The Grey Cup was presented to a winning team for 101 consecutive years. Not even the Second World War stopped Canada from having a national football championship. It took the COVID-19 pandemic to stop the streak and place serious doubts on the viability of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Four years later, the CFL is still here, even as Canadians appear to be growing fonder of the “four down” game played in the United States’ National Football League (NFL). With the Grey Cup final scheduled to take place on Sunday, we thought it was a good chance to review the relationship of Canadians with professional sports.
The National Hockey League (NHL) remains popular across the country, with 60 per cent of Canadians (up five points since November 2021) describing themselves as fans. The NFL is a distant second with 39 per cent (up three points), followed by the National Basketball Association (38 per cent, up seven points), the CFL (33 per cent, up one point), Major League Baseball (also 33 per cent, up one point) and Major League Soccer (MLS) (26 per cent, up four points).
The NHL’s fan base appears to be aging. While 66 per cent of Canadians aged 55 and over say they are fans, the proportion drops slightly to 63 per cent among those aged 35 to 54 and to 52 per cent among those aged 18 to 34. For the NBA, the trend is decidedly different: 54 per cent of the country’s youngest adults are fans of professional basketball, compared to 33 per cent among middle-aged residents and 35 per cent among the oldest age demographic.
The CFL’s situation is somewhere in the middle. About a third of Canadians aged 55 and over (34 per cent), aged 35 to 54 (31 per cent) and aged 18 to 34 (33 per cent) are fans. The proportions are higher for the NFL among the youngest adults (43 per cent) and middle aged adults (41 per cent), but roughly the same among the oldest demographic (33 per cent).
While 24 per cent (up five points) say their interest in the NHL has increased over the past two years, the proportions are lower for the NFL (16 per cent, up six points), the NBA (15 per cent, up three points), MLS (14 per cent, up six points), MLB (12 per cent, up four points) and the CFL (also 12 per cent, up four points).
In November 2021, Canadians were more likely to say that they would watch the Super Bowl on television (50 per cent) than the Grey Cup (40 per cent). This year, the NFL championship game keeps the upper hand over its CFL equivalent, but we have larger proportions of Canadians who say they will tune in to the Grey Cup (44 per cent, up four points) or the Super Bowl (53 per cent, up three points).
The challenge for CFL advertisers continues to be engaging young adults. In 2021, most Canadians aged 18 to 34 said they would tune in to the Super Bowl (53 per cent) while just under two in five (39 per cent) were interested in the Grey Cup. The gap has grown to 16 points in 2024, with 59 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 34 willing to watch the NFL’s final game, and 43 per cent ready to enjoy the CFL’s season finale.
In spite of the complexities of turning young people into CFL fans, there is a silver lining.
The survey suggests that interest in “three down” football is increasing or staying where it was in the western provinces. In B.C., fandom has risen by five points since the ownership of the BC Lions changed hands.
Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.
Results are based on an online survey conducted from November 1-3, 2024, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
