What is the 3rd most popular Canadian team?

[Soundwave]

Players not wanting to play wasn’t a team/location issue it was an issue that players had with the teams ownership/management group back than. Steve Francis did a good job explaining what was wrong with the Grizzlies

Superstar NBA players don't even want to play in Toronto if we're being honest. How many star players bail and run from a team they just won a championship with in any team sport. Vancouver would have a bad time, Steve Francis can dress it up now how he wants, but he's being diplomatic so he doesn't look so bad.

For the average American born or even Euro born superstar, why would you want to play in Toronto or especially Vancouver versus LA or Miami or Dallas or New York or Bay Area (San Fran/Oakland) or Phoenix, etc. etc.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Players not wanting to play wasn’t a team/location issue it was an issue that players had with the teams ownership/management group back than. Steve Francis did a good job explaining what was wrong with the Grizzlies

Bro NBA players don't want to play in Canada whatsoever the players in Toronto get chirped by the rest of the league for it

 

[Three On Zero]

Superstar NBA players don't even want to play in Toronto if we're being honest. How many star players bail and run from a team they just won a championship with in any team sport. Vancouver would have a bad time, Steve Francis can dress it up now how he wants, but he's being diplomatic so he doesn't look so bad.

For the average American born or even Euro born superstar, why would you want to play in Toronto or especially Vancouver versus LA or Miami or Dallas or New York or Bay Area (San Fran/Oakland).

Oh they would be in tough, but it’s no different than how the NHL is currently. A NBA team returning to Vancouver has been steadily growing over the last few years, it’ll be interesting if a group is willing to actually do it though.

 

[Soundwave]

Oh they would be in tough, but it’s no different than how the NHL is currently. A NBA team returning to Vancouver has been steadily growing over the last few years, it’ll be interesting if a group is willing to actually do it though.

NHL is night and day different, it's not even close. Kawhi Leonard won an actual championship with the Raptors in one year, the mayor of the city literally gave him a giant size key to the city (lol) ... you literally can't do anything more as a franchise to retain a star player and he still bounced, lol.

That would never happen to a US based NBA team ... maaaaaaaaybe Utah, and even then probably not. The player would at least run it back for a year or two and see if they could repeat.

And it's not even like Kawhi Leonard is a LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant tier superstar, he's a good tier below them in popularity, but he still couldn't be convinced to stay in Toronto.

Vancouver would be worse off, Toronto at least has some popularity with NBA players for night life, Drake (lol), Caribana, etc. Vancouver doesn't have a lot of things that appeal to NBA players.

That would be the big problem, selling out a 17-18k arena for basketball if the team is good wouldn't be that much of an issue, the issue is getting the team to be good in the first place when you're locked out of top talent wanting to be there.

 

[Keystone]

Who is the least popular? Winnipeg?

Jets should be 3rd considering how they hand out opposition wins like Easter eggs every spring.

 

[barry halls]

It's the Oilers mainly because McDavid, when you have the best player on the modern era and the no.1 athlete in Canada, it's going to come with significant perks. Just is what it is.

He's the first Canadian major team sport athlete we've had in Canada who's the best in the world in a long while. Steve Nash played in Phoenix when he won his two MVPs, Donovan Bailey was at his peak in the 90s but that's not really a team sport. Before that it would be Gretzky in the 80s I guess.

You can go to random towns in Sask, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, etc. and you'll find kids who idolize/watch a lot of McDavid because hockey is still quite popular in Canada (go figure) if you ask people which athlete they'd like to see, McDavid will be high on the list if not tops. He's the best athlete we've had in Canada in a long time (1988?) and he plays a highlight reel style of hockey that will be popular with younger kids.

Alberta's population is also booming whereas the other provinces aren't so much, B.C. used to be much larger than Alberta in population, the gap has narrowed. Alberta is now over 4.8 million people, will be over 5 million soon.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-population-records-2023-to-2024-data-1.7157110

The Oilers have a lot of fans in Southern Alberta even as well, even in the heart of Calgary there's a ton of Oilers fans. Sask too. You see McDavid jerseys all over the place in even the Calgary area.

I’d estimate that 25-30% of the population of hockey fans in Calgary are Oilers fans, and that might be a conservative guess.

