Sports in Canadian culture

[Chadillaccc]

Canada's National Golf Course announced just outside of Calgary (apparently?)

The Mickelson National Golf Club of Canada will be located in Harmony, a Calgary suburb in Rockyview County.



World-class golf course part of Springbank’s Harmony development
3,500 homes to be built
BY MARIO TONEGUZZI, CALGARY HERALD

CALGARY - A massive residential project planned for the Springbank area, near the airport, received a major boost Tuesday with the announcement that a world-class golf course will be part of the development.

Harmony Developments announced that PGA superstar Phil Mickelson and his company, Phil Mickelson Design (PMD), have partnered with the Windmill Golf Group to design and build the Mickelson National Golf Club of Canada in Harmony, in Rocky View County.

The signature course, Mickelson’s first in Canada, will offer golf experiences for golfers of every level, and will host the world’s top players at marquis PGA events upon completion.

Construction on the first 18 holes will begin in the fall in tandem with Harmony, which is being developed in partnership by Bordeaux Developments, Qualico Communities and the original landowners, the Copithorne family.

“We are thrilled to have Phil working with the Windmill team to develop Harmony’s golf course,” said Birol Fisekci, president and chief executive of Bordeaux Developments. “He spent a lot of time understanding the guiding principles of Harmony. His vision for the golf course aligned perfectly with our plans for the community and we share a mutual passion for bringing it all to life.

Full story: http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...997/story.html

[speedog]

Ummm, you're twisting the words from that Calgary Herald news story.

[Prometheus]

Once again, the CFL draws the highest ratings in the country.

Interestingly, while the Argos' game reigned supreme over the entire sports television landscape, the Saskatchewan Roughriders' game was the lowest rated CFL game of the weekend.

And a new low for Toronto TFC: just 14,000 viewers across the entire country watched last Saturday's match.

The Great Canadian Ratings Report

By Chris Zelkovich | Eh Game – Tue, 16 Sep, 2014 10:53 AM

DOGS OF THE WEEK: Toronto FC continues to create more interest for its boardroom machinations than what takes place on the pitch. Saturday's game against Chicago drew an average of 14,000 viewers to Sportsnet 360. Regardless of the possible explanations, that's as close to being a non-entity as you get.

Here are the most-watched sports events on English-language television for the past weekend, according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:


1. CFL, Argonauts at Stampeders, Saturday, TSN: 871,000

2. CFL, Blue Bombers at Lions, Saturday, TSN: 786,000

3. MLB, Rays at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 743,000

4. MLB, Rays at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet 654,000

5. CFL, Alouettes at Eskimos, Friday, TSN: 614,000

6. NFL, early games, Sunday, CTV: 609,000

7. NFL, late games, Sunday, CTV: 571,000

8. CFL, Roughriders at Tiger-Cats, Sunday, TSN: 531,000

9. MLB, Rays at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 502,000

10. NFL, Bears at 49ers, Sunday, TSN: 462,000 (NBC viewers not measured)

11. NFL, Seahawks at Chargers, Sunday, TSN: 335,000 (Fox viewers not measured)

12. PGA, Tour Championship final round, Sunday, Global: 311,000

13. PGA, Tour Championship third round, Saturday, Global: 310,000

14. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN2: 219,000

15. Soccer, Swansea at Chelsea, Saturday, Sportsnet: 172,000

16. Equestrian, Spruce Meadows BMO Cup, Saturday, CBC: 164,000

17. MLB, Yankees at Orioles, Sunday, TSN2: 130,000

18. Equestrian, Spruce Meadows Suncor Cup, Saturday, CBC: 125,000

19. MLB, Yankees at Orioles, Friday, Sportsnet: 121,000

20. Equestrian, Spruce Meadows CP Grand Prix, Sunday, CBC: 115,000

Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...145358839.html

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Once again, the CFL draws the highest ratings in the country.

Interestingly, while the Argos' game reigned supreme over the entire sports television landscape, the Saskatchewan Roughriders' game was the lowest rated CFL game of the weekend.

And a new low for Toronto TFC: just 14,000 viewers across the entire country watched last Saturday's match.


Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...145358839.html

What are the Whitecaps drawing?

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Those TV numbers always surprise me but, really...

The issue with the Argos isn't that they don't have fans, right? If I'm not mistaken, they get plenty of support from the 'burbs > Mississauga, Scarborough, etc.

These days, however, who in their right mind is gonna make that trip to Skydome for one of the Double Blue's horrendously scheduled home games? And let's not forget the colossal cluster f*ck that is the Gardiner. And, oh yeah, Skydome isn't exactly the best place to watch a football game.

