from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,

While NHL TV ratings are down across the board on average for Rogers for the first seven weeks this season, as expected the worst news concerns the Maple Leafs, the team that drives the numbers because it is in the largest broadcast market in Canada.

The combined ratings for the Leafs on all the Rogers-connected networks that carry them, CBC, Sportsnet and City, are down 30 per cent from Oct. 7 through Nov. 21 according to Numeris, the only company in Canada that compiles broadcast ratings.

In 16 games carried on the CBC, Sportsnet or City networks, the average audience for Leafs games was 863,825 viewers, down from 1,226,264 in the same period last year, when 14 games were shown. The difference is that in the first seven weeks of the 2014-15 season, the Leafs were still a playoff contender, unlike this season when they are in rebuilding mode and in last place in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division by Thursday night.

The drop in viewership also means a corresponding dip in advertising revenue for Rogers, which gambled heavily on NHL hockey by grabbing the league’s Canadian national broadcast rights in 2014 for $5.2-billion over 12 years.

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