The Canadiens' popularity compared to that of the Maple Leafs

[DaHabMan]

I sort of agree with this and, as mentioned to me by a female Habs fan is that a lot has to do with emotions. "Habs fans definitely are more emotionally involved than Leafs fans." As she said, "Yes we're very emotional about the Canadiens because hockey is pretty much all we have."

In Montreal, it is now basically a one sport town with the dismal Alouettes and Impact not doing anything so sports passion all rides on the Habs for an all or nothing emotional roller coaster ride of extreme. In Toronto, at the end of hockey season, fans just turn to the Blue Jays to continue sports, and also have the Raptors during the season if the Leafs lose, and even their MLS and CFL teams are doing fairly well. The Leafs are just one of their teams and they have more options to turn to and dilute their emotions. They just aren't as emotionally involved.

To add, walking around with a Habs jersey in Toronto is considered OK with the Habs just considered another team, but in Montreal, if a person would walk around with a Leafs or Senators jersey they get jeered and heckled like a hated pariah with some of it getting extreme even to the point where it even affects kids. Closer to home, a friend of my wife who moved here from Toronto wore her Leafs jersey once to her part time school job and was literally berated as an enemy so she said she'll never wear it in Montreal again. In Toronto it's more like ... meh, Habs are just another team.

In the other five Canadian cities, it seems to be more like Toronto in that there is more tolerance of other teams, at least from what I saw and hear, even though there aren't other major sports in all those cities. In Montreal though, it is like there is such an emotional hatred of Toronto that it would be safer to walk around with a swastika instead of a Leafs jersey.

I think she's right. I wasn't born here and just don't get emotionally involved with any sports but rather just try to look at it in a pure analytical fashion. It's probably why I don't get why some posters get so overly emotional about little nothings.

Id have to completely disagree with your comment on leafs fans wearing apparel in mtl and getting jeered. If anything, its more indifference thrn anything else. There is np emotional hatred with the leafs now, while keeping in mind there MIGHT have been some before. But that would have been more a mtl vs to thing. Emotional hatred is reserved for one team only and i dare not mention them.

Id have another question to raise...why are the leafs valued so highly while the canadiens arent by forbes? Id figure at the very least wed be equal, or am i way off on this?? The potential for revenue should be as high, no?

 

[Adriatic]

I really really hate that moniker 'Canada's team'. I personally don't want the Habs to be that or even seek to label themselves as Canada's team. I don't want the Habs to represent or have anything to do with the rest of Canada save for being a source of pride for the people from this province that moved out west. The Habs should represent our city and province and nothing else. If people outside want to be fans of the team that's great, but no one should be labelling them Canada's team. Same thing goes for Yankees, Red Sox, Cowboys etc..Yankees should only be a New York thing, Sox should only seek to represent the blue collar Bostonians and the Cowboys should only be for big Texas. I really think labelling a team as Canada or America's team strips away everything they should be representing.

 

[Kriss E]

One can always find "stats" out of context to prove their point.

The thing is, 40% of Canada lives in Ontario and one third of Canada's population lives within 200 miles of the ACC and they are almost exclusively Leafs fans. Just ask why the sports networks cater to the Leafs. They are the central Canada regional team but they do have the largest fan base.

Montreal has almost all of Quebec and the east, but that fan base total is still smaller than the southern Ontario fan base. Montreal is basically Quebec's regional team.

They are both just regional teams with some supporters outside, and there is not a larger support for Habs fans than Leafs fans in the west, regardless of what many Habs fans may want to believe by seeing Habs uniforms on people in western games. If you watch a Leafs away game out west, there are just as many people with Leafs uniforms if not more at those Leafs away game as well. All original six teams have some support out west. As well, just as there are people outside of their respective regions that like the Leafs or Habs, there are people outside of southern Ontario who don't like the Leafs, and there are just as many people outside of Quebec who don't like the Habs.

Neither the Leafs nor the Habs have claim to be Canada's team, that claim belongs to the national team with captain Sid and the boys. The Leafs and Habs are just regional teams for their area just as Vancouver is the regional team of BC. To think anything different is just looking at the situation with rose coloured glasses and a homer hat.

The most storied franchises in every sport usually have the biggest fan bases. It's only normal.
Mtl is the NHL's team. It is the most storied franchise. It has had the most success. It harvested the most HoFs. It has the most trophies named after people linked to the organization.

This isn't even a discussion.

It doesn't have to be literal though. Obviously there is more than 1 Canadian team, so it can't be the sole one. It's just about popularity and Mtl comes out on top every time.

