Throughout Canada’s summer months in June, July and August, the CFL has 10 Sunday night primetime games scheduled in the first 12 weeks of the season.
It’s part of an experiment the three-down league and its exclusive broadcast partner, TSN, are trying in order to assess best scheduling practices.
“The idea of having four nights during the season really allows us to focus on those primetime games. Get a real focus on each team and one game each night,” commissioner Randy Ambrosie explained.
“We’re treating it all as a learning experience. We will look at and review the data as we start the scheduling process for 2024 and we’ll take into account what’s happened. We’ll consult with our broadcast partners as well.”
The first Sunday night game of this year produced 535,300 average viewers but it benefitted from the Roughriders bump, as Saskatchewan beat Edmonton. Bo Levi Mitchell versus Chad Kelly in Week 2 didn’t deliver anticipated numbers with 264,000. However, Week 3 got over 400,000 while the Elks and Argos put up 74 combined points.
“I’m hoping that by trying different things that ultimately what we’ll get from that will be a formula that works for the CFL and really is attractive to our fans. You have to try things in order to know what will work and what doesn’t. I think it’s a worthwhile experiment, we’ll learn from it and improve our system going forward,” Ambrosie said.
Thursday night football struggled out of the gate. Less than 230,000 TV sets were tuned into the season opener in Week 1. The Stampeders’ 26-15 win against the Redblacks in Week 2 didn’t do much better with 273,000. Week 3 featured a matchup of undefeated teams and nearly the same amount of onlookers took in the game on TV as watched the first two Thursday night games combined.
“I’m told by some of the younger people that I know, which they don’t include me in that category sadly, Thursday is the first Friday of the week. We only had one Friday when I was a kid but apparently, they have two now,” Ambrosie said. “We’re treating it all as a work in progress. We’re treating this all as what’s best for our fans.”
Meanwhile, the Alouettes and Tiger-Cats held up decently well in their TV competition with the Blue Jays on Friday night. 895,600 watched Canada’s Major League Baseball team lose 5-4 to the Oakland Athletics.
2023 Week 3 TV ratings:
Thursday
B.C. at Winnipeg — 497,700
Friday
Montreal at Hamilton — 306,000 TSN and 210,000 RDS for 516,000 total
Saturday
Saskatchewan at Calgary — 636,700
Sunday
Toronto at Edmonton — 423,000
Total Week 3 average: 465,900 (French included: 518,400)
