OT: A impossible question to answer....

[MettleMcOiler]

I'm just curious, but how many oiler fans are there in the world?
I know its an impossible to really find out, but please humor me and give me your best guesstimate please.

And how much did our fanbase increase since 2005-2006?

I would say 2 million fans world wide....and probably a 15% increase since 2006.

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[McClelland]

Should say about 70 million, the chinese state television accidently showed the chicago game last year instead of a ping pong contest, so suddenly oilers got about 68 million new fans. There are now 1557 sam gagner fan clubs in beejing and they expect that about 785 365 boys are getting sam as their first name this year.

 

[mick14731]

Steep

I'm just curious, but how many oiler fans are there in the world?
I know its an impossible to really find out, but please humor me and give me your best guesstimate please.

And how much did our fanbase increase since 2005-2006?

I would say 2 million fans world wide....and probably a 15% increase since 2006.

2 million sounds steep. Alberta has ~3.6 m people, ~60% live in the south so if they are a fan of hockey at all its probably the flames. That leaves ~1.4m in Oilers territory. Lets be generous and say 75% of people are fans in northern alberta. Thats ~1m fans. I don't think there are that many fans outside of northern alberta. It would be like having half the people born in alberta moving.
*i have 0 basis for my assertions.

 

[CSimpson18]

I live in southern Saskatchewan and about half my friends are big oiler fans. The diaspora is strong and fairly rabid around here.

No idea on actual numbers though.

 

[Chooch]

I'm just curious, but how many oiler fans are there in the world?
I know its an impossible to really find out, but please humor me and give me your best guesstimate please.

And how much did our fanbase increase since 2005-2006?

I would say 2 million fans world wide....and probably a 15% increase since 2006.

facebook likes will give you an idea.

 

[alphahelix]

2 million sounds steep. Alberta has ~3.6 m people, ~60% live in the south so if they are a fan of hockey at all its probably the flames. That leaves ~1.4m in Oilers territory. Lets be generous and say 75% of people are fans in northern alberta. Thats ~1m fans. I don't think there are that many fans outside of northern alberta. It would be like having half the people born in alberta moving.
*i have 0 basis for my assertions.

Gretzky.

 

[Blue And Orange]

Surprisingly there is a good number of Oilers fans born and raised in Southern Ontario. In fact, Western Ontario produces a good chunk of Oilers fans. The Gretzky days sure helped build our fan base.

 

[MettleMcOiler]

I live in southern Saskatchewan and about half my friends are big oiler fans. The diaspora is strong and fairly rabid around here.

No idea on actual numbers though.

Hazard a guess....just what number pops into your head XD

Surprisingly there is a good number of Oilers fans born and raised in Southern Ontario. In fact, Western Ontario produces a good chunk of Oilers fans. The Gretzky days sure helped build our fan base.

Thats really surprising for some reason and yet its awesome to hear. What would be your best guess. Would you say about 500,000 people in Ontario are oiler fans?

 

[MettleMcOiler]

Should say about 70 million, the chinese state television accidently showed the chicago game last year instead of a ping pong contest, so suddenly oilers got about 68 million new fans. There are now 1557 sam gagner fan clubs in beejing and they expect that about 785 365 boys are getting sam as their first name this year.

your train of thought amuses me

 

[MettleMcOiler]

2 million sounds steep. Alberta has ~3.6 m people, ~60% live in the south so if they are a fan of hockey at all its probably the flames. That leaves ~1.4m in Oilers territory. Lets be generous and say 75% of people are fans in northern alberta. Thats ~1m fans. I don't think there are that many fans outside of northern alberta. It would be like having half the people born in alberta moving.
*i have 0 basis for my assertions.

totally see where your coming from and 1 million is pretty awesome, but don't forget Saskatchewan, they seem to produce a ton of oiler fans

 

[Markable89]

2 million sounds steep. Alberta has ~3.6 m people, ~60% live in the south so if they are a fan of hockey at all its probably the flames. That leaves ~1.4m in Oilers territory. Lets be generous and say 75% of people are fans in northern alberta. Thats ~1m fans. I don't think there are that many fans outside of northern alberta. It would be like having half the people born in alberta moving.
*i have 0 basis for my assertions.

As an Oilers fan in Calgary I think suggesting people in the southern half of the province are Flames fans is wrong. Of course there is more Flames fans but there is a very large amount of Oilers fans, I wouldn't be surprised if 25-35% of southern Alberta supports them. Its to the point I don't need to mention I'm an Oilers fan because it seems every second person I talk to is. It is worth noting that the demographic that's 30+ seems to be the most likely to support the Oilers. Younger southern Albertans are much more likely to cheer for the Flames. Looking at past successes and recent failures explains that pretty well imo.

