Little Team on the Prairie . . . is huge on TV
November 24, 2009 · 32 Comments
They don’t play in a small market as much as they do a teeny-weeny market. And they don’t win all that much.
But when it comes to television, merchandising and attendance, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are giants on the Canadian sports scene.
Consider the popularity of the Riders, who will make their second Grey Cup appearance in three years, against Montreal Alouettes, after a reasonably good season of 10-7-1, tops in the West Division.
They are TSN’s audience champions. Four of the network’s five most watched regular season CFL games involved the Riders.
Last Sunday for the West final, the Roughriders along with Calgary Stampeders, delivered an audience record of two million viewers to TSN, the most to ever watch a CFL playoff game on TV.
“[The Roughriders] are clearly the biggest draw,” TSN president Phil King said this week. “It kind of flies in the face of logic, but they just are.”
They’re also a big gate attraction on the road. All figures weren’t available, but the Edmonton Eskimos, for example, set a club record for home attendance, 62,517, when the Riders visited on Sept. 26. In terms of retailing, nobody’s close. The CFL sells more Riders merchandise than the combined total of the seven other teams. In overall CFL sales, by the league and elsewhere, the Riders make up whopping 38 per cent of the total.
Why are they so popular?
You could perhaps invoke the mystic pull of the prairies, the ghost of Ron Lancaster scrambling around in the backfield. Or you could compare the appeal of the Riders to another wildly popular small market football team, the Green Bay Packers.
But there is a difference. The Packers have a history of excellence, starting the legendary Lombardi teams of the 1960s and then the Brett Favre years. The Roughriders don’t. In their long history, starting in 1910 with rugby, they’ve won only three Grey Cups
A more apt comparison than Green Bay, King says, is a U.S. college team.
“If you went to Syracuse University, no matter where you live, you’re an alumni and a fan, and your kid becomes a fan,” he said. “I think Saskatchewan might be a little that way. Somebody living in Regina 20 years ago maybe has moved to Toronto my now, but he’s still a huge Green Rider fan and his kids are fans.”
That intimate connection between a fan and the team doesn’t exist as much in other markets where a fan, say in Calgary, has two professional teams for which to throw his support.
“Being the only pro team in that province, they obviously get a ton of profile,” King said. “If you’re a sports fan in the province of Saskatchewan, you’re a Roughrider fan. It just comes with the birthplace.”
Roughriders resonate because viewers in Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere are impressed by the popularity of the team in its home market. It gives the Riders status. They’re the little team everybody loves.
“People like pulling for the underdog,” King said. “The old saying is they’re everybody’s second favourite team.”
All of this, King notes, adds up to the contradiction of a small market team ranking as the league’s leading TV attraction.
“It’s one of the biggest paradoxes I’ve seen in sports,” he said, “where the smallest team in the league is the most popular team on television. It just doesn’t follow logic.”
In fact, the Riders are so big on TV that King says given a choice between having Saskatchewan in the Grey Cup or the Toronto Argonauts, which play in Canada’s largest TV market, he’d take the little team on the prairie.
“If you ask me from a pure ratings point of view which team I would like to see in there, truthfully we’d probably say Saskatchewan,” he said. “If Toronto was having a great year with 15 wins and were marching along, would that improve it? I don’t know.
“How about Toronto and Saskatchewan in the Grey Cup?”
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By the way, speaking of the Riders, whatever happened to Eric Tillman? Has he gone to trial yet?
Hmmm. Some interesting posts here. Yep, the Riders were in some difficulty in recent times but not really any different than what the rest of the league went through. There were never scads of empty seats at Taylor Field like you saw in other places. Community ownership meant the team was run on a tight budget—and it probably still is. I’m from Toronto, but went out to Regina in ‘95 for that city’s first ever Grey Cup. I’ll never forget it. They’re mad about their football out there.
Great to see the league doing well now. There has to be a team placed in Quebec City soon. The passion in THAT province is HUGE now, with the success of the Rouge et Or. Maybe in 2013 when Ottawa comes in, they’ll announce a second expansion to Quebec City and we’ll have 10 teams. I know Halifax wants one, but an odd number of 11 doesn’t work well.
