Popularity of Soccer in Canada

[TFC07]

How big is soccer in Canada? How popular is soccer compare to other sports like hockey, basketball, football, baseball etc in Canada?

[SweetOwnGoal]

How big is soccer in Canada? How popular is soccer compare to other sports like hockey, basketball, football, baseball etc in Canada?

There is a thread very similar to this already (Is soccer the second most popular sport in Canada..)

But...

In short, close to a million people play the sport, the most (registered) of any sport in the country. Many are young, but the fastest growing demographic within that is adults.

The thing about the sport is that its popularity is Canada is mostly concentrated in the country's major cities. In rural Canada, soccer is seen as something that five-year-olds play in between hockey seasons.

(And before someone from the prairies comes on to inform me that, damn it, they like soccer, let me just say this. I'm aware that there are exceptions. I'm aware that you can likely drag together a pub full of soccer fans to watch the Champions League in Regina, but the point is that's about all you could drag in. The rest would be busy analyzing how the Blades bantam draft picks will fit in with the team).

In the other thread, I placed soccer as being tied for fifth in terms of its popularity in Canada. It's likely behind hockey, football, baseball and basketball and tied with curling.

[Gordon]

Tied with Curling??? In our dreams.

[The Prophet]

Tied with Curling??? In our dreams.

canadian love the boring sport of baseball? not in montreal

[SoccerNewf]

canadian love the boring sport of baseball? not in montreal

Actually baseball is a very big sport in Quebec, I think the reason that the Expos left has to do a lot with the stadium where they played.

[jadger]

Actually baseball is a very big sport in Quebec, I think the reason that the Expos left has to do a lot with the stadium where they played.
or the lockout in the early 90s, most people expected them to win the whole thing that year, then the lockout came, and the next year some of there best players left. that year they had a stacked dream team, and were drawing lots of fans, then the lockout came and that put an end to the Expos, they simply declined from their.

but back on topic: Soccer is the sport with the most registered participants in Canada... need anything more be said?

[Daniel from Montréal]

Actually baseball is a very big sport in Quebec, I think the reason that the Expos left has to do a lot with the stadium where they played.

I just read an article that said that interest in baseball in Québec is down to 6%, from a high of 26% or so.

Very little youth still play minor league baseball (as opposed to soccer) and there is NO coverage of MLB except wire stories and box scores.

[divingisgay]

Montreal has this very sick baseball prep school that I wish Ontario would have, at least when I was growing up :(

[Wangy]

Baseball is definitely very popular in BC. Look at all the All-Star calibre talent from that province. I'm quite sure that BC is just as good as churning out great baseball players than any American state of similar population.

[Grah]

For 2006 from CSA Doc page

Total Player Registration: 854,750
Increase from 2005: 13,284 = 1.5%
Total Registration for Females: 365, 680
Increase from 2005: 8,874 = 2.4%
Total Registration for Males: 489,070
Increase from 2005: 4,410 = 0.9%
Total Registration for Youth Players (Under 18): 719,625
Increase from 2005: 4945 = 0.6%
Total Registration for Senior Players (Over 18): 135,125
Increase from 2005: 8,330 = 6.1%

[Viruk42]

A lot of Montreal, and Quebec overall, hate baseball, from what I can tell. It's not that they don't like the sport, it's just they hate how they got screwed over by the MLB so badly. Finally they have the best team in baseball, and the lockout occurs. Then they lose everyone. Then from 94 until about 2000 they had one of the best, if not the best, development systems. They had all sorts of great young players coming up, and of course getting lots of playing time. Some of this include greats like Pedro Martinez or Vladimir Guerrero.

But everytime one of them made it big, they'd get traded for jack squat because they couldn't afford them anymore.


And finally, in their dying years, they could have done a few things. THe manager had x trade worked out to bring some good player, but since they were owned by MLB, and the team salary would go up a little bit, the trade was cancelled. MLB drove them out of Montreal, and Jeffrey Loria was a key partner in that, from what I remember. He basically sold the expos to baseball in exchange for a "real" team, the Florida Marlins.

I will never again watch more than about 5 hours of baseball a year because of that stuff. Montreal was a legitimate market, but they got screwed over.

[SweetOwnGoal]

Tied with Curling??? In our dreams.

In pure numbers, I'd say so.

Why...?

Soccer is big in large, urban centres where fans of the sport often spread their loyalty and viewership around (and thus aren't easy to measure).

Outside of those pockets the game doesn't register--at all.

Curling, on the other hand, is very big in the vast hinterland, but is often ridiculed by sports fans in the larger centre.

There are exceptions, of course.

More people play soccer. There is no doubt about that. Slightly more people watch curling on TV than watch soccer.

popularity....who knows for sure, but I'd say they are tied.

[jadger]

In pure numbers, I'd say so.

Why...?

Soccer is big in large, urban centres where fans of the sport often spread their loyalty and viewership around (and thus aren't easy to measure).

Outside of those pockets the game doesn't register--at all.

Curling, on the other hand, is very big in the vast hinterland, but is often ridiculed by sports fans in the larger centre.

There are exceptions, of course.

More people play soccer. There is no doubt about that. Slightly more people watch curling on TV than watch soccer.

popularity....who knows for sure, but I'd say they are tied.
it's different out west though. Them prairie people are weird folks, :rolleyes: they fill stadia for curling tournaments, but then their stadia remain basically empty for the U-20 WC, makes no sense. Whereas here we'll fill stadia for soccer, but host the curling bonspiels and no one goes. One of us needs to get our priorities straight. :p