 

[Kriss E]

I sort of agree with this and, as mentioned to me by a female Habs fan is that a lot has to do with emotions. "Habs fans definitely are more emotionally involved than Leafs fans." As she said, "Yes we're very emotional about the Canadiens because hockey is pretty much all we have."

In Montreal, it is now basically a one sport town with the dismal Alouettes and Impact not doing anything so sports passion all rides on the Habs for an all or nothing emotional roller coaster ride of extreme. In Toronto, at the end of hockey season, fans just turn to the Blue Jays to continue sports, and also have the Raptors during the season if the Leafs lose, and even their MLS and CFL teams are doing fairly well. The Leafs are just one of their teams and they have more options to turn to and dilute their emotions. They just aren't as emotionally involved.

To add, walking around with a Habs jersey in Toronto is considered OK with the Habs just considered another team, but in Montreal, if a person would walk around with a Leafs or Senators jersey they get jeered and heckled like a hated pariah with some of it getting extreme even to the point where it even affects kids. Closer to home, a friend of my wife who moved here from Toronto wore her Leafs jersey once to her part time school job and was literally berated as an enemy so she said she'll never wear it in Montreal again. In Toronto it's more like ... meh, Habs are just another team.

In the other five Canadian cities, it seems to be more like Toronto in that there is more tolerance of other teams, at least from what I saw and hear, even though there aren't other major sports in all those cities. In Montreal though, it is like there is such an emotional hatred of Toronto that it would be safer to walk around with a swastika instead of a Leafs jersey.

I think she's right. I wasn't born here and just don't get emotionally involved with any sports but rather just try to look at it in a pure analytical fashion. It's probably why I don't get why some posters get so overly emotional about little nothings.

I disagree. If the Leafs had 24 cups banners over them, if they had the history of excellence, they would be just as emotionally involved.
If Mtl had sucked, it wouldn't be as popular.

Look at how the great NFL franchises have emotionally involved fans despite having multiple sports teams.

 

[Mr Jackpot]

Hockeytown is Detroit and Mr Hockey is Gordie Howe, end of discussion.

 

[Bob b smith]

Just came back from a trip in Muskoka (north of Toronto). I noticed one guy with a Habs cap, a Sens sticker on a license plate and a guy dressed in a Blue Jays suit. If anyone was wearing Leafs' apparel, I missed it.

edit: The Canada's team moniker is a bit of a troll job, but it's not like Leafs fans are out in numbers right now (that happens in October...for a few weeks...)

 

[capebretoncanadien]

LOTS of east coasters are Habs fans....myself included.

 

[officialmark*]

Just came back from a trip in Muskoka (north of Toronto). I noticed one guy with a Habs cap, a Sens sticker on a license plate and a guy dressed in a Blue Jays suit. If anyone was wearing Leafs' apparel, I missed it.

There we have it boys. This guy saw a Habs cap, and a Sens sticker so that means the Habs are more popular than the Leafs.

 

[29dryden29]

The Habs are obviously more popular, this isn't even a debate anymore. Why would anyone under the age of 50, other than allegiance from birth, cheer for them? The Habs are a playoff team every year and are exciting, the Leafs are... yeah.

There are a lot of kids who cheer for Montreal, likely very few who cheer for Toronto outside of parental allegiance.

All 4 of my kids have been raised HABS fans since birth just as my sisters and brother and I were. Their mom is a Wings fan and has had zero influence on their allegence to the HABS it isn't strong enough.

 

[PernellsWhiteAmi]

On the east coast of the U.S., Montreal is the New York Yankees of baseball; they are talked about a whole hell of a lot more than Toronto is.

 

[Lshap]

On the east coast of the U.S., Montreal is the New York Yankees of baseball; they are talked about a whole hell of a lot more than Toronto is.

Around your state of Vermont it's a real mixed bag of loyalties. Tons of Rangers fans, plus Bruins and some Flyers fans. I was just in Stowe and NYC last week and met a few of each, but no fellow Habs fans.

 

[RealityBytes]

I disagree. If the Leafs had 24 cups banners over them, if they had the history of excellence, they would be just as emotionally involved.
If Mtl had sucked, it wouldn't be as popular.

Look at how the great NFL franchises have emotionally involved fans despite having multiple sports teams.

There are always a few diehard fans going nuts for their personal choice of sport and team but you want to look at is all fans and the fan base in an area.

Thing is, in southern Ontario, they have more than just hockey to turn to. When hockey season was over, it was over for them and many just turned their head to the Raptors playoffs. Look at the turnouts they had in the square outside the ACC during the playoffs, three blocks deep. Basketball is also now over and now the fans are in tune with the Blue Jays and they are pulling in around 30K per game.

