The Great Canadian Sports Attendance, Marketing and TV Ratings Thread

[Brizzy82]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

Watching this Whitecaps vs Quakes MLS game that is on right after the Lions/Riders game, and B.C. Place looks over half empty.

17k in attendance for the Whitecaps.. not good!

[Hackslack]

No way there was 17k in attendance at that soccer game. Definitely reported tickets distributed and not actual attendance. BC Place was empty

[JHikka]

I removed elly's and Berklon's back-and-forth posts since you two can't seem to keep a thread on topic.

Originally Posted by esquire

Unfortunately any attempts to ignore people with mod/admin status are met with:

"Sorry X is a moderator/admin and you are not allowed to ignore him or her."

Huh. Didn't know that.

Originally Posted by Hackslack

No way there was 17k in attendance at that soccer game. Definitely reported tickets distributed and not actual attendance. BC Place was empty

Every sports team reports tickets distributed.

BC Place reports tickets distributed typically 3K higher than the actual physical attendance, so if it said 17K it's likely the number of people there was more like 14K. This goes for both Whitecaps and Lions at BC Place.

The Whitecaps are one of the weaker MLS teams i've seen in a while and the team is being bogged down by sexual assault allegations against management that they refuse to answer to. The whole thing is a mess this season.

[elly63]

n

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I removed elly's and Berklon's back-and-forth posts since you two can't seem to keep a thread on topic.



Huh. Didn't know that.



Every sports team reports tickets distributed.

BC Place reports tickets distributed typically 3K higher than the actual physical attendance, so if it said 17K it's likely the number of people there was more like 14K. This goes for both Whitecaps and Lions at BC Place.

The Whitecaps are one of the weaker MLS teams i've seen in a while and the team is being bogged down by sexual assault allegations against management that they refuse to answer to. The whole thing is a mess this season.

Even 14K looked to be extremely generous.

Will the Whitecaps fold or even move?

[DLLB]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

The "entire city" of Calgary is just over a million people as well but Calgary for a market for the CFL is never questioned.

Just so you know, The 2018 civic census released Friday puts Calgary's population at 1,267,344, an increase of 1.7 per cent, according to data covering a one-year period from April 2017 to April 2018.

For the greater Calgary area it is:
Year Population Growth
2019 1,512,539 152,223
2015 1,360,316 169,954
2010 1,190,362 134,571
2005 1,055,791 128,338

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

Even 14K looked to be extremely generous.

Will the Whitecaps fold or even move?

Unlikely at this stage. Ownership effectively refuses to put money into the team for them to be competitive and the fans are reacting accordingly. The market is strong and capable of supporting the team if the front office is willing to play ball.

[EpicPonyTime]

Man, I really caused a shitstorm with my original Bombers post. Still stand by what I said though.

Moving forward, I'm curious to see how the Als' attendance will do. I get the impression that, unlike Toronto, support for the Als is healthy in Montreal but fans are just staying away because of the poor product. They're looking like a decent team for the first time in years and their ownership issues seem like they will be over shortly, so maybe there will be a rebound. Getting 16K on a +40 day in a stadium with no shade is pretty impressive though.

[Hackslack]

It absolutely has everything to do with poor product I think. Just like the Whitecaps as JHikka explains. Fans in general spend money to get entertained by good product, when there’s crap product on the field, people will spend their cash elsewhere. I think that’s general for every sport.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I removed elly's and Berklon's back-and-forth posts since you two can't seem to keep a thread on topic.



Huh. Didn't know that.



Every sports team reports tickets distributed.

BC Place reports tickets distributed typically 3K higher than the actual physical attendance, so if it said 17K it's likely the number of people there was more like 14K. This goes for both Whitecaps and Lions at BC Place.

The Whitecaps are one of the weaker MLS teams i've seen in a while and the team is being bogged down by sexual assault allegations against management that they refuse to answer to. The whole thing is a mess this season.

Did you remove my comment as well? I wasnt involved in a back and forth i just said that both my Whitecaps and BC Lions suck this year and that we only have the Canucks to cheer for if that.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Did you remove my comment as well? I wasnt involved in a back and forth i just said that both my Whitecaps and BC Lions suck this year and that we only have the Canucks to cheer for if that.

Post 632 in the CFL thread.

[Denscity]

Ya but i also posted in this thread because the Whitecaps were mentioned here and im not happy at all how they are doing.

[JHikka]

https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/med...tva-sports.php

Some numbers from this La Presse article:

• TVA loses more than $20M/year, and has done so on back-to-back years now.
• RDS is paying $60M for the rights to Canadiens broadcasts until 2023. TVA is paying $60M for the rights to the NHL until 2026.
• Between 2015 and 2018 RDS lost 611K subscribers (-19.4%). TVA Sports lost 332K subscribers during this same period (-16.7%)
• 45% of households with people aged 30 and under do not subscribe to traditional TV.
• Sportsnet profits increased from $106M to $131M in 2017-2018. TSN's profits decreased from $118M to $80M.
• Both TSN and Sportsnet lost 4% and 4.7% of their subscribers in 2017-2018.

