Record audience watched rivals clash in regular season
TORONTO – As ticket sales continue to climb, the television audience for this week’s 101st Grey Cup Playoff showdown between the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats is also expected to be one of the biggest in the history of their rivalry.
“There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the game, with thousands of tickets being sold on a daily basis, and our partners at TSN preparing to bring one of the great days in Canadian sport – CFL Finals Sunday – to a massive audience,” said Mark Cohon, Commissioner of the Canadian Football League.
This season featured a record audience for a regular season game between the two teams on Thanksgiving Day, when almost one million viewers watched as the Tiger-Cats defeated the Argos 24-18 in Guelph on TSN.
Last weekend, more than 1.4 million viewers watched on TSN and RDS as the Tiger-Cats defeated the Montreal Alouettes 19-16 to advance to this Sunday afternoon’s Eastern Final at Rogers Centre against the Argos, who captured home field with the best regular season record in the division.
Ratings for the CFL on TSN were up 4.3 per cent in 2013, with an average of 703,000 viewers in Canada per regular season game. Ratings on TSN and RDS combined were up 3.6 per cent, with an average of 758,000 viewers per regular season game.
The ratings – the second highest in the history of the league – underscored the CFL’s status as the number one summer sports property in Canada, and second overall only to hockey.
Southern Ontario ratings for Argonaut and Tiger-Cat games this year took a major jump.
Southern Ontario ratings for Argo regular season games were up 26 per cent from last year, and 50 per cent compared to 2011.
The Tiger-Cats’ southern Ontario ratings were up 14 percent from a year ago, and 27 per cent compared to 2011.
Tickets for Sunday’s Eastern Final are available through Ticketmaster, www.argonauts.ca or by calling 416-341-Argo (2746). Kick-off at Rogers Centre is at 1 p.m. ET.
The Western Final, featuring the Saskatchewan Roughriders visiting the Calgary Stampeders, follows at 4:30 p.m. ET. With a win, the Riders would win the right to appear in the Grey Cup on their home soil, while the Stampeders are striving to cap their first place finish in the West with another trip to the Grey Cup.
Both playoff games are televised on TSN. The Eastern Final is also available on RDS2 while the Western Final is on RDS .
The 101st Grey Cup will be broadcast live on TSN and RDS from Regina, Saskatchewan on Sunday, November 24 at 6 pm ET. Organizers announced last July that the game is sold out.
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