As well, now there is also the drama surrounding the Buffalo Bills and the possible sale to the Bon Jovi/MLSE group, which would lead them moving to Toronto in five years. That is also attracting a lot of sports interest and excitement for many in the Toronto area.

In Montreal there is hockey as the only major franchise, and even in summer, it's hockey, hockey, hockey, and more hockey even when the team hasn't really done anything in 20 years because that's all there is. In Toronto, they have options for other sports and if the Leafs don't do anything, then the fans just turn to one of their other sport options. In Montreal, the Habs get all the sports fans and even if the Habs do nothing, fans just grit their teeth and wait till next year while having a summer of hockey, hockey, and more hockey from the local sports media.

Yes, in a town like Green Bay, win or lose it's complete Packer madness since that is all the town is about the entire year but in NFL towns where there are multiple major sports teams, like St.Louis, NY area, Chicago area, Dallas area, and so on, the most winning team is top of the heap drawing most local attention, but interest is spread out there as well. If a team isn't winning there either, people just shift to the next sport agenda. Even when they are all winning as in Boston a few years ago, when the Bruins won the Stanley cup, the BoSox won the world series, the Celtics won the championship, and the Patriots came close, which drew the most interest and talk from local fans? It was spread all over.

Everybody likes to pull for their teams and if they are winning it is all the better, but locations with only one major franchise are more focused and passionate about it than teams with multiple major franchises.

 

[MtlBoxFan]

It's temporal. If you look at those Google trends, when they actually had a decent series with Boston, their ratings were through the roof.

Now that Montreal has come off a strong playoff run, their numbers are very high.

If the maple leafs were not such a group of under achieving, lack luster, cry baby, overpaid, country music listening, truculent rejects from other teams, and if their organization were not such an evil, greasy, slimeball, rip-off artist collection of used car salesmen, their ratings would surpass Montreal just based on the sheer number of success starved Maple Leaf fans.

 

[RealityBytes]

Id have to completely disagree with your comment on leafs fans wearing apparel in mtl and getting jeered. If anything, its more indifference thrn anything else. There is np emotional hatred with the leafs now, while keeping in mind there MIGHT have been some before. But that would have been more a mtl vs to thing. Emotional hatred is reserved for one team only and i dare not mention them.

Id have another question to raise...why are the leafs valued so highly while the canadiens arent by forbes? Id figure at the very least wed be equal, or am i way off on this?? The potential for revenue should be as high, no?

I would figure fan base size and potential revenue of the team has a lot to do with Forbes evaluations. Even the Montreal Gazette today listed Toronto and area as the fourth largest city area in North America. There is a lot of people in that golden horseshoe.

The jersey incident happened last year, but again, that doesn't mean it happens everywhere. Still, a few months ago the Gazette had an article about an older Leafs fan living in Montreal and he said he doesn't wear his Leafs jersey outside because of jeering. That is a shame.

Hopefully stuff like that will settle down and become more like World Cup. What I really like about World Cup is that everybody can choose their team and everybody is still friendly with fans of other teams regardless of who they pull for. It's time to get rid of hockey bullies and unnecessary trolling and if we are to be respected as a leading hockey franchise, we should be leading the way.

 

[RealityBytes]

If the maple leafs were not such a group of under achieving, lack luster, cry baby, overpaid, country music listening, truculent rejects from other teams, and if their organization were not such an evil, greasy, slimeball, rip-off artist collection of used car salesmen, their ratings would surpass Montreal just based on the sheer number of success starved Maple Leaf fans.

Hilarious ... that is funny. Says it all.

 

[Scintillating10]

I don't know who is more popular but when Leafs start to win the fans who come out of the woodwork is overwhelming. I've known people close for 20 years, didn't know they were Leafs fans until just after the Gilmour trade. For a team who hasn't been close to winning in near 50 years, go thru all the Ballard years and achieve their worth on Forbes list is astounding. Really speaks for the popularity of hockey in the Toronto area. Hech, we went thru 5 years of the Houle era and attendance at Bell Centre dwindled to a fraction. Team was sold for peanuts to George Gillette

 

[pepperMonkey]

Yup, fans between the two city may be comparable but the Leafs valued at $1.15 billion compared to the Habs $775 mill, pretty big gap I think.

 

[david999]

There are always a few diehard fans going nuts for their personal choice of sport and team but you want to look at is all fans and the fan base in an area.

Thing is, in southern Ontario, they have more than just hockey to turn to. When hockey season was over, it was over for them and many just turned their head to the Raptors playoffs. Look at the turnouts they had in the square outside the ACC during the playoffs, three blocks deep. Basketball is also now over and now the fans are in tune with the Blue Jays and they are pulling in around 30K per game.

