The television ratings for the final week of the 2021 CFL season were the worst of the entire shortened schedule.
Edmonton visiting Toronto on Tuesday, November 16, the game that was rescheduled due to the Elks coronavirus outbreak in August, registered the lowest single TV number of the campaign.
It was the first three-down match-up this year below 200,000 average viewers. There was a rerun of Murder She Wrote an episode called ‘Showdown in Saskatoon’ that had a bigger audience tuned in.
There was nothing on the line between the Elks and Argos, Edmonton had been eliminated from the playoffs while Toronto already clinched first place in the East Division. That meant it was a glorified pre-season game and the announced attendance of 6,247 reflected it.
Unfortunately for the CFL and its TV partner TSN, the last week had little meaning in terms of the post-season, especially after the Redblacks upset the Alouettes. Montreal’s loss gave Hamilton home field for the East Semi-Final.
As one league executive said: “Only in the CFL you don’t schedule exhibition games but you get them at the end of the regular season.” That’s true for at least a handful of games at the end of an NFL regular season to be fair, but the ratings for the leagues are in different stratospheres.
For a ninth straight week, the three-down league checked in with less than 500,000 average viewers across the five-game slate.
Week 16 TV ratings:
Tuesday
Edmonton at Toronto: 167,000
Friday
Ottawa at Montreal: 324,700
Edmonton at B.C.: 347,800
Saturday
Saskatchewan at Hamilton: 407,600
Winnipeg at Calgary: 409,400
2021 CFL season:
Total Week 16 average: 331,300
Total Week 15 average: 478,625
Total Week 14 average: 490,425
Total Week 13 average: 429,775
Total Week 12 average: 492,650
Total Week 11 average: 407,333
Total Week 10 average: 482,360
Total Week 9 average: 469,925
Total Week 8 average: 431,300
Total Week 7 average: 519,650
Total Week 6 average: 466,000
Total Week 5 average: 562,975
Total Week 4 average: 510,100
Total Week 3 average: 525,400
Total Week 2 average: 571,050
Total Week 1 average: 526,950
