Most Canadian football fans would choose Super Bowl over Grey Cup

Millions of viewers will gather with friends and family to view one of the biggest spectacles of the year in sports this weekend – Super Bowl Sunday. The game is a largely unmatched commercial and sports extravaganza, but depending on where they are in Canada, some Canadian football fans would give it up to support their home league instead.

A new study from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds that while three-in-five football fans in Canada (62 per cent) would choose the Super Bowl over the Grey Cup if they could only watch one, two-in-five (38 per cent) disagree, including a majority in Alberta and the Prairies.

On a broader scale, each league has its strengths and weaknesses among the Canadian public. The aforementioned Prairie advantage is evident for the CFL, with close to twice as many Saskatchewan and Manitoba residents saying they follow that league closely (41 per cent) than say this about the NFL (22 per cent). That said, the American game has key strengths in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada which will likely hearten NFL Canada executives and dismay CFL brass.

Age is also a factor. One-quarter of men aged 18 to 34 follow the NFL closely (26 per cent) compared to just one-in-nine (11 per cent) for the CFL. A similar ratio is evident for men 35 to 54 (34 per cent NFL versus 19 per cent CFL), while older men (55+) follow both leagues at an equal level, approximately three-in-ten.

The full poll can be viewed online at https://angusreid.org/nfl-vs-cfl-grey-cup-vs-super-bowl/