I don't have stats on this, but I will say this.
I could have Ottawa dead last for senators support even per capita...
But I would have Ottawa near the top because of these factors.
Ottawa has the biggest population of leaf fans outside of the GTA. Ottawa has the biggest population of habs fans outside of Montreal.
We also have a bunch of fans who didn't want to cheer for either and didn't have a team here yet, so go for other Original 6 teams. Lots of hawks fans here. Lots of Bruins fans here. Lots of wings fans here. Ottawa breaks records for attendance for international things or junior events or whatever. So the fans are there for hockey even if not for the senators.
So I would put Ottawa near the top in terms of your average citizens hockey fandom or knowledge.
But I would put them last or second last in sens fans per capita and total sens fans.
So it depends if you value it as "Ottawa the city" or "the Ottawa Senators".
And that's all I have to say.
So the Sens fans are the most loyal migrant fans of the Canadian cities? I could see that. Many other fans of the other hockey teams consider changing allegiances once they move.
Calgary on the other hand is a strange variant of a mushy middle. I do think there's lots of hockey fans in the city, but few fanatics. We also seemingly have a lot more migration from many young working people from other major cities in comparison to the other cities (ie: significant migration from Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto) so when those teams are in town, their jerseys suddenly pop up in huge numbers.
Stuff with the Calgary Flames logo also seems to pop up internationally a bit, but I don't know if that's just me paying attention as a Flames fan, or whether the color scheme combo and logo are just more easily identifiable in Europe and Asia than the color scheme and logo of the other NHL teams.
Winnipeg has the lowest attendance in the league and is hemorrhaging season ticket holders.Montreal Edmonton Winnipeg are the locks.
There's also 850k people in Winnipeg...Winnipeg has the lowest attendance in the league and is hemorrhaging season ticket holders.
Good fanbase but it’s closer to Ottawa than Montreal/Toronto
Riveting informationThere's also 850k people in Winnipeg...
Heck, the entire population of Manitoba is smaller than Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton.
Oh, okWinnipeg has the lowest attendance in the league and is hemorrhaging season ticket holders.
Good fanbase but it’s closer to Ottawa than Montreal/Toronto
No question. Hockey dominates not only all sports talk in Edmonton year round but in fact most of the media period.If it's per capita, it should be Edmonton and I've lived in Montreal
If you visit Toronto in July and listened to sports radio or watch TV you would never even know hockey was a thing. That is not the case in Edmonton. Edmonton is now and has been for decades a very passionate sports town but no matter what time of year hockey dominates the conversation. This was still true through the recent decade of darkness. The only time in my life when that was not true was during the absolute glory days of the Edmonton Eskimos. During those years the EE might have been able to top the Oilers in July and August. But even then hockey still had a very prominent place in sports coverage during the summer.Interesting that Edmonton just now is ahead of Toronto.
Teams in an upswing, large bandwagon community for a small market teamInteresting that Edmonton just now is ahead of Toronto.
literally sold out every game during the Decade of DarknessTeams in an upswing, large bandwagon community for a small market team
Riveting informationliterally sold out every game during the Decade of Darkness
"bandwagon"
never change
Relevant informationRiveting information
Lots of fans of other clubs retire to the west coast, if they can afford it.Fanbase size it’s:
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Edmonton
Ranking of NHL teams popularity
Table showing popularity of NHL teams based on social media data, Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins are the most popular teamswww.stadium-maps.com
The Habs claim the top spot with 46% of fans listing the Montreal team as their favourite, while 39% are willing to say that about the Leafs, and 25% consider the Vancouver Canucks to be their fave.
When it comes to out-of-market appeal, 38% of Canadians living outside of Alberta list the Calgary Flames as their favourite team, and 37% of those fans live in BC, 34% are in Ontario and 16% live in Saskatchewan.