Confused about something in a Steve Simmons column

[ArgoRavi]

In today's Sun, Simmons writes, "The CFL’s television contract is up at the end of the season and ratings are going in the wrong direction. When an observer commented that the Thanksgiving game between Saskatchewan and Toronto did more than one million viewers, the TV executive said: “That’s one game. Saskatchewan used to do a million every game.”"

We haven't seen TV ratings in a while but what little I have heard indicates that ratings have been strong again this year and up from a bit of a drop last year. Furthermore, did the Riders ever draw over 1 million viewers for every game? I really don't recall that to be the case. Anyway, I know that there are at least a couple of people on this forum who know the CFL ratings pretty well so I am curious as to whether they can confirm that Simmons is simply wrong with what he has written today.

His full column today is at: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/20/leafs-legend-duff-only-wants-the-best

[Midnight Blue]

In today's Sun, Simmons writes, "The CFL’s television contract is up at the end of the season and ratings are going in the wrong direction. When an observer commented that the Thanksgiving game between Saskatchewan and Toronto did more than one million viewers, the TV executive said: “That’s one game. Saskatchewan used to do a million every game.”"

We haven't seen TV ratings in a while but what little I have heard indicates that ratings have been strong again this year and up from a bit of a drop last year. Furthermore, did the Riders ever draw over 1 million viewers for every game? I really don't recall that to be the case. Anyway, I know that there are at least a couple of people on this forum who know the CFL ratings pretty well so I am curious as to whether they can confirm that Simmons is simply wrong with what he has written today.

His full column today is at: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/20/leafs-legend-duff-only-wants-the-best


Maybe it's just me, but for quite a while now (like 15 or more years), I have had difficulty in taking anything seriously, that Steve Simmons writes.

Columnists need to put out a column every week.


He is paid to stir up shit. And since he is generally full of it, it suits him well.

But I respect him for being able to stay on the payroll for such a long time.

Perhaps other people take him seriously.

I do not.


Cheers !

[Deerkeeper]

I posted this over on the CFL.ca forms. This is a quote from the Canadian Sports Media Blog. I assume his sources are accurate. I have no reason to believe they are not. These ratings are from last weekend (13-14 Oct). Of note; the Argo-Als game on Sunday afternoon drew over 800k against the much vaunted and glorious NFL.


MLB Wins Friday Night, but CFL Wins Weekend Ratings Battle (http://canadiansportsfan.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/mlb-wins-friday-night-but-cfl-wins-weekend-ratings-battle/)

In a rare occurance, a baseball game beat CFL Friday Night Football this past weekend; however, the 110-yard game stormed back to take the highest sports rating of the weekend. Thanks to Whitey Fisk (https://twitter.com/TheWhiteyFisk) and Bill Brioux (https://twitter.com/billbriouxtv) for publicizing many of these.
CFL
BC-HAM, Oct 12, TSN: 571, 000
SSK-EDM, Oct 13, TSN: 888, 000
MTL-TOR, Oct 14, TSN/RDS: 842, 000
MLB
STL-WSH (g5), Oct 12, SN: 610, 000
DET-NYY (g1), Oct 13, SN: 730, 000
STL-SF (g1), Oct 14, SN: 389, 000
STL-SF (g2), Oct 15, SN: 448, 000
NFL
GB-HOU, Oct 14, TSN: 398, 000
DEN-SD, Oct 15, TSN: 563, 000
All numbers are BBM Canada AMA 2+
So, as you can see, baseball won head-to-head on Friday, but football (CFL and NFL) won head-to-head on Saturday and Sunday.
Not really any big surprises, but I did think STL-SF would slightly edge out GB-HOU on Sunday night. The difference was only a few percentage points and considering viewers could have watched FOX and NBC (respectively), the margin of error is probably close enough that neither truly won. Regardless, TSN’s football beat Sportsnet’s baseball two out of three nights.
The small percentage difference between the NLCS and Sunday Night Football is a completely different story than in America where the Packers-Texans game on NBC had almost triple the number of viewers as baseball on FOX.

Also of note, Felix Baumgartner’s thrilling jump to earth from over 125, 000 feet in the air attracted an averaged audience of 435, 000 on Sportsnet Sunday morning over 3 hours. That’s impressive considering the first two and a half hours were spent watching him slowly go up into the atmosphere. The audience peaked at 1.25 million as he was falling. Nearly 1.9 million viewers watched at least some of the broadcast, which shows there were a few who got bored with the long wait and gave never came back.

Steve Simmons is a tool!

[ArgoGabe22]

I'm confused after reading every Simmons article. Confused how did he get hired and how and where did he get his journalism degree?

[Ron]

Never gets old

http://www.argofans.com/showthread.php?1156-Steve-Simmons-RIPPED-by-Dana-White-for-bogus-reporting!

[1argoholic]

Simmons and Cox can both go and four letter word right off.

[AngeloV]

Simmons and Cox can both go and four letter word right off.

what four letter word? Kiss?

[1argoholic]

Yah that's it. haha.

[LLB997]

Simmons looks particularily intimidating with his arms crossed. Would not like to run into him in a dark alley. What ever happened to writers having just headshots? Is Simmons supposed to be eye candy for the Sun or something?

[argonaut11xx]

Steve Simmons is a big GEEK....

this guy is about a tough as a box of cotton balls....

i doubt he ever played any sport at a competitive level, but im sure his mantel is FULL of "Participation" awards...

[1argoholic]

He participated in fights in the school yard as a kid. He was the one who beat his face into others fists. He was either going to be a bad writer or into politics.

[AngeloV]

He went to York Mills C.I. for high school. As someone that went to school in North York growing up, I can honestly say it was the biggest powder puff school around.

[KCargosfan]

If I ever see Steve Simmons in KC I will punch him in the face :)