there. I also had several postings to Ottawa, didn't want to go there either but ended up liking it. Also spent quite a bit of time at Bagotville Quebec, the heart of French Canada and yes the do get TSN up there'

But I guess it is difficult for people that have never been in the military to understand that you do move around the country.

You probably have no idea what “per ardua ad astra” means

seems too suspect to me. florida, st louis, and many other locations you claim to have lived for 2 years doesn't fit with that explination.
if one were to add up all the places you say you've lived for 2 years, you'd have to be well over 100 years old :lol:

it seems to me, any time there is a debate to which you've lost due to overwhelming evidence, you throw out the old, "i've lived there for 2 years, i should know" comment.

Through adversity/struggle to the stars…

St Louis is where our CF-18s were built and recently modernized. Florida is where I am living on my military pension. :thup:
Germany, England, UN tours in the Golan Heights. Yes it was a long career, I am turning 102

Per Ardua ad astra

that's funny.
i've never ever seen you claim to have lived in st.louis.
i just made that one up. but apparently, you've lived there too... :expressionless:

I’m not discounting RDS, but if we take it as a given that a game involving Montreal will draw big ratings on RDS, and a game involving Toronto won’t, then in theory the only logical answer to the original question is Montreal vs. whoever. That’s fine, but I’m more interested in a discussion about a more level playing field, i.e. the English broadcast. I suppose the same could be said about that – the game will draw bigger ratings on TSN if the Argos are in it than if they are not. So by that logic, the best possible matchup would be the one we’ll see this weekend – Toronto vs. Montreal. That would get the biggest possible ratings in the biggest market and in two languages. I’ll accept that RDS’s ratings will be lower without the Als, and again say the question that interests me more is what matchup would draw the most viewers on TSN.

No didn’t live there, St Louis was like Bagotville, had to go there on a regular basis, the longest time was one week.

Well one thing is true that the ratings are RDS were way down last year without Montreal being in the Grey Cup. It does not take a genius to figure out that they were mostly french from the province of Quebec. There is a reason why all of the ALs games are shown on RDS. There is also the reason why some regular season games that do not include Montreal are now being televised on RDS or RDS2.
The vanier Cup tv numbers were higher on RDS then the Grey Cup numbers also.

It would probably be a blessing not to have the Als in the Grey Cup due to all the bad press about organized crime in Montreal recently. Who knows if Cosa Nostra have their dirty fingers in the Als’ pie?

Will lose quite a few TV spectators from Quebec who will not be tuning in since the Al's aren't in the GC, but should be more interest in southern Ontario now that the Argos are in. I don't think it would've mattered who won the west as I think most western CFL fans would've backed the west winner (GO STAMPS!!)

I agree the ratings on RDS will be down without the Als in the game the western fans will all be watching ad routing for Calgary the west representative. The CFL however has began to change that this season by showing 16 other CFL games which did not include Montreal for the first time on RDS2. It of course will take time to build a CFL fan base and not just a Montreal Alouette fan base for the francophone football fan but this was a good start now that they have obviously hooked an entire new fanbase in Quebec which did not exist before TSN took over coverage of the CFL.
Most likely the new Ottawa franchise will have all of its games shown on RDS as well with 35% of the Ottawa-Gatineau region being francophone.
Also adding in the fact that 20% of the NI players in the CFL are from Quebec mostly from the 3 francophone schools, Montreal, Laval, and Sherbrooke.
In 5 years that Montreal factor should not be that much of a factor with an organized plan in place.
Sherbrooke in particular are beginning to turn out quite a few young receivers with potential star power at a skill position over the past few seasons.
The CFL and TSN are doing a great job of promoting the league to all regions of Canada.
The importance of getting a team in Halifax is huge for that reason and should be a heavy push from the CFL and TSN to get more involved than they ever have with any franchise to make that happen.
They targeted the southern ontario region this year and have began with the TD Atlantic games in 2010 and 2011 which have inspired the HMR to actually have an official study with sights for a possible stadium extablished and a monetary investment of 20 million from the HMR if the stadium does become a reality.

I stand corrected (slightly) on this point. Lions President Dennis Skulsky was on flagship station TEAM1040 on Saturday and mentioned that BC was actually nudged out by the Riders for #1 TV property in the CFL. Averaged 770,000 viewers in 2012 (Riders “ended up around 795,000” thanks to a couple of late season games that had importance to them in the standings). Congrats Rider fans! :thup:

BC had 5 local blackouts this year though which would have affected the numbers somewhat.

I still think having the Argos in the Grey Cup will be a huge boost to the numbers in Southern Ontario, ergo, the numbers will be massive overall.

They blacked out games?
Did they not learn anything from the 80's?

Really they blacke out 5 games. That means that more than half of there home games were blacked out. Just out of Curiosity what areas were blacked out. Was it just Vancouver proper or did it extend into the metro vancouver area.

Maybe the higher ticket prices had a bit to do with it. Shaw cable also went all Digital forcing everybody to purchase a set top box. the Lions games were available in Hi- def .

The black out extends to all of Metro Vancouver and outlying areas, but I'm not sure it has much in the way of teeth these days. I mean, really, what percentage of homes now view TV in high-def (which is unaffected)?

It's a contentious issue and I can see both sides. The CFL is a gate-driven league and clubs rely on butts in the seats. But you also want to expose your product to as many people as possible.

Ah so those who have High Def were able to view the games and only those without High Def and jsut a digital package were blacked out.