As well, now there is also the drama surrounding the Buffalo Bills and the possible sale to the Bon Jovi/MLSE group, which would lead them moving to Toronto in five years. That is also attracting a lot of sports interest and excitement for many in the Toronto area.

In Montreal there is hockey as the only major franchise, and even in summer, it's hockey, hockey, hockey, and more hockey even when the team hasn't really done anything in 20 years because that's all there is. In Toronto, they have options for other sports and if the Leafs don't do anything, then the fans just turn to one of their other sport options. In Montreal, the Habs get all the sports fans and even if the Habs do nothing, fans just grit their teeth and wait till next year while having a summer of hockey, hockey, and more hockey from the local sports media.

Yes, in a town like Green Bay, win or lose it's complete Packer madness since that is all the town is about the entire year but in NFL towns where there are multiple major sports teams, like St.Louis, NY area, Chicago area, Dallas area, and so on, the most winning team is top of the heap drawing most local attention, but interest is spread out there as well. If a team isn't winning there either, people just shift to the next sport agenda. Even when they are all winning as in Boston a few years ago, when the Bruins won the Stanley cup, the BoSox won the world series, the Celtics won the championship, and the Patriots came close, which drew the most interest and talk from local fans? It was spread all over.

Everybody likes to pull for their teams and if they are winning it is all the better, but locations with only one major franchise are more focused and passionate about it than teams with multiple major franchises.

This is very true. Their are legions of Leaf fans waiting for a decent team to emerge. When the Leafs win the cup, the city will shut down. There are too many distractions for fans in Toronto when the Leafs don't play well. In Montreal it is the Habs or nothing else. If the Habs miss the playoffs for a few years (let alone 9) nobody would be watching them on TV, let alone at the Bell center. There is a reason the CBC and Sportsnet, and TSN fight for the rights to broadcast Leaf games, they draw the most viewers consistently year after year. The Leafs being the most valuable team, (the only hockey one listed on Forbe's list of the 50 most valuable sports teams in the world) is nothing to sneer at. It is to some extent a measurement of a team's fan base depth for their particular sport. Montreal has fans, but most of them come out of the woodwork when they win. I suspect you would see a whole new level of numbers if the Leafs get it together and start winning

 

[Picaroon]

Yup, fans between the two city may be comparable but the Leafs valued at $1.15 billion compared to the Habs $775 mill, pretty big gap I think.

I feel like that's something Toronto fans should feel shame towards, not be proud of...

 

[TimStrickland]

This is very true. Their are legions of Leaf fans waiting for a decent team to emerge. When the Leafs win the cup, the city will shut down. There are too many distractions for fans in Toronto when the Leafs don't play well. In Montreal it is the Habs or nothing else. If the Habs miss the playoffs for a few years (let alone 9) nobody would be watching them on TV, let alone at the Bell center. There is a reason the CBC and Sportsnet, and TSN fight for the rights to broadcast Leaf games, they draw the most viewers consistently year after year. The Leafs being the most valuable team, (the only hockey one listed on Forbe's list of the 50 most valuable sports teams in the world) is nothing to sneer at. It is to some extent a measurement of a team's fan base depth for their particular sport. Montreal has fans, but most of them come out of the woodwork when they win. I suspect you would see a whole new level of numbers if the Leafs get it together and start winning

Truth.

Toronto will have always way more fans than Montreal, simply because of sheer numbers. Even if a lot of people living in Toronto are casual when it comes to the Leafs, they will massively jump into bandwagon as soon as they are close to cup contender status. Don't forget that Toronto is the 4th largest metro area in North America. The 2/3 of Quebec's population(in terms of numbers) lives in the GTA.

A Leaf cup win would be easily a massive event, similar to NYR winning it all in 1994 or more recently, the Red Sox in 2004. Relief-like championship for the legion of diehards who patiently waited during years of brutal mediocrity and dry spells. Headlines for at least a month.

Leaf playoff ratings will always produce superior ratings to Habs playoff ratings for that same reason. Sheer numbers. And dont forget the Leaf haters wanting to see the team lose. Game 6 of the Rangers/Habs series, May 29 : 4 millions. While a game 7 first round matchup for the Leafs, had 5.1 millions easily.

