The Great Canadian Ratings Report: TSN racks up records for curling, soccer

With Sportsnet set to dominate the sports ratings later this year, thanks to its swallowing of the NHL and Hockey Night In Canada, TSN can at least console itself with memories of a pretty good spring.

Thanks to curling and soccer, it set two ratings records in two days over the weekend.

The first came on Saturday when Toronto FC's home opener broke the English-Canadian record with the largest audience for an MLS game. The match against D.C. United averaged 352,000 viewers, breaking the old mark of 335,000 set two years ago when the Vancouver Whitecaps were in the playoffs.

More impressive was the fact that 1.6 million viewers tuned in for some or all of the game, meaning the hype surrounding the ne'er-do-well club's off-season spending spree has attracted some attention.

The second record came the next day, when the world women's curling final between Canada and Switzerland averaged 1.13 million -- the largest audience in the event's history. It eclipsed the previous mark of 1.07 million set four years ago.

TSN is already trying to figure out ways to make up for the loss of its national hockey package and no doubt curling and soccer will play a big role. But one event TSN can't count on is the much-hyped NCAA basketball free-for-all known as March Madness.

While no doubt most viewers are watching the event on CBS, TSN surely expected better audiences than what they saw last weekend. Its most-watched broadcast came Sunday afternoon when an average of 111,000 viewers tuned in to TSN2.

That was slightly higher than the 102,000 who watched the world speed skating championships on CBC. For TSN, March Madness is more like March Mildness.

Here are the most-watched sports events on English-Canadian television from the past weekend, according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:

1. NHL, Habs-Leafs/Hurricanes-Jets, Saturday, CBC: 2,311,000

2. Curling, world women's championship final, Sunday, TSN: 1,134,000

3. NHL, Flames at Oilers, Saturday, CBC: 797,000

4. Curling, women's world championship Page playoff, Friday, TN: 688,000

5. Curling, women's world championship Bronze game, Sunday, TSN: 559,000

6. Curling, women's world championship semifinal, Saturday, TSN: 521,000

7. PGA, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Sunday, Global: 482,000

8. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN: 375,000 (Fox audience not calculated)

9. MLS, D.C. United at TFC, Saturday, TSN: 352,000

10. NHL, Sabres at Canucks, Sunday, Sportsnet Pacific: 273,000

11. PGA, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Saturday, Global: 267,000

12. Curling, women's world championship Page playoff, Saturday, TSN: 244,000

13. MLB, Tigers vs. Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 211,000

14. Figure skating, world junior championships, Sunday, CBC: 207,000

15. NBA, Raptors at Thunder, Friday, Sportsnet One: 178,000

16. Soccer, Liverpool at Cardiff, Saturday, Sportsnet: 158,000

17. Figure skating, world junior championships, Saturday, CBC: 142,000

18. Hockey, CIS men's final, Saturday, Sportsnet: 139,000

19. NBA, Hawks at Raptors, Sunday, Sportsnet: 135,000

20. Soccer, Arsenal at Chelsea, Saturday, Sportsnet: 124,000

THREE TO WATCH

Stars on Ice, the sequel: If you didn't get your fill of figure skating during last month's Olympics, there's plenty more on tap at the world championships. CBC has all the coverage from Saitama, Japan starting Tuesday and concluding Saturday at dawn. Many of the stars from Sochi -- but not all -- will be there. Tuesday, 9 p.m., EDT, CBC.

Hoop dreams: Interest in this March Madness thing tends to drop off after the first round, mainly because all those in office pools move on after they find their brackets lying in ruins. But the best basketball is just starting. Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT, CBS and TSN2.

Baseball's back in town: But this time the town is Montreal, the ville that Major League Baseball abandoned a few years back. The Big O plays host to Toronto Blue Jays spring training finale against the New York Mets. Friday, 7 p.m. EDT, Sportsnet 360, and Saturday, 1 p.m., Sportsnet.