 

[Soundwave]

I’d estimate that 25-30% of the population of hockey fans in Calgary are Oilers fans, and that might be a conservative guess.

Edmonton/Calgary also at one time were "small cities" but they're really not anymore (by Canadian standards).

1.5+ million metro pop now for Edmonton where hockey is the no.1 + no.2. + no.3 + no.4 story in the city is a big change from like the late 90s when Edmonton was like 850k metro, the overall population of Alberta non including Calgary is like 3+ million.

That's a lot of people to draw from.

 

[archangel2]

Put me on the side when the Canucks are winning we are 3rd most popular. When we are losing? that is another story. Also, comes down to definition of what popular is. Example.. the oilers and the their fans are the most popular team and fan base to hate. Okay, leafs and oilers maybe tied for this one. Popular is not always put in a positive context.

 

[PuckG]

Disagree with Canucks being 3rd.

Dude just states it like it’s a fact based off his feelings - exactly what he is pretending Oilers fans are doing.

If the data supports his cause, it’s meaningful and accurate but if it doesn’t, it’s flawed and obviously not relevant.

 

[Fatass]

Leafs, Habs, and Canucks are in (by far) the biggest markets. The Jets are in the smallest.

 

[Regal]

I’d say Canucks. Population of Vancouver and being the only team in BC is a big factor but also there were a lot of new Canuck fans created around the WCE days. At the same time, the fan base is generally fickle and more willing to drop the team during bad times. I’d say Oilers would be somewhat close as there’s probably a lot of fans from outside the area created during the Gretzky days and now during the McDavid era. I could see Oilers overtaking soon, especially if they win the cup with McDavid. Fandom typically evolves as kids and my nephews are more into McDavid and MacKinnon than the Canucks. So while the twitter numbers are better for Vancouver now, what happens in 10+ years where all the kids idolizing McDavid become older teens and adults?

 

[Soundwave]

Leafs, Habs, and Canucks are in (by far) the biggest markets. The Jets are in the smallest.

I think the difference is the Oilers are probably more popular outside of their home territory than the Canucks are.

McDavid is the first time really since the 1980s that any city in Canada has had an athlete of that stature (team sports). It also helps that he's (well) Canadian. So you have a lot of 8-14 year old kids who look at McDavid as the benchmark player and try to imitate the things he does, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe you could say Kawhi in Toronto for that one season, but it was only 1 season, if he had chosen to stay he would've been so popular in Canada. It's too bad, I would have thought that you'd stick around at least for 1-2 year period of time before high tailing it to LA.

 

[HarrySPlinkett]

Easier to just divvy it up with

Habs/Leafs

Oilers/Canucks/Flames

Sens/Jets

This is the answer, though flip Sens and Jets - Senators are not the clear favorite team in their own city.

 

[Coffey]

This is the answer, though flip Sens and Jets - Senators are not the clear favorite team in their own city.

Oh there was no rankings in that aside from the divisions haha

 

[NyQuil]

McDavid is the first time really since the 1980s that any city in Canada has had an athlete of that stature (team sports). It also helps that he's (well) Canadian. So you have a lot of 8-14 year old kids who look at McDavid as the benchmark player and try to imitate the things he does, etc. etc. etc.

It's not even really about being a Canadian city.

There were many many many Crosby jerseys in the stands in Ottawa from 2007 onwards. There still are.

Bedard just joined the league and magically there were a bunch of jerseys in the stands for the game last night as well.

With Edmonton, they do get the expat community in other cities but also the generational player bump.

This is the answer, though flip Sens and Jets - Senators are not the clear favorite team in their own city.

The Sens were close to 20,000 back in the mid 2000s when they had a good team.

NHL 2005-06 team attendance at hockeydb.com

Attendance for the National Hockey League for the 2005-06 season

www.hockeydb.com

Winnipeg can't sell out a 16,300 seat venue with a competitive squad.

 

[Fatass]

I think the difference is the Oilers are probably more popular outside of their home territory than the Canucks are.

