THURSDAY RODSERVATIONS
10 NOTES & QUOTES
1 – A DISTURBING TREND: The CFL’s Director of Communications Paulo Senra sent out a Tweet last night detailing the ratings for pro football on Canadian television over the weekend. The top three most-watched games were all NFL: Giants/Cowboys, Dolphins/Seahawks, Lions/Colts. Each drew almost 900,000 viewers
What’s more disturbing; the fact the NFL is the most-watched football league in Canada right now, or the fact the CFL is publicizing it?
How do you see that?
On Monday’s SportsCage on 620 CKRM I noted that this CFL vs NFL debate amongst fans and media is silly and that the ratings will ultimately demonstrate which league’s winning in this country.
And then … this.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the CFL’s off-season meetings to see how they’re going to reverse this trend.
2 – FURTHERMORE: The most-watched CFL game last week was Saturday night’s Calgary at Edmonton game (780,000 viewers) followed by Saskatchewan at Winnipeg (701,000), Hamilton at Toronto (497,000) and Montreal at B.C. (472,000).
In 2009, these were the CFL’s ratings on Labour Day Weekend:
Blue Bombers at Roughriders: 1,340,000
Eskimos at Stampeders: 1,083,000
Lions at Alouettes: 914,000
Argonauts at Tiger-Cats, 879,000
Up until a couple of years ago, the NFL barely even rated on Sunday afternoons in this country.
A simple tweaking of the CFL rules followed by an effective marketing campaign can turn this thing back in the CFL’s favour.
However changing the league’s logo clearly has done nothing to advance the product. In fact it’s probably just confused them.
3 – HOW’S THE RIDER BRAND NOW?: Things seem to be stabilizing around here and that’s a good thing. Khalif Mitchell is gone without ever having played a game as a Roughrider (it’s like it never even happened), the Ottawa RedBlacks were fined for a roster violation and the Calgary Stampeders have had a player suspended for PED use.
Does this mean that people will stop bashing the Saskatchewan Roughriders?
That’s what we’ll debate today on the SportsCage: if you had soured on the Riders because of all these things, are you now coming back?
4 – GAME DETAILS: The Roughriders host the Eskimos in Sunday’s annual Plaza of Honor Game (2:30 pm, TSN, CKRM Network) at which Rider greats Ivan Gutfriend and Matt Dominguez will be honoured following their induction on Friday. Oddsmaker Bodog has the Eskimos favoured by 4.5-points in this one. Meanwhile the forecast calls for sunshine, wind and 19 degrees Celsius.
It’s also the Roughriders’ Canadian Forces Appreciation Day.
The featured alumni at Sunday’s game will be Mike Maurer, Paul Hickie, Matt Dominguez, Ivan Gutfriend and Jeff Bentrim.
5 – STEADY EDDIE: Speaking of the military and law enforcement, I’ve pretty much stayed out of the Colin Kaepernick scandal since I’m a Saskatchewan farm kid and have no idea what minorities suffer in the USA. However former Rider punter Eddie Johnson – a veteran of nine NFL teams who hails from Anaheim, CA – had these thoughts on any NFL player who thumbs his nose at the Star Spangled Banner:
God Bless America. If you don’t like this country then leave. Don’t let the doorknob hit you on your ass on the way out. #americanflag
And now you’re not shocked that Eddie and I always meet up whenever I’m through Southern California.
6 – JIVIN’ IVAN: Ivan Gutfriend spent 38 years with the Roughriders, the majority of them as Head Therapist. He gave a fantastic interview on In The Huddle on Access 7 this week where he discussed his Rider stories and offered his thoughts on the state of the game today. He said there are way, way more injuries in football now than ever before (which is odd because the current focus is supposed to be on player safety). Ivan feels the #1 culprit is over-training in the off-season and pro football players never really give their bodies a rest in between seasons.
Something’s up, and all the efforts to protect these players can’t save them from themselves.
7 – RIDER INJURIES: Rider fan Craig Radke in Edmonton constructed the following graph tracking the Roughriders’ injuries this season compared to other teams in the CFL. The Riders are by far the team hurt the most by injuries:
Craig’s explanation:
“The importance of continuity and staying healthy in this league cannot be understated.
The graph shows an unmistakable trend this season where the healthy teams are succeeding, and the unhealthy teams are struggling. On one end, Calgary’s only got 4 men on the 6-game and they’re rolling because they’ve got that continuity, especially on the all-important O-line. On the other end, the Riders have 18 men on the 6-game and and it shows in their inability to string together a 60 minute game. I thought it was uncanny how the other 7 teams follow the same general trend between the two extremes.
