2017 CFL Season

[lrt's friend]

Strangely, I have sort of converted an American to a CFL fan and that is after I didn't take him and his wife to what amounted to a fabulous CFL game (Ottawa-Calgary overtime game) in July 2015 when they visited me. I had no idea they were football fans at the time.

[elly63]

If you are an actual football fan and not into puppies and shiny objects, you will like the CFL, most people do. Americans are usually baffled by the one less down, and no yards, but still like the action. I'm just going by what stories I've read and not any empirical evidence.

[cjones2451]

Looks like the Division Final games did well, as per 3 Down Nation

Rider vs Argos was 1.41M, the most watched game of the year

Stamps vs Esks was 1.34M, a close #2

A pair of entertaining playoff games produced the best TV ratings of the season for the CFL on Sunday.

The East Final between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts is now the highest rated broadcast of 2017, posting an average viewership of 1.41 million on TSN. The Argos won a thriller 25-21 as Ricky Ray led a game-winning drive in the final minute after the Riders stormed back from a double-digit second-half deficit.

The West Final was just as good with the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos going down to the wire in a 32-28 Stampeders win. That game produced an average viewership of 1.34 million on TSN. It’s now the second-most watched game of the year.

Even TSN’s pre-game show did well, posting 660,000 and making it the third-most-watched sports program of the day after the two games. The CFL handily beat both the NFL and the NHL on Sunday.

[drew]

^ the viewers at home were rewarded with some good football on Sunday.

[25grapes]

Thank you for posting the last comment about the pregame viewership. This has been driving me nuts for some while with TSN. They'll show 3 hours of pregame NFL Sunday coverage that draws poor viewership, but won't even produce a 30 minute pregame show for most games during the season? It infuriates me to no end. I understand that producing a show takes time and costs money and the pregame NFL Sunday probably comes along with purchasing the NFL rights for Canada but I mean come on here. I know there are 200k+ Canadians that would watch a 1 hour pregame show on Friday night (which seams to be almost completely abandoned in the past 5 years after being the pillar for the CFL broadcast) to cover the entire weekends worth of pregame coverage.

[TimB09]

Good to see the CFL do well for TV ratings this past weekend. I still think the CFL is a solid league. Gotta expand the brand as has been talked about but it's still a popular league in Canada, as evidenced by the viewership.

[esquire]

^ That's why the CFL will never die, as long as it can keep attracting eyeballs on such a major scale someone will continue pumping money into it. Obviously it's not on the same level as hockey, or baseball where the Jays still draw a million viewers night after night, but it has a pretty comfortable niche of its own.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ That's why the CFL will never die, as long as it can keep attracting eyeballs on such a major scale someone will continue pumping money into it. Obviously it's not on the same level as hockey, or baseball where the Jays still draw a million viewers night after night, but it has a pretty comfortable niche of its own.

It'll always be liked by many.

But, I think the next big move the league needs to focus on is the younger fanbase, not the 18-30 year olds, but the 6-17 years olds. I started going to the Eskimos games with my Dad when I was in kindergarten and I've loved the league ever since. If you focus on young kids early, you have a better chance to hook them for life. And they are starting to do that by having CFL sponsored flag football tournaments. That's important.

I could go on forever about what the CFL should do and maybe I will once the offseason hits. It's just nice to see the numbers looking as solid as they do.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by esquire

Obviously it's not on the same level as hockey, or baseball where the Jays still draw a million viewers night after night, but it has a pretty comfortable niche of its own.

Actually the CFL outdrew the Jays quite handily until the last few years of Jaysmania. Now that the Jays' results have started coming down to earth so have the Jays ratings.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by TimB09

But, I think the next big move the league needs to focus on is the younger fanbase, not the 18-30 year olds, but the 6-17 years olds. I started going to the Eskimos games with my Dad when I was in kindergarten and I've loved the league ever since. If you focus on young kids early, you have a better chance to hook them for life. And they are starting to do that by having CFL sponsored flag football tournaments. That's important.

Ahem!

Football fans everywhere will love the CFL's new mobile game 'CFL Football Frenzy'
BarDown Staff tsn.ca

Football fans, the newest game to get addicted to is here!

On Thursday, the CFL launched a mobile game called 'CFL Football Frenzy.' It's an arcade football game that is fun, fast-paced and full of scoring that allows users to play all three phases of the game, collect card packs and much, much more.



#CFLFrenzy is here! Designed for kids, fun for everyone! . . . Download and play the new #CFL mobile game at the link in our bio! iOS version available now, Android coming soon!

