The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Super Bowl dominates the TV landscape
They don't call it Super for nothing.
A look at last weekend's sports television ratings give you a pretty good indication of just how all-encompassing the Super Bowl has become.
For the past 30 years, it has pretty much eclipsed everything in the United States. In Canada, it was popular, but nothing compared with the big hockey events or even the Grey Cup.
Today, it is now far and away the biggest TV event in Canada -- except when our Olympic hockey teams play for gold. Even the world junior hockey final and Grey Cup have been dwarfed by the power of the Super Bowl.
For example, the English audience for Sunday's game averaged 7.3 million viewers on CTV. (Another million watched in French on RDS.) The next most-watched non-Super event was Hockey Night in Canada with 1.3 million viewers.
That means Canada's national pastime, on a show that once was watched with religious fervour, attracted less than one-fifth the audience of the NFL game.
What's even more amazing is that only a decade ago the Super Bowl was behind the Stanley Cup final, the Grey Cup and the world junior. Now it reigns supreme.
Of course, it can be argued that the Super Bowl isn't purely a sporting event. Most of the audience watches for the halftime show or in hopes of catching a glimpse of American Super Bowl commercials, which apparently are only slightly less spectacular than the sun.
The game is simply a vehicle for all those products, and the hype that floods acros the border dwarfs anything this country can even imagine.
The Super Bowl was even more all-powerful this year thanks to decreasing competition, mainly from the NHL. With Canada's teams struggling, Hockey Day in Canada (which includes Hockey Night in Canada) averaged 1,008,000 for its three games. Last year, the games averaged 1,343,000 viewers.
Here are the most-watched sports events on English-language television over the past weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:
1. NFL, Super Bowl: Carolina vs. Denver, Sunday, CTV: 7,300,000
2. NFL, Super Bowl kickoff show, Sunday, CTV: 4,000,000
3. NFL, Super Bowl post-game show, Sunday, CTV: 3,700,000
4. NHL, Leafs at Senators, Saturday, CBC-Sportsnet: 1,300,000
5. NHL, Oilers at Canadiens, Saturday, CBC-Sportsnet: 886,000
6. NHL, Jets-Avs/Flames-Canucks, Saturday, CBC-Sportsnet: 840,000
7. NHL, Hurricanes at Canadiens, Sunday, Sportsnet: 385,000
8. NFL, NFL Honors, Saturday, TSN: 259,000
9. Soccer, Manchester United at Chelsea, Sunday, Sportsnet: 196,000
10. UFC, Hendricks vs. Thompson, Saturday, TSN: 170,000
11. Curling, Ontario men's final, Sunday, Sportsnet: 158,000
12. NHL, Blue Jackets at Flames, Friday, Sportsnet West: 150,000
13. PGA, Phoenix Open final round, Sunday, TSN: 140,000 (NBC audience not measured)
14. NBA, Thunder at Warriors, Saturday, TSN: 137,000
15. Soccer, English Premier League various games, Saturday, TSN: 111,000
16. NHL, Oilers at Islanders, Sunday, Sportsnet West: 110,000
17. Soccer, Leicester at Manchester City, Saturday, TSN: 99,000
THREE TO WATCH
Equality on the Beach: While golf's majors rightly get most of the attention, there is something special about the annual Pebble Beach pro-am. It does provide incredible scenery and some pretty good golf, but the real appeal is watching all those celebrities prove that fame and money don't necessarily translate into good golf. There's something reassuring about knowing that even the rich can golf as badly as the rest of us. Coverage starts Thursday (11 a.m., Golf Channel.)
Hoop dreamers: Toronto gets another chance to show itself off as it hosts the NBA All-Star Game this weekend, becoming the first city outside the U.S. to do so (unless you count Oakland.) It all starts with the all-star celebrity game Friday (7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet) and winds up with the real game Sunday (8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet.) You can also warm up for the weekend by watching the Jordan Brand Invitational high school tournament starting Thursday (6 p.m., TSN) with Toronto's Henry Carr taking on Caliornia's Redondo Beach.
Western promises: The road to the Brier continues this weekend with the Manitoba, Alberta and B.C. men's championships being decided. Sportsnet and Sportsnet One have the finals start Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