Argo support is poor compared to other CFL teams but these challenges make it near-impossible to get bums in seats at the dome. If I were a fan, which I most certainly am not, I'd just assume stay home and watch on TV, too.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by logan5

What are the Whitecaps drawing?

They seem to draw around 100,000 plus or minus. One of the their highest rated games in recent times was two weeks ago, when they drew 168,000 viewers and came 19th on the list of most-watched sports events for that week:

The Great Canadian Ratings Report: CFL fares well in Sunday showdown with NFL

Here are the most-watched sports events on English-language television for the past weekend, according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:


1. CFL, Roughriders at Blue Bombers, Sunday, TSN: 1,107,000

2. MLB, Blue Jays at Red Sox, Friday, Sportsnet: 821,000

3. CFL, Stampeders at Eskimos, Saturday, TSN: 753,000

4. NFL, 49ers at Cowboys, Sunday, CTV: 683,000

5. CFL, Lions at RedBlacks, Friday, TSN: 668,000

6. NFL, Early games, Sunday, CTV: 601,000

7. NFL, Colts at Broncos, Sunday, CTV: 595,000 (NBC viewers not measured)

8. MLB, Blue Jays at Red Sox, Saturday, Sportsnet: 528,000

9. NFL, Giants at Lions, Monday, TSN: 495,000

10. NFL, Chargers at Cardinals, Monday, TSN: 430,000

11. CFL, Ticats at Alouettes, Sunday, TSN: 413,000 (RDS viewers not measured)

12. MLB, Blue Jays at Red Sox, Sunday, Sportsnet: 346,000

13. PGA, BMW Championship final round, Sunday, Global: 305,000

14. PGA, BMW Championship third round, Saturday, Global: 273,000

15. Tennis, U.S. Open men's semifinal, Sunday, TSN2: 208,000 (CBS viewers not measured)

16. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Saturday, TSN2: 192,000 (Fox viewers not measured)

16. NFL, Patriots at Dolphins, Sunday, TSN2: 192,000 (CBS viewers not measured)

18. Auto racing, F1 Italian Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 170,000

19. MLS, D.C. United at Whitecaps, Saturday, TSN: 168,000

20. Tennis, U.S. Open women's final, Sunday, TSN2: 138,000* (CBS audience not measured)

21. Equestrian, Spruce Meadows Grand Slam, Saturday, CBC: 126,000

Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...193422068.html


But on the previous weekend, in a vital match against a Cascadia rival, they did not register on the list at all and therefore must have drawn less than 95,000, but surely more than TFC's dismal 22,000:

The Great Canadian Ratings Report: TSN's multi-channel universe good for tennis

The CFL didn't need the extra feeds to produce its usual weekend of big audiences. Sunday's Saskatchewan-Winnipeg game broke the million mark and Monday's Labour Day game in Calgary drew a 15 per cent larger viewing audience than the 2013 game with Edmonton.

On the other hand, maybe Toronto FC needs as many feeds as it can get. Its game against New England on Saturday was seen by only 22,000 viewers on Sportsnet360.

Here are the most-watched sports events on English-language television for the past weekend, according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:

1. CFL, Blue Bombers at Roughriders, Sunday, TSN: 1,144,000

2. CFL, Eskimos at Stampeders, Monday, TSN: 885,000

3. CFL, Argonauts at Ticats, Monday, TSN: 796,000

4. Tennis, U.S. Open, Bouchard vs. Makarova, Monday, TSN/RDS: 755,000

5. MLB, Yankees at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 594,000

6. MLB, Yankees at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 579,000

7. MLB, Yankees at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 576,000

8. CFL, RedBlacks at Alouettes, Friday, TSN: 485,000

9. Tennis, U.S. Open, Raonic vs. Nishikora, Monday, TSN/RDS: 448,000

10. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN: 244,000 (Fox audience not measured)

11. PGA, Deutschebank Championship third round, Sunday, Global: 241,000

12. Martial arts, UFC 177 prelims, Saturday, Sportsnet360: 137,000

13. Soccer, EPL various games, Sunday, TSN: 121,000

14. Soccer, EPL various games, Saturday, TSN: 107,000

15. Soccer, Crystal Palace at Newcastle, Saturday, Sportsnet: 98,000

16. Athletics, Nanjing Youth Olympics, Saturday, CBC: 95,000

Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...024114525.html

[logan5]

Interesting. Thanx. Vancouver is definately a soccer city. The tv numbers suggest much more so than Toronto.Big sporting events really make a city come alive. Certainly at some point we will match Seattle with attendance numbers and have a buzz downtown similar to what the Canucks bring.

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Once again, the CFL draws the highest ratings in the country.

Interestingly, while the Argos' game reigned supreme over the entire sports television landscape, the Saskatchewan Roughriders' game was the lowest rated CFL game of the weekend.