This is all very anecdotal but having grown up in Northern Alberta, I can guarantee the same *nearly* universal support doesn't exist like you witness in the north.

 

[oiLowe]

As an Oilers fan in Calgary I think suggesting people in the southern half of the province are Flames fans is wrong. Of course there is more Flames fans but there is a very large amount of Oilers fans, I wouldn't be surprised if 25-35% of southern Alberta supports them. Its to the point I don't need to mention I'm an Oilers fan because it seems every second person I talk to is. It is worth noting that the demographic that's 30+ seems to be the most likely to support the Oilers. Younger southern Albertans are much more likely to cheer for the Flames. Looking at past successes and recent failures explains that pretty well imo.

This is all very anecdotal but having grown up in Northern Alberta, I can guarantee the same *nearly* universal support doesn't exist like you witness in the north.

This. I play for two hockey teams here in Calgary and both teams I play on actually have more Oilers fans than flames fans.

Also, towns in southern Alberta like Med Hat and Lethbridge are largely Oiler fans.

 

[The Nuge]

I live in southern Saskatchewan and about half my friends are big oiler fans. The diaspora is strong and fairly rabid around here.

No idea on actual numbers though.

Same with northern BC. You get more Oiler and Leaf fans than Canuck fans

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

This. I play for two hockey teams here in Calgary and both teams I play on actually have more Oilers fans than flames fans.

Also, towns in southern Alberta like Med Hat and Lethbridge are largely Oiler fans.

this.

I was stunned when I went to Medicine Hat of how many Oiler fans were there...I was expecting all Flames, but it was about 50-50

 

[molsonmuscle360]

Gotta look at some of the small regions that some of the players over the years have come from as well. Look at the area around Langenburg SK. Kelly Buchberger is from there, 90% of the small towns are Oiler fans because of it (Spy Hill being the exception, they are Sharks fans cuz of Odgers). I'm sure there are many towns, and small regions around that are also like this.

Add in our European fans, I've once heard that we are the most popular NHL team in Finland, so I would probably throw a number of around 3-4 million fans.

 

[molsonmuscle360]

Same with northern BC. You get more Oiler and Leaf fans than Canuck fans

Depends on where you go, when I was a kid I lived in a couple of smaller towns in Northern BC and I was usually the only Oilers fan out of all my classmates. There were like 50 Canucks fans, me and then some kid who was a Leafs fan because his uncle was Peter Zezel.

 

[Jumptheshark]

for game 5+6+7 at the three kings here in London there were about 200 or oiler fans in full kit

 

[Aceonfire*]

They did a poll in Saskatoon recently. It wasn't exactly one sided but based on who they asked it seemed that the Oilers were the most popular team there.

Regina is very pro Oilers because of Eberle and what he does for the community.

As the Oilers start to play better, their fan base will grow because bandwagoners will jump ship from other teams.

 

[Billy Barou]

I must concur with the posters above. Grew up in south SK and everyone was an Oiler fan. I lived in the Okanagan for awhile and I was also amazed at the number of Oiler fans - equal to Canuck fans for sure. Probably has a lot to do with the sheer number of imports living there!

If the Oilers can become competitive the fan base will explode.

 

[MettleMcOiler]

So its not out of the question that we may have around 4 million fans eh? Its really nice to here that the fandom is striving in areas you wouldn't suspect.

And europe? Easy couple hundred thousand?

Its awesome to hear finland has a majority of oiler fans XD

 

[Perfect_Drug]

There's a hefty Oilers section at Habs games last year.

Most of Scotia Bank place was a sea of Copper n Blue when the Oilers faced the Sens (I go to that too).

It was populous enough for the arena to start chanting 'GO OILERS GO' in Ottawa.
Ottawa radio station went nuts, they were irate with the Sens fans for not showing up.

 

[Quinteoilers]

Hazard a guess....just what number pops into your head XD



Thats really surprising for some reason and yet its awesome to hear. What would be your best guess. Would you say about 500,000 people in Ontario are oiler fans?

I live in Eastern Ontario (between Kingston and Belleville). There are quite a few "old guard" fans myself included. But I have noticed quite a few Oiler hats on young kids (12 and under). I think Eberle's world jr. Heroics and Taylor Hall have boosted the Oilers profile.

 

[JarvisFunk]

The Oilers are the most popular NHL team in Saskatoon, and id guess Saskatchewan in general

 

[Seedling]

334, 267, 762.5

 

[Comrade Blunderbore]

i know four in Russia, count them in along with me