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Ratings for the NFL in Canada

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LanceyHoward, Nov 4, 2012.

  1. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    I was wondering how popular the NFL is in Canada in comparison to the United States. Television ratings are a good way to measure. NFL Sunday Night football is about the higest rated show in the U.S.A . How highly does it rank in Canada? Are there other comparisons that would be valid?

    How do N.F.L. rating stack up to C.F.L. ratings?
     
  2. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    No idea what the ratings are for NFL games up here but they must be pretty healthy given the number of games available on TV here.

    The NFL is huge here. You will find fans of every team up here. The Lions have always had strong support in southwestern Ontario and I read recently that the Bills sell 20,000 tickets a week in southern Ontario. (Drunkest person at any Bills' tailgate? Guaranteed to be a Canadian.) I know teams like the Vikings, Packers and Bears have strong followings in places like Manitoba and Saskatchewan and I am sure the Seahawks draw a lot of fans from southern BC.
     
  3. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    Don't know if this is helpful: http://canadiansportsfan.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/canadian-sports-ratings-update-october-27/
     
  4. RubberSoul1979

    RubberSoul1979 Active Member

    I wonder if Doug Flutie helped the Bills' popularity in Canada. When I went to Syracuse and he had just started in Buffalo, a friend of mine explained that Flutie's mullet -- btw, the first time I heard such a term -- helped his appeal among Canadians.
     
  5. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    I think the Bills were pretty popular before he went down to buffalo. Not that he hurt their popularity at all. His best years, however, were in Calgary and I don't think there are too many Bills fans in Cowtown.
     
  6. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Thanks. Do you know if the numbers reproted are households or estimated people.

    It looks like the CFL doubles the NFL.

    I know the hockey strike is boasting CFL viewing but ratings are seem high. Which leads me to wonder why the CFL does not draw better. Don't CFL teams average 25,000 to 35,000?
     
  7. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    Most CFL stadiums are 25-35,000. Edmonton is about 60,000, Toronto is 50,00 and Vancouver is about 55,000, that is when they have both level open as I believe BC Place tarps off sections in the upper level. Oh and for the playoffs, Montreal usually ends up in Olympic Stadium and that can seat 66,000, the rest of the time they are in tiny 25,000 seat PercivalMolson Stadium at McGill. McMahon Stadium in Calgary is 38,000, Taylor Field in Regina is 33,000, CanadInns Stadium is about 29,000 and the new Winnipeg Stadium will seat 33,000, Ivor Wynn in Hamilton was 29,600 and is being replaced by a stadium that will seat 24,000.
     
  8. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Which leads to the question, why doesn't the CFL need bigger stadiums, given thier relatively high television ratings. I understand that most of the cities are smaller than U.S. cities but Vancouver and Toronto also have low attendance. The Canadian cities with NHL teams cetainly draw crowds comparible to succesful U.S. NHL franchises.
     
  9. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    You know how much it costs to build and opperate an NFL-sized stadium these days?

    The fact is their sizes are about right for the product. The CFL doesn't have all of the revenue streams that the NFL does to justify giant stadiums. Tickets max out at about $75 a pop, and most are in the $25-60 range, depending on the city. There is no reason for the giant stadiums, no million dollar contracts (I believe Argos QB Ricky Ray is the league's highest paid player at $400,000), and no real reason for the massive upkeep costs that come with the big stadiums. People who go to CFL games actually go to watch the game, not be dazzled by the latest creature comfrots. Unless you're in Saskatchewan and then people just go to drink. Also, the game is very much regional right now with its strength out on the Prairies, but even still I doubt they would be able to pack bigger stadiums. B.C. Place sits half empty during the regular season. When the Eskimos are on, they'll average close to 40,000 fans, and three or four games a year push it to over 50,000. In bad years they average about 33,000 but for games against Calgary and Saskatchewan pop up to the 50,000 range. McMahon is right about perfect for Calgary, they average between 33,000 and 35,000 meaning there are about 3,000 seats a game still available. Saskatchewan sells out most games, and they could probably go bigger, but I think with all of their plans for a new stadium they are keeping capacity about the same size, if not shrinking. Winnipeg there's always a few empty seats. Even now Hamilton struggles to draw and and they are cutting about 6,000 from their current capacity and Toronto is a cavernous half empty building. Montreal tried the big building for their first few years after the move from Baltimore and couldn't come close to filling it. Horrible atmosphere, much like Toronto. By accident they ended up in Percival Molson Stadium for a game (I think the Big O was double booked for U2) and they have sold out since. The CFL is all about atmosphere and they stress that family atmosphere as a place where you can afford to take the kids more than once every couple of years. You bringing the bigstadiums, you lose a lot of that atmoshere when you have them half full and seats a mile away from the field.
     
  10. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    I remember being among a huge crowd of Broncos fans one Monday night in Calgary a few years ago. I joked, "They're rooting for their time zone."
     
  11. Iron_chet

    Iron_chet Well-Known Member

    Lots of Broncos fans in Calgary. I think Huggy was spot on, some fandom is driven by geographic proximity/similarity. Growing up in Winnipeg I was a huge Vikings fan until I simply could not take having my heart broken anymore, PFO Gary Anderson, 1998 killed me.

    I think there are lots of Broncos fans in Calgary because of people growing up with a winner during the Elway years and rooting for another "mountain town".

    As to the overall point, NFL is huge here but CFL is seen as a funner game to watch.
     
  12. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    One could probably make a fair comparison between a CFL market and a non-professional, non-BCS NCAA market (other than TO) for local TV ratings.
     
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