MLSE Worried About TV Ratings for Leafs
- Thread starter HookeyPlayer
- Start date
GoodNewfieBoy
We got a guy
Golden_Jet
Registered User
- Sep 21, 2005
- 22,897
- 11,198
I think one of the reasons for lower ratings is there are more options in the new tv deal, to watch other games.
HellasLEAF
'93 to Infinity
- Sep 14, 2006
- 15,344
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Leafs should be one of the few markets that can comfortably rebuild for years without thinking about financial problems.
#noexcuses
#noexcuses
The Thin White Duke
Registered User
- Aug 11, 2009
- 3,909
- 1
I'm sure more people would tune in to watch high end prospects develop than the constant mediocre pushes for 8th. I'd rather watch McDavid/Nylander/Reilly develop knowing that they'll finish bottom 5 than watch the current group and wonder how they'll collapse this time. At least there's a light at the end of the tunnel with the first option.
meh alot of oiler fans are still QQ
people dont care about prospects they care about winning
Bill Waters*
Registered User
ULF_55
Moderator
I prefer Sportsnet over pompous TSN, and last century's CBC.
It's a game have some fun with it. We aren't talking curing a disease, world peace or even the economy.
It's a game have some fun with it. We aren't talking curing a disease, world peace or even the economy.
Bluelines
Python FTW!
- Nov 17, 2013
- 12,349
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The loss in viewership has as much to do with the type of team they are as it does to their losing. I don't feel any draw towards one single guy on that team. Leaf fans are more apt to feel an association to players like Gilmour, Clarke etc. Hard working blue collar type player's get our loyality thdse prima donnas like Kessel, Gardnier, JVR are not Leaf type players. Simply put the Leafs are not likeable.
it all started with Rogers/Sportsnet screwing up Hockey Night In Canada. Since that first Saturday broadcast last October, I've been totally tuned out of the whole thing, and I haven't seen a full Saturday night broadcast in months. I suspect they've caused a lot of other viewers to tune out as well. Funny how fast we can return to real life and not give a rat's @ss about HNIC anymore now that they butchered it for the worse. There's other things to do, but there always was - thanks to them messing up the whole Saturday night tradition, now I actually REMEMBER that there's other things to do because I sure as sh* haven't been watching much anymore lol. As I've said many times before though, I'm just one guy and one guy means nothing. Others may see it differently and that's fine. But if there are lots of other who feel the same way then maybe something is actually happening now.
The weekday broadcasts are just as garbage - no idea who's calling the game anymore, the intermissions hosts are not likeable - we have Hughson calling a Tuesday game now - and then next Tuesday it's some other guy. Brutal. Rogers did an awesome job of dismantling the entire thing. THAT is one reason for the drop in veiwers. What they did is push out the millions of long-standing loyal viewers they had, and tried to attract a new, younger audience. But this new, younger audience has access to many more (all?) NHL games now at their fingertips, so the Leafs are just another team in the fishbowl instead of being the only option as they used to be. So naturally, the Leafs will take a hit because they are competing for television ratings with all the other teas, whereas they used the be the only team on TV so it's all anyone could watch. Well not anymore. Their owners made this move. For the better and for the worse, they took a gamble on this aspect of it. And if this article about %'s and all that jargon are true, then the proof is there. The Leafs are declining not only on the ice but in popularity as well.
If Rogers doesn't play their cards right, then this generation is the first one that will look beyond the Leafs as their favourite team simply because they have so much access to all other teams now on television/internet. It'll take time, but the Leafs will continue to slide in the standings and also in popularity, which equals lower profits. The only way (in today's world) to prevent that from happening is to start icing better Leaf teams. That way they can compete for TV ratings if they're winning. But right now? I believe the article which says they're dropping. So, so many less fans are giving a crap right now, and it's just getting worse. Just wait and see what happens in the next 10 years or so if they don't get it together - all the young kids of today will decide to cheer on other teams because ours sucks and because they can watxch any other team they want on a Saturday night instead of the losing Leafs- and so that's what they'll do - watch a different game and become fans of other teams - which all means the Leafs will have failed to capture the current generation.