Fans can play as their favourite team and customize their players in a variety of fun and unique ways.

Furthermore, fans can play as the stars in the CFL or as themselves in the 7-on-7 style gameplay.

Safe to say the teams, players and fans are loving the new game which every football fan should download and play now ahead of Week 14, which kicks off tomorrow night across TSN.

[elly63]

Sunday’s CFL playoff games watched by 1.4M on TSN and RDS
TSN.ca Staff November 21 2017

Sunday’s nail-biting CFL PLAYOFFS doubleheader were watched by 1.4 million Canadians on TSN and RDS, overnight data from Numeris confirms. The CFL’s Eastern and Western Finals grew 19% with total viewers on the two networks over last year, with almost 6 million Canadians watching some or all of the finals.

On TSN, the CFL’s Eastern and Western Finals saw double digit increases across all key adult demos, with growth in A18-34 (+39%), A18-49 (+27%), and A25-54 (+16%), and both finals matchups ranked in the Top 3 programs of the day on Sunday behind only the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS on CTV.

The Eastern and Western Finals delivered strong results in the Toronto/GTA market, with viewing of both games more than doubling (+115%) compared to last year. In Calgary, audiences for both games also grew 31% vs last year, with the Eastern and Western Finals ranking as the #1 and #2 programs of the day in the Calgary market.

The Eastern Final, featuring Saskatchewan @ Toronto attracted an average audience of 1.5 million as the Argos secured a win with a last-minute touchdown drive, leading to a 25-21 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In the Western Final, an average audience of 1.4 million viewers watched as Calgary withstood a valiant fourth-quarter rally from Edmonton to claim a 32-28 victory.

The CFL PLAYOFFS culminate with complete live coverage of the 105th GREY CUP presented by Shaw – one of 60+ iconic championships that live on TSN – live from Ottawa’s TD Place Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m. ET on TSN and RDS.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by TimB09

It'll always be liked by many.

But, I think the next big move the league needs to focus on is the younger fanbase, not the 18-30 year olds, but the 6-17 years olds.

I could go on forever about what the CFL should do and maybe I will once the offseason hits. It's just nice to see the numbers looking as solid as they do.

I think the teams need to look at Kids prices in this range for seasons tix. I have emailed this to the Lions for 3 years and nothing. I have a 4 and 7 year old that pay the same $550 for red seats that I do. I think they need a $149 with adult season ticket for up to 12 yrs and then $199 (for 12-17yrs). If they had that, I would talk my wife into coming back and we would have 4 season tix, but as it goes now, I am a reducing it to 2 and alternating games with the kids. I am not saying you need to do it for the premium seats but the Reds and lower make sense to me

[Prometheus]

Is there any other game-day experience in the CFL (or any other sports league in Canada) like this? Damn!

A couple of Americans travel north to check out Rider Nation:

• Video Link

[Andy6]

It's a TV ratings home run when the Riders cross over and the western final is a Battle of Alberta.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Is there any other game-day experience in the CFL (or any other sports league in Canada) like this? Damn!

A couple of Americans travel north to check out Rider Nation:

• Video Link

That was pretty cool... But I have to ask: who are those guys?!

[Coldrsx]

Hate to say this, but I hope the Stamps take this. They certainly deserved it this year.


*big enough to deal with the fallout of that loss, I guess.

[drto]

That video was pretty awesome. No idea who those two kids were or where they’re from but looked like they had a blast! Definitely a trip to New Mosaic should be on everyone’s bucket list.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by esquire

That was pretty cool... But I have to ask: who are those guys?!

How soon we forget. I posted that video (actually looks like a re-edit) two months ago. There is also an interesting background story to who the subject is.

[osmo]

Originally Posted by 25grapes

Thank you for posting the last comment about the pregame viewership. This has been driving me nuts for some while with TSN. They'll show 3 hours of pregame NFL Sunday coverage that draws poor viewership, but won't even produce a 30 minute pregame show for most games during the season? It infuriates me to no end. I understand that producing a show takes time and costs money and the pregame NFL Sunday probably comes along with purchasing the NFL rights for Canada but I mean come on here. I know there are 200k+ Canadians that would watch a 1 hour pregame show on Friday night (which seams to be almost completely abandoned in the past 5 years after being the pillar for the CFL broadcast) to cover the entire weekends worth of pregame coverage.

Thrifty Sports Network

[esquire]

Originally Posted by elly63

How soon we forget. I posted that video (actually looks like a re-edit) two months ago. There is also an interesting background story to who the subject is.

I didn't forget because I didn't know in the first place... I was on vacation on the other side of the globe when you posted that.