These numbers are a bit heavier than the total CRTC numbers put out each year but are consistent with the decline of traditional TV subscribers on a yearly basis (TV-wide it's usually a 3% drop yearly in subscribers).

According to the CRTC 2018 report on Broadcasting Finances, TSN's subscriber count has gone from 9M in 2014 down to 7.8M in 2018. During the same time frame Sportsnet has moved from 8.3M subscribers to 7.2M.

https://applications.crtc.gc.ca/Open...0Summaries.pdf

Profits are still pretty high, and ad money is increasing, but those subscriber counts are a pretty consistent bleed.

[le calmar]

I wonder if (legal) IP TV will contribute to stabilize the bleed in the future. I decided to include a basic IP tv package to my internet subscription with Teksavvy recently as they now offer this option and it is decently priced. You still need to pay 20$ a month to get the sports channel package though. Still a better price than what I used to pay with Rogers, which was outrageously expensive.

[Djeffery]

I'm actually surprised at that difference in SN and TSN numbers. I just figured most people if they are paying to subscribe to sports would take both. I can't honestly think of why I would choose TSN over SN if I had to choose one.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I'm actually surprised at that difference in SN and TSN numbers. I just figured most people if they are paying to subscribe to sports would take both. I can't honestly think of why I would choose TSN over SN if I had to choose one.

TSN is now a bit less Toronto than Sportsnet is.
Sportsnet increased its Torontoness after they made all their regional channels Sportsnet Ontario.

[dtown]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I'm actually surprised at that difference in SN and TSN numbers. I just figured most people if they are paying to subscribe to sports would take both. I can't honestly think of why I would choose TSN over SN if I had to choose one.

Really, I can think of a lot of reasons for TSN over SN...Other than the Jays and NHL rights, I dont think they have much to offer. TSN has all golf majors, tennis majors, IIHF events, the Brier and Scotties, Monday and Sunday Night Football, FIFA event plus they still have some non-Jays MLB and regional hockey coverage. Not to mention I still think their non-live sports programming such as their NHL panel and SportsCentre and some of the ESPN shows (like PTI not so much First Take) make TSN a better product. Of course the fact so many people under 30 aren't getting cable doesn't help anything. I am almost 30 and I still have cable soley for network news coverage and sports. Its the high majority of TV i consume. but most of my friends don't bother with cable anymore because they only need Netflix, and can there are still a lot of options to stream almost any sporting event on Reddit.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by dtown

Really, I can think of a lot of reasons for TSN over SN...Other than the Jays and NHL rights, I dont think they have much to offer. TSN has all golf majors, tennis majors, IIHF events, the Brier and Scotties, Monday and Sunday Night Football, FIFA event plus they still have some non-Jays MLB and regional hockey coverage. Not to mention I still think their non-live sports programming such as their NHL panel and SportsCentre and some of the ESPN shows (like PTI not so much First Take) make TSN a better product. Of course the fact so many people under 30 aren't getting cable doesn't help anything. I am almost 30 and I still have cable soley for network news coverage and sports. Its the high majority of TV i consume. but most of my friends don't bother with cable anymore because they only need Netflix, and can there are still a lot of options to stream almost any sporting event on Reddit.

Sure, but many of those major events you listed for TSN are also on other channels. I would certainly choose a package of US Networks over a TSN-centric sports package if I was forced to pick. Leafs and Raptors being split between the 2 certainly is a plus reason to have TSN for me though. Curling and CFL, not so much. But I don't even know how the packages are set up anymore. It used to be that they would put TSN with some obscure group of "outdoorsy" channels, and then the same with a second package for Sportsnet. I don't know if they split them up like that anymore.

I guess my point more was that I figured most people who are sports fans would take all the main sports channels, because it's not really that much more to have them.

[elly63]

Bombers unveil massive Walby burger, fit for offensive lineman-sized appetite
3Down Staff 3downnation August 14, 2019

The Bombers have made a burger fit for an offensive lineman and appropriately named it the “Walby burger”.



It will cost $45 to sink your teeth into the massive five-pound burger which contains:

six patties
six chicken tenders
six hot dogs
six bacon strips
secret special sauce
fries
cheese
pickles
lettuce
onions
tomatoes

Chris Walby spent his entire 16-year CFL career with his hometown Blue Bombers. After brief stints on the defensive line and at tight end in 1981, Walby made his permanent home along the offensive line in 1982, starting at guard for two seasons before moving out to right tackle in 1984.

Walby went on to play 13 seasons at right tackle with the Bombers, earning nine CFL all-star nominations and winning three Grey Cups. Walby is a member of the Blue Bomber, Manitoba Sports, and Canadian Football Halls of Fame.

The Winnipeg native checked in at six-foot-seven, 325 pounds during his playing days. You can bet Walby could still put away his self-named burger just like burying an opposing pass rusher.

[elly63]

^Strange coincidence. Walby's nickname was Bluto (from Popeye), also from Popeye was a character named Wimpy which is a big burger franchise in the UK. And while on the subject of food, Popeyes is a chain of fried chicken and fast food restaurants.