Just wondering who is Canada's favourite team in Footy! - Toronto FC - Montreal Impact - Vancouver Whitecaps * No International Teams.
which makes you wonder who the most popular int'l team in the country is? I'd guess Juve, inter or Man Utd, with Liverpool not far behind
While the methodology of this poll is certainly not of professional quality I don't think the results would be that much different if a proper poll was held (except that the "don't know/no answer" category would be huge). Consider that TFC is more popular in Toronto than the Whitecaps or Impact are in their cities. Also consider that the population of the GTA is much bigger than either of the other two. Therefore, even if the same percentage of each city voted for their team, TFC would have the most votes by a large margin. Finally, while I'm in no way claiming that TFC is "Canada's team" (although it is obviously Canada's team when it comes to MLS) the fact is that many people who have no clue about soccer will at least have heard of TFC whereas far fewer will have heard of the Whitecaps or the Impact. (Although some older people will probably remember the NASL Whitecaps name without realizing that there is a new Whitecaps.) So most of the country outside of Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto would probably vote Toronto as the only team they actually know about. Result: A decisive victory in the polls for TFC. And with that and $1.20 you can get a medium double-double at Tim Horton's.
I'm glad you enjoyed your poll so much. TFC is NOT 'Canada's team in the MLS, despite your bold assertion. I have followed MLS from its inception and where DeRo goes, I follow. With 2 key players from Canada, I think the MLS champs are 'Canada's team. I am constantly annoyed when the announcers refer to Toronto as 'the Canadians' in MLS broadcasts. The majority of the players on the field are usually NOT Cdn.
I guarantee you that if you did a nationwide poll, far far more people would have heard of the Vancouver Whitecaps than Toronto FC. Maybe not amongst the under 25 crowd but over all no doubt. The Whitecaps averaged over 20 K (high of 29K) 5 times so it is a stretch to suggest that TFC is more "popular" in Toronto than the Whitecaps. Play it out a few years and we'll talk. As for total "supporters", yeah, I'd agree it is likely that TFC has more raw numbers, but there is no such thing as "Canada's Team" as no team has any sort of cross region support. Like Canuckfan, I follow DeRo. The only way I'd be cheering for TFC first in MLS (and that would make them no higher than third overall on my list of teams) would be if Vancouver didn't have a team or DeRo were playing for them. I think it is great what is happening in Toronto, and hope it continues forever, but lets not carried away.
Also, I thought there were less than 10 impact fans on the forums, turns out I was wrong. We have 15.
The Whitecaps team you are referring to doesn't exist any more. The current Whitecaps is a completely different team that happens to have the same name. So I would argue that more people have heard of TFC than of the (current) Whitecaps. By analogy, I can't start a team in Ottawa, call it Manchester United, and then claim that my team is the most well known in Canada because more people have heard of Manchester United than any other team. (I realize the analogy isn't exact but I trust you get my point.) Since the question posed here was "who IS Canada's favourite team" I assumed the Whitecaps option meant the current squad, not the defunct side. (Just like when you talk about Riders fans in the CFL everyone knows you mean Saskatchewan even though there are still Ottawa fans around.) While that may be true for you and Canuckfan, I seriously doubt that the majority of Canadians feel the same way. The question posed was "who is Canada's favourite team". I simply advanced a hypothesis that TFC would win a general poll on that topic, mainly out of sheer exposure compared to its primary competitors. This doesn't make them "Canada's team" in some mystical, national-identity sense that would compel all red-blooded Canadians to cheer for them no matter what. TFC is, however, "Canada's MLS team" for two reasons. First, they are the only team we have in MLS and so by definition the description "Canada's MLS team" is logically true. Second (and addressing fan passion rather than semantics) the 20 000 individuals at any given TFC game (let alone TFC's total fan base) far exceed the entire nationwide number of Canadian MLS fans who support any other given MLS side (DeRo or not).