As for the NFL vs. CFL. Everybody has his or her choices. My personal choice is the CFL, but I don’t begrudge anybody’s choice to watch the NFL. Nor do I criticize one league over the other. At one time I was an NFL fan. Somebody used the word “epiphany” earlier. Mine came when I didn’t enter an NFL pool one year and was then watching the games strictly for viewing pleasure. I found that I didn’t enjoy them nearly as much without money on the line. Perhaps if I had gone through my “no betting year” in the Dan Fouts/Brian Sipe/Dan Marino era instead of the era of dominating defences, things might have been different. Try watching a game that’s tied at 7 early in the 4th quarter when you have no betting allegiances!!!!! It was like watching the NHL 10 years ago!!!! Nowadays I still go in a couple of NFL pools a year. But my interest in that league is strictly and solely based on who wins a game and by how many points.
The reality is as little as 5 years ago the Riders were struggling at the gate, and not that long ago they were holding telethons and lotteries just to survive. Everyone is wrapped up in it now cause the team has had a few good years in a row, wait till they hit the skids again. Although now that everyone has to follow the rules they belly-ached for and now do not follow themselves (SMS), they have a better shot to win, by cheating. They have more players under contract right now than CFL teams are allowed to bring in for training camp, along with a shadow crew that must be getting paid somehow, I bought tickets off of one of these players in Regina who is not officially a Rider. Maybe the guy was just really good at faking a Pennsylvanian accent, who knows.
Will the Riders go 3 for 3? Over the SMS in every year of its existence? The story no “journalist” will talk about. Oh the poor Riders, they have so many “injuries.”
Is that really the ‘reality’? Five years ago the Riders were struggling at the gate? I don’t think so. Sure, they didn’t sell out most/all of their games back then like they do now, but there was always a solid attendance, usually at least 25,000 if not more. How do I know? I was there. Were you?
And yes, those poor Riders, with so many ‘injuries’ as you put it! What, 6 or 7 broken legs in the last two years isn’t enough for you? And that’s just broken legs, let alone all other types of injuries. I just highlight those due to their severity.
Looks like someone’s green with envy. Yep, I love people like that, they just can’t let a nice happy news story be heard without trying to bring it down.
Reality, your arrogance is only superceded by your ignorance. I’ll respect any opinion provided it is backed by fact but its patently obvious you don’t follow the league enought to make your opinion valid.
Enjoy the game in the unlikely event you actually watch it.
For someone who claim to know about the Riders financial situation and drawing capacity you are wrong a great deal in your post. Five years ago the Riders were not struggling at the gate. I KNOW this as I have been the stands for the last 22 years. If you want to change for “facts” to make your story correct go back 10 years ago, you then would be correct. The Riders struggled on the field and as a result at the gate for about 6 years prior (and times in the 80s). The Riders also were forced to give money to prop up teams in Eastern Canada whose owners walked away on the team and left the league with the bills. The only help the Riders got was from the Esks, who if I recall correctly, bought tickets in support of the Riders.
Last I heard there were no warnings being sounded about the Riders being over the soft salary cap this year. They were in prior years yes, they also paid the penalties.
Anyways, its great that there are now haters out there like yourself. It shows that the team is now successful. Not loveable losers anymore.
Great read… and one more reason, like I needed one, to be excited for and proud of the 2009 Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Kudos.
To say the Packers’ history of excellence begins with the Lombardi dynasty of the 1960s is like saying the New York Yankees’ tradition of winning started with Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.
The Packers were founded in 1919, and won six titles before Lombardi came to town including a three-peat from 1929 to 1931.
You know, I can go a whole year without any of my buddies mentioning the CFL.
Hockey, NFL, Jays and even the Raptors — but no mention of the CFL.
Such a shame you live in southern Ontario.
I feel sorry for you and your buddies Garry, you have no idea what you’re missing. Another major league attitude in an Americanized area of Canada.
trying to brag to somebody who cares?
why don’t you go off to your fantasy world Garry. Nobody gives a damn that you and your buddy’s don’t talk about the CFL.
go take a hike you CFL hater.
You and your buddies are very much in the minority. Outside of Toronto, nobody cares about those other leagues (hockey perhaps the exception). The NFL? on average, out drawn 3-1 on TV by the CFL. The Jays? I was at a game once, for free. Nobody was even paying attention to what happened on the field. Some were sleeping. The Raptors? Gees.. thought they’d folded.
The NFL is not out-drawn 3-1 by the CFL. Not even close. At best, its 1.5-1 and only because the ratings system is flawed. The leagues are relatively even in popularity.
