The Canadian Football League and its television partner TSN marketed the first matchup between Canadian quarterback Tre Ford and twin brother Tyrell Ford, which appears to have positively impacted the game’s rating.
The ultra-athletic brothers were playing catching during warmups at Commonwealth Stadium but the family vibes paused at kickoff until the game was over. Tre completed 10-of-17 passes for 131 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions before being benched in favour of McLeod Bethel-Thompson, while Tyrell recorded three tackles to help the Blue Bombers win by a score of 27-14.
The Ford Bowl drew more eyeballs than the Blue Jays games on Friday night (597,100) and Saturday afternoon (583,400) on Sportsnet. However, the CFL’s feature matchup was not the highest-rated sports event on Canadian television over the weekend as that distinction goes to the NFL’s Sunday Night Football game on TSN when the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs held on to beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-17 on the road with 1,182,600 tuned in.
Experimenting with CFL games on CTV continues as the Alouettes clinched a home playoff game in Ottawa with a 24-12 win over the Redblacks. The English TV number was higher than the week before when Ottawa played Hamilton as 14,000 people watched on CTV Montreal. There are four more regular season matchups on CTV, as follows.
September 28: Ottawa vs. Saskatchewan
October 12: Edmonton vs. Calgary
October 19: Ottawa vs. Toronto
October 26: Winnipeg vs. Montreal
Playoff games and the 111th Grey Cup will be on CTV, TSN, and RDS.
2024 Week 16 TV ratings
Friday
Hamilton at Toronto — 431,600 TSN
Saskatchewan at Calgary — 452,600 TSN
Saturday
Montreal at Ottawa — 317,800 CTV and 231,000 RDS (548,800 total)
Winnipeg at Edmonton — 640,800 TSN
Total average: 460,700 (French included: 518,450)