I’m not saying the Riders would have 8 wins if they’d have been able to stay healthy, but this graph certainly shows that the injury story is more than just a “cheap excuse”. In my mind, this graph alone should silence the Jones haters suggesting that he can’t find enough talent to fill in the holes he created in the offseason, or he’s in over his head. Considering the slate of injuries he’s had to deal with at some key starting positions across the roster, and considering that 8 of our 10 games have been close, I’d say he’s done an admirable job. Personally I’m excited to see what this team can do when healthy.”
8 – NOAH’S ARC: Regina Rams quarterback Noah Picton threw a lot of them in last week’s win over Manitoba and for the second consecutive week, the heir to the Picton Dairy Queen throne has been named the Canada West Offensive Player of the Week. One week ago today Noah set school records for completions (40) and pass attempts (60) while throwing for a career-high 499 yards and four touchdowns in the school’s victory over the Bisons.
The 1-1 Rams are at UBC this Saturday night on 620 CKRM. Mitchell Blair will have the call.
From what I understand, the October 1 game between the Rams and Saskatchewan Huskies at New Mosaic Stadium is already soldout. I received word that I’ll be part of the Access/Shaw broadcast of that historic game throughout Western Canada and that’s fantastic.
People are clamouring for the City of Regina and Regina Rams to open up more seating for the game.
We’ll see if that happens.
9 – MORE ON THE RAMS: The Regina Rams Alumni will be roasting former running back Neal Hughes on Saturday, October 8 at the Victoria Club. Tickets are just $25 and everyone is welcome. Call or text Larry Mueller for tickets at 306-539-9541.
When we find out who the celebrity roasters are, I’ll pass it along.
10 – WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY: It’s been weird to turn on the TV and watch hockey so soon in September and even more strange to see the players actually trying. This variation on the old Canada Cup has been getting the universal thumbs-down from many around here but I’ve found it fascinating and enjoyable. So too have many Canadians, as 903,000 tuned in for Friday’s Canada-USA game in Columbus.
However who’s idea was it for Canada to play Russia in Pittsburgh last night? Near the end of the game there were tons of empty seats down near the ice at Consol Energy Centre.
Either way, it’s been great for the game and I’m all for it. Can’t wait for the games to actually mean something.
——
THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY! SEE YOU ON THE RADIO AT 4:00 PM
RP
@rodpedersen
Why should I, as a fan, really care about the ratings of the CFL relative to that of the NFL?
I only watch the CFL but at the end of the day what difference does it make to me if other sports fans are watching hockey as opposed to baseball as opposed to American football. It's just not a big deal to me.
It's called sports business and making money.
Out of the 18 players on the 6 game IL, over half are there for salary cap reasons.
Mr Winnipeg, you are 100% correct
The sad thing is that Paulo in that tweet actually seemed proud of the fact that the CFL games were in fourth place. To me it is unacceptable that a great league with such a rich tradition is now playing second fiddle to the league down south. Embarrassing really. You're right in that the league needs an aggressive marketing campaign but most importantly change these stupid rules that have alienated so many fans. When you have hardcore fans like Ridergirl (Colleen Sutton) and Scott Schultz upset, that says this is no sour grapes thing. If you're talking to Mr. Morsky… Read more »
doubt there will be anything interesting in the CFL winter meetings. They are in denial about the problem, too busy patting themselves on the back with all the penalties they have been calling. Look at all the wrongdoing we are catching! If this league wants to be successful, they need to get rid of the commish and the VP of officiating. Then roll back some of the rule changes that has caused this to become the flag football league. Then fire up a decent marketing campaign and hope you can undo the damage. It was embarrassing at the Winnipeg game… Read more »
Rod, when I look at the TV ratings I read it differently. I see it as the 3 games being broadcast on CTV (Giants/Cowboys, Dolphins/Seahawks, Lions/Colts) had a total combined audience of 900,000. Not all three games each drew 900,000. It would make sense as those games are on TV at the same time on different CTV channels.
CFL rule changes, Blue Jays short term success and World cup of hockey have taken a toll on TV ratings. Definitely a lack of talent and marketing from the CFL offices. Just another bump in the road for the CFL.