And no need to hate just because the GTA can have their fill of any sport they want.
Mike you don’t know anything.
Hope you didn’t get suckered and buy those 500 buck Bills tickets.
Werern’t you the guy who said they’d sellout at any price?
Now go away and watch the Raptors.
They need all the fans they can get.
Typical from you. Spout of that someone doesn’t know anything because they disagree but don’t bother to prove it because you can’t. Show me how the CFL outdraws 3-1 then and don’t use playoff numbers vs. regular season..
I don’t think it’s 3:1, but I’d say 2:1 isn’t a stretch. In most of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE weekly ratings this season, the CFL games have outrated NFL buy an average of about 250,000 viewers. (950,000:700,000). If you add in French numbers from RDS, they skew heavily in favour of the CFL, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see the numbers get close to 2:1.
“Being the only pro team in that province, they obviously get a ton of profile,”
That’s the biggest reason they are the most popular, no competition for the sports dollars.
Agreed 100%. Alouettes are second fiddle to the Habs, but they still get first rate coverage in Montreal. 53,000 at the Big O on Sunday isn’t bad… considering it’s the Big O.
Actually there is competition for the sports dollar — 5 WHL teams, an entire junior hockey league, a college baseball league. Pro sports have come and gone in this province and the only one that still sticks around is the riders. You need to look at the culture of football in Saskatchewan. It’s extremely hard to explain it unless you live here and experience it for yourself. Many compare it to living in Texas where football is a religion.
Ok, no MAJOR competition then, only minor league stuff. Put an NHL team there and see what’s more popular.
To be honest, I don’t think an NHL team here would put a damper on the Riders. You have to understand the culture around football in this province — once you understand that then you’ll have an appreciation of what I’m talking about.
I’ve lived my entire 32 years here in Saskatchewan and no where else in this country does football run so deep. Kids from 6-8 yrs of age start playing, through elementary school, high school, university and junior football. we are the only province in Canada that sanctions 6-man football (we have 6, 9 and 12 man football leagues).
It is obvious that you folks in Ontario and Eastern Canada do not have a full understanding of what it means to be from Saskatchewan, and how the Riders are emblematic of our province, and of our people.
Agreed. The NHL would be in tough to compete. They’d have to wear green and white uniforms just to sell merchandise (like the Canadian juniors). Football is so deeply entrenched into the culture of the province that not even hockey competes. The national obsession over hockey is a bit of a corporate myth anyway. It seems to have been invented by beer companies. I know a more people more interested in soccer than hockey.
Mike you obviously have no understanding of Rider fans whatsoever. Take in a game at Mosaic sometime…you may have an epihany.
It’s impossible to cheer against the Riders, and I don’t give a hoot about the CFL.
The reason why the Riders are so popular on TV is because of the simple fact that there are ex-pat Saskatchewanians right across the globe. For instance the Riders along with SaskTel created an app for the iphone and blackberry. As of last week the app has been downloaded 11,000 times fro over 64 different countries.
As for the hicks coming to Calgary…truth be known that over 200,000 people live in calgary who have ties to Saskatchewan, and that over half of the population of Alberta is orginally from Saskatchewan.
And to you Mr. Houston, let this be your personal invitation to come out to Regina and take in a Rider game next season. Only then will you truly understand what football means to this province.
Kim,
I was in London England on vacation in mid August, and it was a Sunday, and the Ti Cats were playing the Riders that day, if I recall in Saskatchewan. Anyway, I was wearing a Ti-Cat T Shirt and when we were walking around Trafalgar Square we ran into 2 couples who were decked out in Rider Caps and shirts. They were originally from Saskatchewan, and had been living overseas for a while.
Turns out they have a group of ex-pat Canadians that meet outside Canada House on weekends and go off to a couple of bars that have satellite or computer streams of CFL games.
So I can indeed vouch that there are rabid ex-pat Saskatchewanian Rider fans everywhere….
The Saskies love their Riders, there is a huge convoy of Pick-ups, 90’s Sunfires and 80’s Mustangs headed to Calgary right now. Jack up the price of Watermelon and Pilsner, the hicks are coming!
Robbie, you sound like one of the jaded Stamps fan who was left at the alter last Sunday.
It’s true – it really is such a likable franchise. I’m not really a CFL fan, but if there’s one team I would support it’s probably them.