CBC playoff ratings
2013, Leafs-Bruins
Wednesday May 1------2,563,000
Saturday May 4------3,243,000
Monday May 6------2,805,000
Wednesday May 8------3,150,000
Friday, May 10------3,250,000
Sunday, May 12------4,506,000
Monday, May 13------5,155,000 (475,000 on RDS)


CBC playoff ratings-2014




Lightning-Canadiens
Wednesday, April 16------2,256,000 (1,336,000 on RDS)
Friday, April 18------1,758,000
Sunday, April 20------2,825,000 to 2,875,000
Tuesday, April 22------2,232,000 (1,762,000 on RDS)
RDS averaged 1,463,000 viewers for the first three games.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruins-Canadiens - CBC
Thursday, May 1------2,957,000 (1,837,000 on RDS)
Saturday, May 3------2,065,000 (1,780,000 on RDS) for a morning game and was on NBC too
Tuesday, May 6------3,049,000 (2,163,000 on RDS)
Thursday, May 8------TBA (2,098,000 on RDS)
Saturday, May 10------3,073,000 (1,712,000 on RDS)
Monday, May 12------3,670,000 (2,211,000 on RDS)
Wednesday, May 14------4,560,000 (2,496,000 on RDS)

HNIC and RDS records were broken for a second round game. For HNIC, game seven had a peak audience of 7,230,000 and 11,900,000 viewers watched part of the game. The Habs bring better ratings than the stinkin' Leafs, take that ignorant CBC!

Peak audiences for RDS
game seven 3,477,000
game six 2,750,000
game five 2,188,000
game four 2,095,000
game three 2,957,000
game two 2,380,000

-------------------------------------------------------
Rangers-Canadiens for CBC
Saturday, May 17------2,147,000 to 2,196,000 viewers for a morning game and on NBC too
Monday, May 19------3,374,000 (TBA on RDS)
Thursday, May 22-----3,562,000
Sunday, May 25-----4,052,000
Tuesday, May 27-----
Thursday, May 29-----4,084,000





That said, I think Montreal has clearly a much bigger percentage of hardcore, passionate fans. Its not even close, don't tell me that the Leafs have the same level of religious reverence and devotion in Ontario, they are liked but not passionately revered as the Habs, they own the hearts of this province completely. The Habs are like god for Quebecers, they actually replaced the Catholic church as dominant power in society. They are still viewed as a vehicule of french pride and empowerment. Immigrants understand, in a tacit way, that following the Habs and becoming a Habs fan is a integration and assimilation marker into larger society. And since this province has only the Habs as major, legitimate sports team, they monopolize the attention and headlines.

 

[peate]

This is very true. Their are legions of Leaf fans waiting for a decent team to emerge. When the Leafs win the cup, the city will shut down. There are too many distractions for fans in Toronto when the Leafs don't play well. In Montreal it is the Habs or nothing else. If the Habs miss the playoffs for a few years (let alone 9) nobody would be watching them on TV, let alone at the Bell center. There is a reason the CBC and Sportsnet, and TSN fight for the rights to broadcast Leaf games, they draw the most viewers consistently year after year. The Leafs being the most valuable team, (the only hockey one listed on Forbe's list of the 50 most valuable sports teams in the world) is nothing to sneer at. It is to some extent a measurement of a team's fan base depth for their particular sport. Montreal has fans, but most of them come out of the woodwork when they win. I suspect you would see a whole new level of numbers if the Leafs get it together and start winning

This has got to be the funniest load of crap I've read on here in a long time. Leaf fans are a riot.

 

[PernellsWhiteAmi]

Around your state of Vermont it's a real mixed bag of loyalties. Tons of Rangers fans, plus Bruins and some Flyers fans. I was just in Stowe and NYC last week and met a few of each, but no fellow Habs fans.

To a certain extent. Since the Bears have been winning the last few seasons, the Bruins bandwagon fans have come out from under their rocks and have let Habs fans hear it. There are Habs fans around, but no diehards.

 

[Scintillating10]

Not really fair to compare the 2 cities. Corporate Montreal really took a beating at start of FLQ and then Separatist movement. Before late '70s/early 80s Montreal was biggest city in Canada.

 

[Chet-Nick]

Even further recent evidence - let alone the original facts which I presented on the very start of this thread - to state the very obvious >

http://insightrix.com/montreal-canadiens-top-sports-brand-canada/#sthash.wPpArABA.hu9EQQqg.dpbs

http://globalnews.ca/news/1495609/l...urvey-says-habs-are-canadas-top-sports-brand/

 

[RealityBytes]

Even further recent evidence - let alone the original facts which I presented on the very start of this thread - to state the very obvious >

http://insightrix.com/montreal-canadiens-top-sports-brand-canada/#sthash.wPpArABA.hu9EQQqg.dpbs

http://globalnews.ca/news/1495609/l...urvey-says-habs-are-canadas-top-sports-brand/

That's not evidence, it is not even a correctly done survey. It's personal perception garbage. Read the details.

Give it up already, you're beating a dead horse.