And a new low for Toronto TFC: just 14,000 viewers across the entire country watched last Saturday's match.


Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...145358839.html

Wow. And the game wasn’t even in Toronto, so they can’t say that the people who usually watch were at the game. Keep in mind that the new system counts people who record the game and watch it later as well. And it’s not like there aren’t any soccer fans in the GTA. There are literally millions of people in the greater Toronto area who grew up in places where soccer is king, and yet only 14,000 watched this game? It’s almost impossible to understand how MLSE could have done such a poor job marketing this team. I also noticed this article on Yahoo:

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be near the top of the list when it comes to franchise monetary values, but when it comes to satisfying their fans and producing on the ice they rank dead last.
According to a new ESPN The Magazine ultimate franchise ranking, which mixes in fan polling with other research, the Leafs rated the lowest among 122 teams from the NHL, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...203026677.html

Please Mr. Braley, do not sell the Argos to MLSE!

[Allan83]

There are some other very strange numbers from recent weeks as well. Roughriders at Tiger-Cats drawing only 531,000 on a Sunday afternoon? I don’t even think that’s possible. That game should have drawn almost twice that number. And how is it that the Jays have been drawing such big numbers on Friday nights the last couple of weeks, only to drop well off by Sunday? Some of these numbers are starting to look a little fishy.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Once again, the CFL draws the highest ratings in the country.

Interestingly, while the Argos' game reigned supreme over the entire sports television landscape, the Saskatchewan Roughriders' game was the lowest rated CFL game of the weekend.

And a new low for Toronto TFC: just 14,000 viewers across the entire country watched last Saturday's match.


Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...145358839.html

Hmmm...maybe that's why TFC gets low national ratings...
I was home and tried to watch the game on the advertised network (Sportsnet one iI believe), didn'tsee it on that channel, checked out the other sports channels (tsn1, tsn2, the various hd sports channels) but only saw a Vancouver mls game playing. So I bust out the laptop and watched the game on mls live instead. If this is what's happening to viewers that have every bloody canadian sports channel then imagine what its like for those with just regular cable. I wonder why theres a discrepancy between the advertised channel and the actual channel its playing on if at all.

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by Allan83

Wow. And the game wasn’t even in Toronto, so they can’t say that the people who usually watch were at the game. Keep in mind that the new system counts people who record the game and watch it later as well. And it’s not like there aren’t any soccer fans in the GTA. There are literally millions of people in the greater Toronto area who grew up in places where soccer is king, and yet only 14,000 watched this game? It’s almost impossible to understand how MLSE could have done such a poor job marketing this team. I also noticed this article on Yahoo:




Please Mr. Braley, do not sell the Argos to MLSE!

... and people watching in bars, on the internet, at a friend's house. As I understand it, the new system – actually several years old now – picks up an inaudible sound that’s broadcast along with the show. A recording device that you wear picks it up the sound automatically, and in theory if you’re within earshot of a TV show being played live or recorded while you’re wearing your device it will record you as having watched it.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by Allan83

There are some other very strange numbers from recent weeks as well. Roughriders at Tiger-Cats drawing only 531,000 on a Sunday afternoon? I don’t even think that’s possible. That game should have drawn almost twice that number. And how is it that the Jays have been drawing such big numbers on Friday nights the last couple of weeks, only to drop well off by Sunday? Some of these numbers are starting to look a little fishy.

There are quite a few people who watch the CFL and the NFL. Considering the game was quite the stinker and it was a up against several choice NFL games it's not surprising the ratings were only 531,000.

Friday nights have little sports competition thus the higher numbers for the Jays games. Sunday afternoon games have to compete against the NFL and many of those fans of the Jays in southern Ontario (and around the country) are also NFl fans. Since the Jays playoff chances were next next to nil, many choose to watch the NFL instead.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by Allan83

. And it’s not like there aren’t any soccer fans in the GTA. There are literally millions of people in the greater Toronto area who grew up in places where soccer is king, and yet only 14,000 watched this game? It’s almost impossible to understand how MLSE could have done such a poor job marketing this team. I also noticed this article on Yahoo:

!

I honestly don't think you've ever been to a game. MLS audience is almost completely Tech-Business guys that grew up in the burbs. Very small portion of immigrant soccer fans actually follow mls.

Its AHL tier at best.

This isn't news to anyone, and the business model is based on growing talent later on down the road.

It's not a failure of marketing.

It's a failure of meeting expectations.

MLS fans expect constant improvement, as the league is based on the idea of the franchises of tomorrow.

