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LOS ANGELES — The World Series has shifted to Dodger Stadium for the next three games, but history was made back in Canada for the opening set of contests.
Sportsnet said Monday that Game 1 of the World Series averaged 7 million viewers in Canada, setting a new record for the most-watched Blue Jays game ever on the network. Game 2 then averaged 6.6 million, with both games beating the 6 million for Game 7 of the American League Championship Series a week ago, which had been the record.
For Game 1 in particular, that figure represents about 17% of the entire country, a level of penetration that exists only in the U.S. for the latter portions of the NFL playoffs.
The gaudy viewership, while certainly expected, represents another reflection of the substantial interest Canada has in Major League Baseball, and the Blue Jays specifically—to the point that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said multiple Canadian cities could be expansion candidates.
The Sportsnet figures are also a further sign of the rising strength of Rogers Communications, the parent company of the network, the Blue Jays, and now one of the most powerful sports ownership entities in the world.
Initial U.S. viewership of the World Series on Fox has not yet been released, but the presence of a Canadian market not rated by Nielsen in the matchup presents a fundamentally different lens to measure the event.
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