DJT Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 From The Toronto Star: Oct. 7, 2003. 01:00 AM Canadian women rule the airwaves CHRIS ZELKOVICH SPORTS MEDIA COLUMNIST On a day that featured some of the best the sports world has to offer, women's soccer ruled the airwaves. Sunday's women's World Cup semifinal between Canada and Sweden was watched by an average audience of 703,000, according to Nielsen Media Research overnight ratings. That 2-1 Swedish victory was the most-watched event on a day that included three baseball playoff games, the NFL, a PGA tournament with Tiger Woods and a CFL game between the league's top two teams. Despite a 10:30 p.m. EDT start, the women's game produced the second-highest rating in Sportsnet's five-year history. The largest, 914,000, was recorded during the final of the 2002 women's under-19 soccer tournament. That game was between Canada and the U.S. ``We were expecting something in the 400,000 range considering it was a 10:30 start," said Canadian Soccer Association vice-president Les Wilkinson. ``This is great news." One reason it is great news is that the CSA should benefit financially from its television success. ``We don't make a great deal of money from TV," Wilkinson said, explaining that the association is paid a nominal fee for each televised game. ``We expect to do better next time." Interestingly, the game was seen by more adult men (212,000) than women (147,000.) While games featuring Canada against the world traditionally attract large audiences, even Sportsnet was surprised at the size of the audience for the other semifinal soccer game. An audience of 350,000 tuned in to the U.S.-Germany contest at 7:30 p.m., almost 100,000 more than the Cleveland-Pittsburgh NFL game attracted to TSN at 8:30 p.m. While soccer ruled the day, the National Football League finished a strong second. The 1 p.m. game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills attracted 236,000 viewers to Global's Ontario network. While national ratings aren't available until today, Global estimates that its 1 p.m. NFL audience would approach 400,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 As these ratings pile up in favour of soccer, hopefully SN gets the message to treat the game seriously. The need to improve production standards, attempt to get a better analyst (for women's game), get a sideline reporter who actually knows something about the game, and most importantly -- show the games live and show more Canadian games!!! By the way, I think Global is way too optimistic about the NFL ratings. Bills are of interest in Ontario but not to the rest of Canada especially when they're playing the lowly Bengals. Head to head, the USA/Germany game outdid the NFL game on TSN.So, it is unlikely an afternoon game hit 400k when the Eskies were on TV at the same time playing the Als. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 Hey, that sideline reporter used to post quite often on the old forum, though I haven't seen him post in about a year or so. But I think he is a fan. And I thought he was quite good at what he was asked to do, better than Gene "Let me put my foot in my mouth" Principe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastcoaster Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 I think Stoumbos has gotten better over time. Doesnt mean she is good, but at least she is improving. As far as Gerry goes, I just dont like him has a play by play. It has something to do with his tone, which really isnt his fault, but it is not conducive to play by play. the biggest problem I have with Sporsnet is the production quality. The introductions to the games, look like they are from local access television. Its a joke. One thing TSN is good at is it's production. Perhaps Sportsnet should raid TSN. The cost can't be used as an excuse. I was watching CIS football on the SCORE, and I was really impressed by their production, espeically considering they probably have no budget at all. Someone probably just needs to put more time and effort in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonovision Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 Sportsnet's production quality is not great, but let's be honest. This is not the NFL where they can throw a few hundred thousand at each game. What really irks me is not the production quality as much as the direction: why show close ups of Pellerud or several shots of the same inane replay when significant play in the game is being missed? That said, Sportsnet is the only Canadian network that has stepped up to the plate for Canadian soccer, and I am grateful for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccer Hack Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 But WHY oh WHY does Sportsnet NEVER show injury time? They stop the bloody clock at 90:00 minutes every time, and so you have no idea of how much time is really left. In this tournament, they've shown the offical marker board with time added on, which also shows the game clock time, but then they cut away, and you're stuck looking at the clock stuck at 90. Can ya tell that this is a pet peeve if mine?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimglow Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 There should throw some money at an audio filter to keep the ferners out of my living room! That's MY pet peeve! (though not Sportnet's fault. Just idiot fan's fault). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auger9 Posted October 7, 2003 Share Posted October 7, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Soccer Hack But WHY oh WHY does Sportsnet NEVER show injury time? They stop the bloody clock at 90:00 minutes every time, and so you have no idea of how much time is really left. In this tournament, they've shown the offical marker board with time added on, which also shows the game clock time, but then they cut away, and you're stuck looking at the clock stuck at 90. Can ya tell that this is a pet peeve if mine?!?! this bothers me too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 quote:Originally posted by matthew ...and yet somehow I knew Malin Moestrom (No. 6) was going to break my heart in the end. Girls that look like that always do. cheers, matthew That is a nice piece of writing by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Soccer Hack But WHY oh WHY does Sportsnet NEVER show injury time? They stop the bloody clock at 90:00 minutes every time, and so you have no idea of how much time is really left. In this tournament, they've shown the offical marker board with time added on, which also shows the game clock time, but then they cut away, and you're stuck looking at the clock stuck at 90. Can ya tell that this is a pet peeve if mine?!?! It bothers me too that I need to start looking at my own watch. The stadium clock stops at 90 as referees do not want the clock ticking during added time. However the net can show for the TV viewers a clock with the added time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 Allow me to jump on the stopping the stoppage clock bandwagon. it's the only bloody time in the whole game when I look at the clock! Once in awhile I glance up, 'oh 63 mins gone, lots of time' but rarely more. When we're in injury time against China I was checking every three seconds. Why take it off? I had to keep hitting 'display' on my remote to see where the counter on my tape was. Thank you Gordon. I think Gerry has improved greatly from the start of his career doing the games and I acutally thought Helen Stombous wasn't half-bad this tournament. She wasn't great, but I've definitely heard worse. She was light years ahead of the U19s. cheers, matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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