True. But these days they do constitute thr largest portion of them by far. Can't remember the numbers off hand but I do recall they were noticeably large compared to Europeans.
I would agree. NBA really needed a run from the Raptors (and for the Grizzlies to have stayed) to really open up the NBA in Canada to the next level.
So is ur your guess that new immigrants who take an interest in sports are going to go towards hockey? Maybe soccer? I see quite a few at even CFL games.
Honestly it's all over the place. We don't really have any new immigrants at work, problem 5 years in Canada is about the shortest amount of time. But they essentially for the most part picked up on whatever everyone else at work talks about and then follow whatever sports that go on back home.
After reading your post, I just realized that my impression of what sports immigrants seem to veer toward was really formed largely by HS kids.
I would say based on where new immigrants come from to Can/USA/ and even Europe, you aren't seeing much net increase between these countries/continents as you do see people going from South America, Asia, Africa to Can/USA/Europe.
Soccer would seem to be the obvious one since it's definitely a global sport.
The immigration is primary Indian now though. Every day of the week I 100% have more interactions with Indian people than Canadians with European heritage. Not only does Indian culture TYPICALLY not embrace hockey, but sports in general aren't very popular outside of a small subset of the population.
Good point. Never thought of that. So hockey could become #2 but still have more fans in absolute numbers
Hence the tears. You never forget your first time ;-)Crystal Palace won the FA Cup? When? 1914?
Losing the Grizzlies was a massive blow. But, the Raptors needed Kawhi to remain in Toronto vs go to LAC. Would have really been able to build on the title had they gotten to another final 4 or two over the next 3 seasons after that.
I've always been amazed by how many football teams there are in London. 5 alone in the EPL?
Never going to see relegation in NA sports. Too much money tied up in the valuations of the teams. Plus, the draft vs how soccer does their developmental programs.
Community & tribalism vs "franchises", in a nutshell. And the London "metro area" to coin NA phrasing, is geographically huge. Not Tokyo huge, but still very big. When most of these teams were being founded, there was no all-encompassing urban sprawl and homogenisation; the Crystal Palace was in an outlying suburb, as was Brentford. Arsenal was originally the works team from the huge weapons manufactory in Woolwich, South East London etc etc etc.
True. A lot of history combined with urban growth.
I'm sure if those leagues started more recently and didn't have that structure engrained into the sport we would have seen a similar closed league structure. Luckily fans pushed back on the super league idea.
