CFL TV Ratings

[bannedforlife]

Banned,

I was being facetious.I am very much agreeing with the sentiment of the last several posts.

Then I retract my post, still not understanding your facetiousness, perhaps you could explain.

[argotom]

Does anyone have the RDS numbers, which as we know are not included.
There is no question the Commissioners of the day/Owners/Board of Governors are collectively to blame for allowing the league to be forced/shuffled down to the second rung as an afterthought to the No Fun League.
Also the removal from the main network to only TSN was a further demotion.
The games and league was doing very well thank you when competing on a Sunday schedule.

[ArgoRavi]

Does anyone have the RDS numbers, which as we know are not included.
There is no question the Commissioners of the day/Owners/Board of Governors are collectively to blame for allowing the league to be forced/shuffled down to the second rung as an afterthought to the No Fun League.
Also the removal from the main network to only TSN was a further demotion.
The games and league was doing very well thank you when competing on a Sunday schedule.

RDS drew around 200k for the Grey Cup which is around their average for the season. If the Alouettes had been in the Grey Cup instead, there likely would have been over a million viewers for RDS but likely fewer on TSN. I also saw on Twitter today that Alouettes President Mario Cecchini said that RDS ratings for Alouettes games have almost doubled since 2018 so at least those have been trending in the right direction.

[bannedforlife]

Alouettes President Mario Cecchini said that RDS ratings for Alouettes games have almost doubled since 2018 so at least those have been trending in the right direction.

Can you post that tweet, I can't find it. Always like to have ammo for the haters. Edit: Found it, I was looking on Cecchini's twitter instead of the Als.

[Will]

Does anyone have the RDS numbers, which as we know are not included.
There is no question the Commissioners of the day/Owners/Board of Governors are collectively to blame for allowing the league to be forced/shuffled down to the second rung as an afterthought to the No Fun League.
Also the removal from the main network to only TSN was a further demotion.
The games and league was doing very well thank you when competing on a Sunday schedule.

CFL hasn't been on CTV since 1986.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

CFL hasn't been on CTV since 1986.

I believe argotom was referring to the end of the CBC sublicensing deal in 2007.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

Then I retract my post, still not understanding your facetiousness, perhaps you could explain.

I was referring to the approach the league management has taken when asked about this topic.

[gilthethrill]

Grey Cups used to draw 6 million+ viewers in the late 2000s and we are now at half of that. I wonder how many fewer subscriptions TSN has today compared with 2009. I worry that hitting even 3 million over the next four seasons (while the league is still under this exclusive deal with TSN) will be an increasingly tall order.

Why is TSN along with CTV televising the World Cup? Can’t TSN do that for the CFLs biggest game? Just curious.

[bannedforlife]

Opinion: the CFL should be looking to expand national media rights beyond TSN
Joel Gasson 3downnation November 25, 2022

There was a time not too long ago when sports media pundits thought there would be a ceiling for how much companies would be willing to pay leagues for the right to broadcast their games.

It’s now 2022 and if there is one, that ceiling doesn’t appear to be nearing. Despite massive changes to the industry, media companies still have a strong desire for live sports.

In the last couple of years, two major college conferences — the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Big Ten — have signed landmark deals with broadcasters like ESPN, FOX, CBS, and NBC. Other conferences are expected to sign similar agreements in the coming months.

The NFL recently signed new deals with all of their broadcast partners as well, which included massive increases over what the networks were previously paying.

We’re still a few years away from the CFL potentially getting in on the action, as their current deal with TSN doesn’t expire until 2026. While none of us would expect the three-down league to be in that same financial stratosphere when their time comes, the trend suggests a fairly large increase should still be in order.

Based on CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie’s state of the league address last week, I think it’s safe to say it’s something that is on the league’s mind.

“We’re looking toward our media rights that expire at the end of 2026,” he said. “Everything that we’re focused on is how do we make sure we’re poised to harness the biggest global media rights opportunity when our current deal with TSN expires in 2026.”

Ambrosie did make it sound like an announcement could be coming in the not-too-distant future regarding an improved American media rights package, but he wasn’t able to go into much more detail than that.

Currently, games are broadcast on ESPN’s various platforms, mostly their streaming service ESPN+ with some games appearing on either the main network or ESPN2. It’s believed that ESPN is paying very little for those rights.