They let a subpar product go for years, and even after dumping a ton of money into it, are still out of the playoffs(in a world cup year)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by logan5

Interesting. Thanx. Vancouver is definately a soccer city. The tv numbers suggest much more so than Toronto.Big sporting events really make a city come alive. Certainly at some point we will match Seattle with attendance numbers and have a buzz downtown similar to what the Canucks bring.

Just thinking about this and Vancouver has had much longer pro soccer continuity than either Toronto or Montreal. If you look at Toronto and Montreal over the last 40 years teams have come and gone in those cities but there have been long gaps without any real pro soccer in theose cities.

Vancouver has had the Whitecaps name (except for a few years with the 86ers) in people's minds almost continuously since 1974-75 I think.

That helps build loyalty and team identity.

[BretttheRiderFan]

I'd love to catch a Whitecaps game some time, the atmosphere looks great on TV.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Once again, the CFL draws the highest ratings in the country.

Interestingly, while the Argos' game reigned supreme over the entire sports television landscape, the Saskatchewan Roughriders' game was the lowest rated CFL game of the weekend.

And a new low for Toronto TFC: just 14,000 viewers across the entire country watched last Saturday's match.

The CFL's numbers consistently top these lists. As the CFL gets stronger and adds teams over the next 20 years their tv numbers are sure to go far higher than what we're seeing.

There are only so many games on a week. It's not enough content. If you want to watch more football, one has no other alternative but to switch to CIS, NFL, or NCAA. It's far easier to find a US game to watch because there are tons more games happening.

If the CFL can one day get up to 16 teams, we'd likely see NFL numbers decline and CFL numbers climb far higher. We'll surely be at 10 teams within 6-7 years. Adding another 2 over the next 13-14 years is realistic if the league continues growing in popularity as it has. Still not enough content, but 33% more content than we currently have. We could conceivably see CFL tv numbers consistently over 1 million by then, occasionally topping 2 million.

And 14,000 for MLS? MLS will have trouble ever gaining traction nationally if it continues to only operate in 3 cities. A league needs a presence nationally to be relevant nationally. MLB seems to be the only league that gets away with it and is testament to how many fans of the sport there are nationwide.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by isaidso

And 14,000 for MLS? MLS will have trouble ever gaining traction nationally if it continues to only operate in 3 cities. A league needs a presence nationally to be relevant nationally. MLB seems to be the only league that gets away with it and is testament to how many fans of the sport there are nationwide.

Considering European soccer is a big drawer in Canada I don't buy this rational.

MLB does well because we only have one team.

The more games logically the less people there are to watch.

I'm a fan of CFL expansion and a believer that growth is very tangible. However I would not expect the viewers per game to increase but decrease with more expansions.

That being said, viewers per game is one piece of the puzzle.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Stryker

I'm a fan of CFL expansion and a believer that growth is very tangible. However I would not expect the viewers per game to increase but decrease with more expansions.

I'm pretty sure that expansion to the right place could have a significant impact on viewership... expanding to places where there is already a fanbase for regional teams might not have a huge effect, but placing a team in the Maritime region might engage a lot of people who don't presently watch the CFL.

In much the same way that adding a team in the country's second largest market did a lot for the league in the 90s, I'm pretty sure that adding a team in Halifax (or Moncton or what have you) would probably introduce more fans to the game. Even if per-game viewership doesn't change, there would be more viewers overall.

[kirjtc2]

Agreed. I don't think people in the rest of the country realize the extent to which the CFL is just not on the radar screen in the Maritimes, even compared to Ontario. There are high school and university teams that have their own followings, but in the broader community the CFL might as well not exist.

There are lots of reasons for that which I'm not going to get into here, but the Maritimes are very much an untapped market for football. I get the sense there's somewhat of an appetite for it, but they just haven't given us a reason to care. Yet.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by kirjtc2

Agreed. I don't think people in the rest of the country realize the extent to which the CFL is just not on the radar screen in the Maritimes, even compared to Ontario. There are high school and university teams that have their own followings, but in the broader community the CFL might as well not exist.

There are lots of reasons for that which I'm not going to get into here, but the Maritimes are very much an untapped market for football. I get the sense there's somewhat of an appetite for it, but they just haven't given us a reason to care. Yet.

But to be clear kirjtc, Canadian football is regionally quite popular in southern NB and central NS. In your city of Fredericton, both Leo Hayes High and FHS have very popular high school football programs and long winning traditions. Here in Moncton, we have six high schools with football programs and strong rivalries. I was in Sackville last weekend to attend the Mounties/Huskies CIS game and it was very well attended. Meanwhile, across town, the Tantramar High Titans were playing a game against Mathieu Martin, also well attended I hear - and this in a town of only 5,000 people!

Yes, Canadian football is popular in the Maritimes. It is an untapped market for the CFL.