Kansas City at Toronto FC, Saturday, TSN: 112,000
Okay number given this game was frustrating to watch while starting of this game was going against Blue Jays vs Yankees game.
Oh absolutely. But these empty seats in the summer were prevalent last year too before Defoe went back to England and while they were in a playoff hunt.
My theory is that the playoffs (and the ease with which to make it) dilute the importance of individual games and MLS in general is not viewed as top flight league. It becomes an "event" for most, much like a comedy show or movie. They will go if Beckham was there or Henry for the first time but not so much for San Jose.
With all of that said, TFC in the mainstream is progress.
26, 648 last week vs. Orlando is quite a good number in my eyes, now it dipped down to 24K on Saturday, but that is not surprising at this time of year when quite a number of people hit up cottage country on the weekend. That will keep people away from the stadium each and every time. It will be interesting down the stretch run as the Jays are burning it up how it goes in terms of exposure and coverage for the Reds. Last night at the dome was electric, amazing they were playing a last place club on a Tuesday night, brought me back to the division races of the late 80's early 90's when I went to a number of games including the World Series.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Taking the glass half full approach looking at Toronto teams TV ratings last weekend - TFC have room for growth. lol
Jays 3 games in New York - 1,430,000, 1,290,000, 1,150,000 - top 3 spots of the TV sports ratings for the weekend.
Coming in at #4 - the soon to be BMO tenant Argos with 864,000 (highest CFL rating this seson)
Coming in at # 25 - TFC with 112,000 (and FYI the Jays game had finished before kick-off of the TFC game by about 3 or 4 minutes)
Here is the entire list for the weekend including Premier League games from the weekend - https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh...135310508.html
1. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Sunday, Sportsnet: 1,430,000
2. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Friday, Sportsnet: 1,290,000
3. MLB, Blue Jays at Yankees, Saturday, Sportsnet: 1,150,000
4. CFL, Roughriders at Argonauts, Saturday, TSN: 864,000
5. CFL, Blue Bombers at Tiger-Cats, Sunday, TSN: 525,000
6. CFL, Alouettes at Redblacks, Friday, TSN: 446,000
7. Parapan Games, opening ceremonies, Friday, CBC: 356,000
8. Parapan Games, prime-time coverage, Saturday, CBC: 343,000
9. MLB, Orioles at Angels, Sunday, Sportsnet: 288,000
10. Parapan Games, afternoon coverage, Sunday, CBC: 286,000
11. Auto racing, NASCAR Cheez-It 355, Sunday, TSN: 265,000
12. PGA, Bridgestone Invitational final round, Sunday, Global: 257,000
13. Soccer, West Ham at Arsenal, Sunday, TSN: 211,000
14. Soccer, Swansea at Chelsea, Saturday, TSN: 185,000
15. MLS, Salt Lake at Vancouver, Sunday, TSN: 182,000
15. MLB, Dodgers at Pirates, Saturday, Sportsnet: 182,000
17. UFC, Teixeira vs. Saint Preux, Saturday, TSN: 180,000
18. PGA, Bridgestone Invitational third round, Saturday, Global: 162,000
19. Soccer, Tottenham at Manchester United, Saturday, Sportsnet: 161,000
20. NFL, Steelers vs. Vikings, Sunday, TSN: 153,000 (NBC viewers not measured)
21. Parapan Games, afternoon coverage, Saturday, CBC: 145,000
22. MLB, Orioles at Angels, Friday, Sportsnet: 131,000
23. Soccer, EPL games, Sunday, TSN: 127,000
24. Soccer, Aston Villa at Bournemouth, Saturday, Sportsnet: 117,000
25. MLS, Kansas City at Toronto FC, Saturday, TSN: 112,000
26. MLB, Orioles at Angels, Saturday, Sportsnet: 105,000
Riders are always a big TV draw, even if they havn't won a game yet. Those numbers are down for CFL over the past BTW.
Og - I think there may have been a pretty significant Southern Ontario bump to reach 864,000 for that Argos home opener game since the previous two Saskatchewan games were only 600,000 and 549,000. But I suspect moving forward both the Argos and TFC are going to really struggle attracting attention as this Jays juggernaut grows. As another poster mentioned 39,000+ last night - a Tuesday night, over 40,000 expected again tonight and Thursday through Sunday's four games already 45,000+ sellouts now - with likely every one of those games drawing over one million TV viewers.
That's tough to compete with.
Yup, I have notice CFL TV ratings and attendance (notice how CFL teams are downgrading their stadium capacity while MLS teams are increasing their seating capacity?) going downhill. Not only that, but CFL's fanbase is old and no one under 35 cares about CFL. They will eventually going to be dealing with crisis in few years. TFC/MLS in the other hand, they're doing much better with attendance and getting younger people interested in their product. The only down side for TFC/MLS is TV ratings (but then again, TV ratings are becoming less relevant due to a lot of people getting rid of cable in favour online viewing). CFL TV ratings are doing great (despite decline) because all old people still have their cable.
Last edited by TFC07; 08-12-2015 at 09:39 AM.
TravelPat - I'd call that a southern Ontario Sask fan bump more then anything else. Probably hoping for a win. Argos are barely noticed right now. They got only 20642 to their home opener against the Riders - that is pathetic for a home opener against the #1 draw (Rider games usually outdraw Ticats unless its a playoff).