Ambrosie did suggest the new stateside deal will run until 2026, to align with the current TSN deal. What the league does in four years’ time will be far more interesting, however.

I believe the CFL acted far earlier than it had to when it signed its current contract with TSN during the 2019 season. The previous deal was set to expire at the end of the 2021 season. In the end, the security was nice, but no one could have predicted the 2020 season wasn’t going to be played when that decision was being made.

The league would have been wise to let the process play out a little longer, putting some pressure on Bell Media to spend more to keep their exclusive rights or see what else might have been out there.

During his address, Ambrosie suggested a few times that people these days want access to content when and where they want it. He’s right. However, their current deal with TSN doesn’t exactly allow for that. Game content remains owned by TSN and their streaming options are lacklustre compared to others.

The league needs to get as many eyeballs as possible on their core product while also obtaining the most money for the right to broadcast it. While TSN has been a great partner for the league, the time has come for the league to expand its horizons.

The CFL not only needs more cooks in the kitchen to increase revenue but to create competition to make the broadcasts better. Frankly, TSN’s broadcast hasn’t changed a whole lot over the years.

Ambrosie was asked by 3DownNation’s Justin Dunk if the league would explore options outside of TSN — including airing some games on CTV in the meantime — when the current deal expires, but he more or less danced around the question.

An interesting wrinkle to this whole scenario is the NHL’s deal with Rogers is also set to expire in 2026. What goes down there could go a long way toward determining who might have an interest in the CFL outside of TSN. I believe that Rogers and Bell will end up sharing those rights, but that’s another story for another website.

If Ambrosie is serious about wanting the league’s content to be available in more ways for fans, then the league’s next media rights deal will have to look significantly different.

Putting your core product exclusively on cable with an uninspiring streaming option isn’t going to cut it. In a perfect world, the CFL should be seeking a mixture of traditional broadcast TV, cable, and streaming in their next deal.

Whether they land all three remains to be seen but it would be pivotal in making the league more attractive to casual fans — while increasing revenue at the same time.

[Antwon]

The elephant in the room that Ambrosie and the league aren't talking about is viewer numbers in the east. There was a time game attendance might be down, but tv #'s were still strong. TiCat/Argo games would still draw 600k plus viewers, LD up to a million. This year the numbers are bad considering the Ontario population alone. The league, teams and TSN have to step up the with the marketing and social media to grab more attention in the extremely crowded ON market.

[ArgoRavi]

The elephant in the room that Ambrosie and the league aren't talking about is viewer numbers in the east. There was a time game attendance might be down, but tv #'s were still strong. TiCat/Argo games would still draw 600k plus viewers, LD up to a million. This year the numbers are bad considering the Ontario population alone. The league, teams and TSN have to step up the with the marketing and social media to grab more attention in the extremely crowded ON market.

Something has to change well before 2026 IMO. About the only change it seems that can be made is having some kind of presence on either CTV or CTV2. The league can't continue just doing what it's presently doing with so much cord-cutting happening though.

I would also add that not everyone has all five TSN channels and if you don't, you are limited in how many CFL games you can see in a season. TSN4 is the southern Ontario TSN channel but if that's all you have, you will miss a lot of Argos and Ticats games over the course of a season.

[Shatto]

Could the move to Saturday playoff games indicate the league might try to persuade CTV to carry the playoff games on Saturday. That way they don't have the problem competing with Sunday's NFL games.

[AngeloV]

Could the move to Saturday playoff games indicate the league might try to persuade CTV to carry the playoff games on Saturday. That way they don't have the problem competing with Sunday's NFL games.

I don't think so. The Grey Cup is the one event you'd think would have a chance and it's still on Sunday. In an interview last week, Dinwiddie said that the move to Saturday and keeping the Grey Cup on Sunday was something he lobbied for. With all the outside commitments (ticket availability for the teams, extra media requirement and so on) he felt they need the extra day of prep for the Grey Cup. Kind of makes sense, although I hate the move to Saturday. I would prefer them to start the season a week earlier and take 2 weeks between the final and the Grey Cup and keep everything on Sunday. The buy week would also help to hype the game. My opinion, but I think Saturday playoff games is going to be a huge failure. Furthermore, it would also be a killer for Usport playoffs.