I have had trouble watching the CFL this year due to the number of penalties called, the ridiculous amount of challenges by coaches (which hopefully has been corrected). In the Sask/Wpg game on Saturday the officials must have called every possible penalty it was ridiculous. They say a penalty could almost be called on every play in football and the refs seemed to want that to happen Saturday. I watched some NFL Sunday and there were very similar plays as in the CFL and guess what, a penalty wasn't called! Yet I was thinking in the CFL a flag would… Read more »
"It's called sports business and making money." Great, and maybe that's relevant to you as someone in the sports business. But as a fan I'm not sure why it's relevant to me. I guess all these years of reading articles that talk about CFL team attendance, season ticket sales, viewership, etc. have turned me off a bit. I mean, I'm not an accountant, a sponsor, a player or marketing VP. I'm a SPORTS fan. I could be the only human being watching a Bomber game on TV and it wouldn't diminish my enjoyment any. In the middle of the season… Read more »
Here's a dose of reality for you Mister Winnipeg. When ratings go down there's less revenue for the broadcaster and the teams. This devalues the product. If ratings dip low enough, TSN will stop putting all the games on TV or pull out of broadcasting it all together because they can't make enough money to pay their employees producing the product. Simple economics. The higher the ratings are, the more money the league gets. This creates a bidding war for your product and allows for revenue to be driven from TV advertising for your league. If a strong TV deal… Read more »
Transfer it to your own life. Do you strive to be the best at anything?
Why do you think I work to gave the most-read sports blog are #1 rated radio show? It attracts dollars.
Why do I feel like I'm whistling in the dark here?
CFL was always a more exciting, faster game than NFL whereas NFL had greatest athletes and very precise plays. Then NFL liberalized PI rules and excitement went up. CFL went the other way. Trying to be precise, over officiated which has slowed the game down to NFL pace or worse, made the game boring compared to the NFL. Since the better athletes are down there, there isn't much comparison now. Fix CFL blow out Glen Johnson, put flow back in the game and hopefully ratings improve. As for Jones, I am a supporter but he must take some blame for… Read more »
As for the state of of officiating in the cfl, I agree Johnson has to go. He should not be running the league. It is ridiculous that every play is called from the command center and it takes way too long. IT IS RUINING THE GAME.
Rod, the CFL really needs to get back on Network TV, like it or not the reach of CTV over TSN is huge (CTV is on every basic package and you can get it on Over the Air in totally uncompressed HD). Even 1 game a week on CBC would be a huge benefit to the league. Tweek the rules back to allowing hand fighting, reduce the challenges and let the players play would also help. I think that next year with a normal schedule coming out of Toronto we can cut out the silly Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday games… Read more »
CFL and Orridge have made some strides in marketing with DraftKings and better online presence but it still has a long way to go. Why is NFL merchandise featured prominently in sports bars across Canada but not CFL. Why do these same sports bars actively promote NFL games with specials and jersey giveaways but not CFL? Why do beer companies promote the hell out of the NFL but not the CFL? Why is the NFL streaming a game on the internet free of charge but the CFL is not? Why does the NFL encourage and promote tailgating but the CFL… Read more »
Hey Rod, nice to see my graph made it “big time” on your blog. To the anonymous commenter that suggested the Riders are hiding healthy players on the 6-game for salary cap reasons, I’d like to ask for names of players on the list (http://www.riderville.com/roster) that aren’t truly injured. Looking at the names (Best, Brooks, Eguavoen, Hus, Jackson, King, LaBatte, Moore, Norwood, Steele, Steinhauer) I see a lot of players that would be starting and making an impact if they weren’t truly injured.
As for coach Jones he has my 100% support. He is very hard working and consistent in his actions. The player and assistant coaches really like working for him. Of course 1-10 isn't good enough for me either but I am not surprised after last year's debacle. This is a rebuild people!
Bart in Regina
P.S. keep up the great coverage Rod. We need to keep this CFL coverage front and center until officiating common sense returns.
Over the course of a year I see more NFL games than CFL games because I do not have cable. I have the digital converter for my rabbit ears and watch the Sunday NFL games on CTV. I have season tickets for the Riders and go to the 4 Seasons for Rider away games. I miss the days when CBC and CTV televised CFL games. Too bad that Bell media would not at least put a few CFL games a year on CTV to reach more of the multitudes who do not have cable TV due to financial reasons or… Read more »
Rod, when the Riders travel to TO you and Orridge should meet up and bury the hatchet. You don't have to like each other but I think you need to work together. You're obviously good at marketing which Orridge could use and being the voice of the Riders you could use Orridge's position at the top to help plan which way the league is going. It can only be a good thing, I think. What's in the past is done and time to move on.
Al
I'm not sure a few rule tweaks and better marketing will bring the CFL back to where it once was. The best marketing any league can do is put an entertaining product on the field. The CFL has not been consistently entertaining for the past 3 years. This is largely due to the lack of talent at the QB position throughout the league. The reason the CFL has implemented all of these ridiculous rule changes is to try and artificially increase offence. The level of QB play in this league is frankly not good enough and certainly not comparable to… Read more »