What I'm getting at is that the Leafs could ice garbage teams all through the 80s, 90, 2000s and get away with it - simply because fans had no other options. You couldn't watch any other teams play because they weren't broadcast on our stations. Today? It's the opposite. Most other games can be seen on any given night. WHich means the Leafs all of a sudden have gone from a regional television monopoly right down into the fishbowl of the 29 other teams and now are broadcasted along with all the other games - so much more choice - and if they keep icing crap teams, then our young kids who live in Toronto today will naturally start turning them off and watching other games and liking other teams. They couldn't do that 10, 20 years ago, it HAD to be the Leafs. Not now.
Just a matter of time, wait and see. Maybe these initial ratings are a sign of things to come? I hope so. I'm all for it
Jimmy Firecracker
Fire Sheldon.
I think Edmonton selling the "re-build with elite prospects" thing for like 7-8 years with multiple top three picks and incompetent management also has something to do with it.
Montreal has a good team. Toronto doesn't.
In these past few decades, I think we've seen pretty well ALL other 29 teams rise above us in that time. Every other team has had some sort of success; in other words we've seen all teams rise from the ashes around to be competitive at some point. And heck, we've even seen other teams start off as crap, get good, then hit the skids again (a typical cycle) - but during those cycles, the Leafs are the ONLY team of them all who have consistently sat in the bottom of the standings and NEVER got good. We've watched Ottawa go from crap to Cup contenders in the mid 2000s and then back to crap... we;ve seen Montreal go from crap to good to crap to good.. LA has risen, Detroit was garbage in the 80s, then great for 2 decades and are now cycling downwards again (although this season is looking good for them)... and ALL that freaking time, we sat in the dumpster just watching all these teams around us actually make things happen! Buffalo, Dallas, New Jersey - all teams that sucked at some point, then got good, now suck again - it's unreal to watch all these teams go through natural cycles, all while we just sit in the sh* bin and don't even go through ANY cycle except to suck for consecutive decades! It's a joke here.
Jimmy Firecracker
Fire Sheldon.
Mess
Global Moderator
This is big business and far reaching.
Lets take advertising for example (as only one issue). Canadian Tire wants to run a 2 minute add for $100k during a Leafs hockey game and that add runs 5 times during the event and the sports channel hauls in $500k
Now viewership drops because less and less Leaf fans are watching a bad product so less people see the TV commercials and pretty soon Canadian Tire and other advertisers are pulling their adds and going elsewhere.
You think things like this don't effect MLSE when they decide what level of entertainment product they are selling and how many are tuning in to see it?
Winning team more viewers verses Losing team less viewers and declining ratings catches the eye of those involved.
Lets take advertising for example (as only one issue). Canadian Tire wants to run a 2 minute add for $100k during a Leafs hockey game and that add runs 5 times during the event and the sports channel hauls in $500k
Now viewership drops because less and less Leaf fans are watching a bad product so less people see the TV commercials and pretty soon Canadian Tire and other advertisers are pulling their adds and going elsewhere.
You think things like this don't effect MLSE when they decide what level of entertainment product they are selling and how many are tuning in to see it?
Winning team more viewers verses Losing team less viewers and declining ratings catches the eye of those involved.
Banana Squid
Registered User
Yes they do care about winning. But the fans in Edmonton supported years of losing for a future of winning. The organization itself messed that up with terrible drafting after the first round. The fans there want a winner now because they've waited years for it. We would just be beginning this process. Let's call an ace an ace here, if we get first overall this year, our franchise turns around mighty fast.
WilliamNylander
Papi's home
- Jul 26, 2012
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Alerion
Registered User
I've stopped watching for the most part, the last game I caught was the Carolina one and I stopped as soon as it hit 2-0. I want them to lose for a good pick because the season is 100% over, but I hate cheering for them to lose, so the next best thing is to not watch altogether.
Early this season I almost got my love of hockey back ...Then the losing started and it's back to "I don't give a sh** about watching the Leafs on TV anymore"...The team is just so boring to watch...I have Zero interest in watching them tonight and probably the rest of the season...It's astonishing (to me) that they still sell out and the fans pay $200 a ticket to watch that crap...Unbelievable..At least we can switch channels when watching the game...The fans drive to and from the game,pay parking and basically have to endure the pain at the arena.
Basically the Leafs have robbed me of enjoying hockey the last decade or so...End of rant.
Basically the Leafs have robbed me of enjoying hockey the last decade or so...End of rant.
ULF_55
Moderator
It's almost a background noise team right now.
Perhaps one of the weakest group of players they've had in decades.