One little demographic note:
Baseball is the big 18-30 juggernaut right now. Has been for a number of years, actually. If you went to a Jays game in the last 2 years on the weekend, its a very young crowd, with a lot of women. The 500 level was pheromone filled the few games I went.
TFC skews kinda all over the map demographically, but still about 60% male I would say.
Based on American tv demographics, the sports with the oldest demos are PGA, MLB & Nascar. MLB ties the NBA with highest male audience at 70%. The crowd at the Jays has changed in the past 5 years to be more younger and female. But I would question if they're truly followers of the sport since their behaviour at the games involves mostly watching the action around them and on their phones rather than the field.
Other than NBA, all major American sports have mostly white audiences including the MLS but MLB is at the higher end. This does apply to the Jays as the diversity is quite weak (but better than the Leafs). Unless there is a Japanese/Korean pitcher on the mound, you won't find too many Chinese, Korean, Indian extraction in the stands. Baseball has always had problems attracting blacks in the US and that also applies to the Jays.
18-34 account for about 20% of CFL tv audiences which is higher than MLB and NCAA football. It is lower than the NFL's 32%. Though, the NFL's 50+ audience accounts for 39% vs about 31% for the CFL.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...t-fans/283626/
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/D...s-Leagues.aspx
A lot of the demographics of a fan base - at least the in stadium fan base - has to do with how the team is marketed locally. I live in Hamilton but attend several Argos, Ti-Cats, TFC, Raptors and Jays games each year. The Jays fanbase median age for people at the game has probably dopped by at least 10-15 years over the last five years and that can be traced directly to how Rogers have marketed the team over that time. Way more outreach to families that gets more kids aat the game with parents. Their social media marketing - much of it involving the players - has really dramatically increase their support from the under 35 crowd. Even subtle things like the volume and type of music they play in stadium, and during game telecasts on Sportsnet has changed to be geared to a younger crowd. And it has worked!
Ti-Cats have successfully done similar things here in Hamilton and it is 'cool' to be seen at a Ti-Cats game now and lots of people under 35 are at their games now. A way higher percentage of under 35 fans than what the Argos have gotten as of late. Crowds in Regina, Winnipeg and Ottawa also skew younger in the CFL than Argos current crowds. The Cats will almost certainly sell out their entire season at Tim Hortons Field.
I'll be very curious to see how Bell and Tanenbaum revamp the marketing for the Argos when they takeover the team next year. I would be shocked if they do not copy things that Rogers have done so well in marketing the Jays - or how MLSE has marketed the Raps and TFC. I'm guessing within a couple of years the median age at an Argos game will be substantially lower than it is now and probably not all that different from a TFC game whereas now - it is much older.
The CFL is viewed as an inferior product by young people and no amount of marketing is going to get around that fact, its destined to fail in a city like Toronto.
All these numbers are just to monitor slight change. I can't foresee an end to any of these properties for a long time.
This is the TV thread so I'll stick to Jays comparisons. They are getting great numbers. They have done when they do well. As soon as they lose that will go back to where it has every other time. It shouldn't concern TFC or their fans.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
It isn't that binary. TFC relative success in the stands says otherwise (and this is the template for Argos since there is so much similarities). Pan Am games says otherwise. Lack of traction with junior hockey says otherwise. There is no appetite for minor league baseball. We'll see how the Raps D League team works out.
You can pretend you're in Brooklyn:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marcell...b_7927150.html
People always underestamate the popularity of both the CFL and Argos in T.O. More than enough people care about the Argos in T.O. You will see that next year, watch what a real CORP owner will do for the Argos. There will be lots of under 35 at Argo games in the coming years. Plus the new owners will stop the ROGERS anti
CFL media line very fast next year. We can all Poo poo MLS and TFC tv ratings that they don't mean nothing, but the sad fact is, they do. MLS has chased this TV deal for years with no payout yet. Without a big TV deal in the next 5 years. MLS will be in trouble
"Real Corp backing"
Oh you Argo fans have so much to learn.
You give Bell and Larry T(he's a cancer and reason why Tim Lewieke is leaving) too much credit.
MLS isn't going to be in trouble in 5 years. lmao! They're making their money from SUM and gate (MLS attendance is going up ) and they recently got a reasonable TV deal with US networks.
You Argo fans need to do some research when comes to financial health of MLS. You guys clearly don't understand how MLS works and where money is coming from and why we got investors willing to pay $100 million USD to form a team in MLS. CFL would wish someone had to money to invest $100 million USD in their league.
The sports TV ratings right now are definitely affected by BJ Fever.
The Jays are getting massive numbers right now - and it is definitely directly affecting CFL (a lot) and MLS (not as much but somewhat).
The Jays current status is an anomaly, even if they go on to be in first place every year for the next few years - the ratings will peak and then dip a bit.
But make no mistake, when the Jays win on the field, they win on the TV. Very consistent and excellent viewership numbers when times are bad - and massive TV numbers when times are good.
"...Money wasn't tight, but it like, it wasn't right..."
The Jays numbers lately have been staggering. It's way bigger across the country now than it was even during the glory years.
Rogers got a taste of the potential return on investment, and that bodes well for the future of the organization.
Last edited by Carts; 08-21-2015 at 01:17 PM.
"...Money wasn't tight, but it like, it wasn't right..."