[bannedforlife]

Something has to change well before 2026 IMO. About the only change it seems that can be made is having some kind of presence on either CTV or CTV2. The league can't continue just doing what it's presently doing with so much cord-cutting happening though.

This, in addition to the panel concept having overstayed its welcome. IMO

[ArgoRavi]

I don't think so. The Grey Cup is the one event you'd think would have a chance and it's still on Sunday. In an interview last week, Dinwiddie said that the move to Saturday and keeping the Grey Cup on Sunday was something he lobbied for. With all the outside commitments (ticket availability for the teams, extra media requirement and so on) he felt they need the extra day of prep for the Grey Cup. Kind of makes sense, although I hate the move to Saturday. I would prefer them to start the season a week earlier and take 2 weeks between the final and the Grey Cup and keep everything on Sunday. The buy week would also help to hype the game. My opinion, but I think Saturday playoff games is going to be a huge failure. Furthermore, it would also be a killer for Usport playoffs.

I think that the Saturday playoff games are a mistake also. It's not like we had issues with attendance for this year's playoff games on Sunday. I get that TV ratings have declined but I believe that has far more to do with cable cord-cutting than anything else.

The only way I would be for the Saturday playoff games is if they were simulcast on CTV, CBC, or Global and I really don't understand why CTV couldn't carry them on Saturday, as they show mostly syndicated reruns, I believe, on that day, but there seems to be no plans for them to do this.

This, in addition to the panel concept having overstayed its welcome. IMO

The hijinks have gotten out of hand IMO. The best panel was in the 1990s when they had Rod Smith hosting with Bob O'Billovich, Marty York, and Less Browne. They busted each other's chops a bit but they focused on the games and the storylines and hijinks were at a minimum. Today, it feels like fun and games and frivolity, along with betting, are the primary purpose of the panel. I suspect this won't be a popular opinion but it's just my two cents.

[ArgoGabe22]

The hijinks have gotten out of hand IMO. The best panel was in the 1990s when they had Rod Smith hosting with Bob O'Billovich, Marty York, and Less Browne. They busted each other's chops a bit but they focused on the games and the storylines and hijinks were at a minimum. Today, it feels like fun and games and frivolity, along with betting, are the primary purpose of the panel. I suspect this won't be a popular opinion but it's just my two cents.

You're bang on. Even Randorf, Climie, Schultzie, Dunigan would have that busting each other's chops feel to it. One could say they still do but it just seems so over the top chummy. I still don't know what to think of Sanchez. Dunigan is so much better in the booth. Honestly, is it even worth them to bring in Stegall to sit on the panel when I'm sure there are locally based alum who are just as, if not more entertaining.

[bannedforlife]

The hijinks have gotten out of hand IMO. The best panel was in the 1990s when they had Rod Smith hosting with Bob O'Billovich, Marty York, and Less Browne. They busted each other's chops a bit but they focused on the games and the storylines and hijinks were at a minimum. Today, it feels like fun and games and frivolity, along with betting, are the primary purpose of the panel. I suspect this won't be a popular opinion but it's just my two cents.

The panel is just a stale concept that IMO has run its course. I can't remember if it was Jason Whitlock I heard say it or someone on his show, but they talked about panels on ESPN and the dynamic surrounding them and that they're basically useless. It was pretty politically incorrect what was said but so true I couldn't get the idea out of my head.

Watched the Vanier Cup on CBC today. Hey Randy, TSN, if you care anything at all about the future of Canadian football, you should give them a ring. A little deal like CBC and Sportsnet have with hockey might just save the league.

[ArgoRavi]

A little deal like CBC and Sportsnet have with hockey might just save the league.

Agreed. If CTV doesn't want to show the CFL for fear of them losing out on advertising revenue associated with American programming, then look to the CBC for a similar arrangement as Sportsnet has with CBC for NHL games. The status quo for the next four years scares the hell out of me.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

TSN, if you care anything at all about the future of Canadian football, you should give them a ring.

They are very happy with the status quo.

A little deal like CBC and Sportsnet have with hockey might just save the league.

Bell does not want another competitor to monetize the league.It's about the NFL and soon to be the NCAA.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

The status quo for the next four years scares the hell out of me.

The worst is yet to come.