CFL registers lowest TV rating of 2022 season in Week 9 with Roughriders on bye

Photo courtesy: CFL

The Canadian Football League has gone from its best week of television ratings to its worst so far during the 2022 season.

In Week 8, an average audience of 522,750 watched three-down football on TSN and that number dropped by over 100,000 viewers on the first weekend in August. The undisputed CFL ratings champions, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, had a bye week and viewership dropped accordingly.

The Toronto Blue Jays provided competition for eyeballs on each night of the Week 9 schedule. Canada’s Major League Baseball team was in Minnesota for a series with the Twins and drew over one million onlookers on Thursday (1,212,600) and Friday (1,124,100), while Saturday (993,000) was just under. Toronto currently holds the top American League Wild Card spot and with the playoffs a real possibility, the Jays are consistently recording average audiences north of seven digits.

Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke did his best to attract attention and viewers on Saturday night in the late eastern time zone slot. Rourke completed 34-of-37 passes for 477 yards with five touchdowns and added five carries for 25 yards plus one touchdown along the ground against Edmonton. He set multiple records in the process and tied one other mark.

Rourke was part of the highest-rated CFL game on TSN for the second week in a row as nearly 500,000 viewers watched him slice and dice Chris Jones’ defence. He remains on pace to throw for over 6,000 yards and set a new passing touchdowns record, which should help boost ratings as the season goes along.

The 24-year-old transcends team allegiances with his Canadian passport and he’s been the best QB in the league by a country mile this year.

2022 Week 9 TV ratings:

Thursday
Winnipeg at Montreal — 475,600

Friday
Calgary at Ottawa — 337,300

Saturday
Hamilton at Toronto — 378,800
Edmonton at B.C. — 499,000

Total Week 9 average: 422,675

(These numbers do not include viewership from RDS, TSN’s French-language affiliate, which has averaged approximately 200,000 viewers for Alouettes games in 2022.)