McDavid is the first time really since the 1980s that any city in Canada has had an athlete of that stature (team sports). It also helps that he's (well) Canadian. So you have a lot of 8-14 year old kids who look at McDavid as the benchmark player and try to imitate the things he does, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe you could say Kawhi in Toronto for that one season, but it was only 1 season, if he had chosen to stay he would've been so popular in Canada. It's too bad, I would have thought that you'd stick around at least for 1-2 year period of time before high tailing it to LA.

Oh. I was thinking about only the size of market. Taking into account the McDavid factor, and combing that with the disastrous Benning years in Vancouver, I could see the Oilers being more popular outside of the both markets. Benning did some serious damage to the Canucks brand, that’s for certain.

 

[Soundwave]

Oh. I was thinking about only the size of market. Taking into account the McDavid factor, and combing that with the disastrous Benning years in Vancouver, I could see the Oilers being more popular outside of the both markets. Benning did some serious damage to the Canucks brand, that’s for certain.

Yeah I'm thinking coast-to-coast in Canada ... you ask some random hockey playing kid in like Quebec or Sask or whatever if they'd rather have the Oilers come to town or the Canucks ... they'll probably pick the Oilers because McDavid.

"Best player in the world" just kinda speaks for itself. It's not often in Canada we have the best of anything in the world, certainly not in athletics.

If it's just size of the market that's more straight forward, just look at the metro size of cities. That said Alberta is almost the same population as B.C., it's just that there's two NHL teams there, which causes a split instead of one. Fun fact, the Edmonton Oilers were originally actually the "Alberta Oilers".

 

[Rowlet]

Toronto
Montreal

Vancouver when they're good
Edmonton

Calgary
Vancouver when they're bad

Winnipeg
Ottawa

I've never seen a fanbase disappear quite like the Nucks when they stink, or show up when they're good

When ownership fires the best GM in team history who led the team to two presents trophies, game 7 of the SCF, two Art Ross, a Hart, and a Lindsay because he missed the playoffs once to hire Jim Benning, the worst GM in team history who only made the playoffs once in ten years, there's little reason to dish out to see the team lose. There's too much to do in Vancouver that isn't spending $1000 for one night out with the wife and kids.

The owners only make changes when it affects their pocket books. The team isn't entitled to my money or viewership hours, they have to earn it by icing a competitive team.

If Oiler fans stopped selling out arenas for losing teams, maybe it wouldn't have taken the best player in history just to make the playoffs.

 

[njdevils1982]

where's the 3rd most popular american team thread?

if it existed it would be just as ridiculous as having this one for canadian teams

 

[NyQuil]

where's the 3rd most popular american team thread?

Waiting for you.

 

[OVO16]

Probably Vancouver.

Ottawa and Winnepeg tied for dead last

 

[Fatass]

Yeah I'm thinking coast-to-coast in Canada ... you ask some random hockey playing kid in like Quebec or Sask or whatever if they'd rather have the Oilers come to town or the Canucks ... they'll probably pick the Oilers because McDavid.

"Best player in the world" just kinda speaks for itself. It's not often in Canada we have the best of anything in the world, certainly not in athletics.

If it's just size of the market that's more straight forward, just look at the metro size of cities. That said Alberta is almost the same population as B.C., it's just that there's two NHL teams there, which causes a split instead of one. Fun fact, the Edmonton Oilers were originally actually the "Alberta Oilers".

I’m thinking there are a lot of Oiler and Flames fans in eastern BC. Plus those fans who retired out to the west coast for the climate. Kids too tend to become fans of a club with a McDavid, especially when their local team was as bad as the Benning years.

 

[Three On Zero]

Dude just states it like it’s a fact based off his feelings - exactly what he is pretending Oilers fans are doing.

If the data supports his cause, it’s meaningful and accurate but if it doesn’t, it’s flawed and obviously not relevant.

Read the whole thread, the data has been posted and supports what I say

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Read the whole thread, the data has been posted and supports what I say

Who cares? The Oilers are right there with the Canucks despite being a city half the size of Vancouver

 

[rojac]

Leafs, Habs, and Canucks are in (by far) the biggest markets. The Jets are in the smallest.

In terms of metro populations, Vancouver is closer to Calgary and Edmonton than to Toronto and Montreal.

Toronto 6.2M
Montreal 4.3M
Vancouver 2.6M
Ottawa 1.5M
Calgary 1.5M
Edmonton 1.4M
Winnipeg .8M