TSN: 58% of Canadians are not watching/paying attention to the Stanley Cup Finals.

[ForumNamePending]

Sports fans overrate how popular sports actually are...

Sports are a pretty popular thing... I mean 42% of the country at least casually keeping tabs on things ain't nothing, it's actually a pretty big number, but ya, most people don't care, and this often seems to surprise Joe Sportsfan.

To be honest, for various reasons, I only watched 5-10 minutes of game 1, didn't see any of game 2, and chances are I'm not going to see a ton of whatever is left. Given this could drag out until late June, it's very possible, if the weather is nice, I might not find out who won this thing until I start paying attention again in the fall.

 

[JKG33]

For someone that lives in Toronto I am not surprised. Most Leafs fans only watch the Leafs. They are Leafs fans first and hockey fans second and many can be classed as not really watching any other hockey at all.

I can say the same thing about Winnipeg. Hell even in my close friend group of 6ish guys, (3 of which played hockey at a reasonably high level until their early 20's), only 1 or 2 are even kind of following the playoffs. Most lost interest as soon as the Jets were out. And these are people who I consider to be "hockey guys," that's ignoring all the casuals who only pretend to care about the Jets when it's the trendy thing to do

 

[Frank Drebin]

It's June
Why don't we start in September and end in May?

 

[God]

The NHL waiting six days to start the finals - for no reason whatsoever - probably didn't help their cause.

That, and as mentioned, a lot of Canadians are probably sick of the bullshit "Canada's team" blabbering that our networks are trying to force-feed us every day.

Yeah it's pretty much this for me and I assume lots of other people, and speaks to how terribly the NHL scheduling is in general. The season basically started in mid-October when it should've started October 1st at the latest, and the dumb 6 day break for no reason whatsoever means they're now going head to head with the NBA finals and they're probably going to lose a lot more interest because the Euros are starting.

If they started on June 4th, game 4 would've been yesterday and the series would've been done by the end of this week. Summer's starting and so is everybody else's social life.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I tuned in for the first 2 but if Edmonton isn't even gonna put up a fight not sure how much more i can watch. Hoping for a g7 OT here

 

[King'sPawn]

42% is a f*** ton lol

What the stats don't say is 50% of the viewers are on sugar highs from maple syrup, and they think they're watching Letterkenny.

 

[Lshap]

The article title lacks context and doesn't say much. First, look at the actual Leger poll results (based on 1,528 Canadians polled between Friday and Sunday):

- 35% of Canadians said they won't be following at all.
- 24% said they won't be following very closely.
- 22% will be following somewhat closely.
- 19% will be following very closely.
- 50% of Men said they'll follow, versus 34% of women.

Note this isn't a poll targeted to hockey fans only. Presumably, it's a random cross-section of Canadians, many of whom may not ever watch hockey. Also note the poll says only 35% will not watch at all, meaning 65% of Canada will watch anywhere from "Not closely" to "Very closely".

Also note there's no comparison with similar polls from previous years. Are these numbers up or down from other polls of random Canadians? No way to tell.

 

[Captain97]

I'm in Toronto. Most hockey fans I know are watching but we all watch pretty much every year so shouldn't make a difference.

 

[hockeykicker]

I love these polls, 58% of 1532 people turns into 58 percent of Canadians

 

[MadLuke]

Note this isn't a poll targeted to hockey fans only. Presumably, it's a random cross-section of Canadians, many of whom may not ever watch hockey. Also note the poll says only 35% will not watch at all, meaning 65% of Canada will watch anywhere from "Not closely" to "Very closely".

could just be a typo, but watching is never mentionned here, just follow.

Lot of canadians follow the result of playoff while never watching, it is everywhere on the news.

Are these numbers up or down from other polls of random Canadians? No way to tell.

Would it be actually random canadians, it should be quite close, 1,500 being a giant numbers of respondent, but in this day and age it is almost impossible to ask random Canadian something, someone that accept to answer the phone from unknown numbers (or fill online pool) is not random anymore, but people from that group.

 

[hockeykicker]

42% is a f*** ton lol

42 percent of 1532 people in all of Canada which has about 38 million people

 

[MadLuke]

I love these polls, 58% of 1532 people turns into 58 percent of Canadians

that a giant sample size for something like this.

A 100 millions population, 95% confidence level with 5% margin of error, you need 385 random people. They go that big because random is not possible.

 

[GOilers88]

Pretty certain the 40% that is watching are Albertans. The East coast and BC aren't watching.

Lol. There's plenty of people watching in BC.

 

[zizbuka]

Yeah, well 90% of Americans aren't watching, so there.......

 

[Oilslick941611]

To be fair I didn't watch a full finals from 07 to now. Usually when the Oilers are out or didn't make the playoffs I lose all interest and don't care who wins. I watched a few game 7's over the year but generally not the entire finals. So this doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Yeah, well 90% of Americans aren't watching, so there.......

So, if 10 per cent are.... that's about 84% of Canada. Pretty good numbers?

 

[RooBicks]

42% is a f*** ton lol

Exactly. What do people expect? Lol.

 

[VaporTrail]

They may not even realize that you can watch without a subscription...I didn't...I gave up during round 1 when I couldn't watch any without one.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Pretty certain the 40% that is watching are Albertans. The East coast and BC aren't watching.

Alberta does not make up 40% of the population.

Alberta is what 10% of the country? 15 maybe.

 

[Oilslick941611]

The NHL waiting six days to start the finals - for no reason whatsoever - probably didn't help their cause.

That, and as mentioned, a lot of Canadians are probably sick of the bullshit "Canada's team" blabbering that our networks are trying to force-feed us every day.

This isn't new, I don't why people are acting like it's a new thing. The Canada's team bullshit happens every time a Canadian team makes a final. I don't remember it as strong with Montreal though and I think thats a covid thing, but when the flames made it in 04 we got that Canada's team thing shoved down our throats by CBC, red mile this, red mile that. Same with the Oilers, Ottawa and Vancouver.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Pretty certain the 40% that is watching are Albertans. The East coast and BC aren't watching.

East coast is watching lol people love hockey in toronto and montreal. Probably lose alot of viewers after the second period though because we need some sleep

The NHL waiting six days to start the finals - for no reason whatsoever - probably didn't help their cause.

That, and as mentioned, a lot of Canadians are probably sick of the bullshit "Canada's team" blabbering that our networks are trying to force-feed us every day.

Yeah the canada's team thing is so cringe , we all hate eachother lol

 

[MadLuke]

East coast is watching lol people love hockey in toronto and montreal. Probably lose alot of viewers after the second period though because we need some sleep

In Québec we tend to love the Canadians more than hockey.

Quebec is the most disinterested, with 70 per cent saying they are not following the final round of the NHL's playoffs.

Yeah the canada's team thing is so cringe , we all hate eachother lol

It felt true to me in 2004 and 2006, I imagine that bakc in the days those teams were hated only by the other alberta city, while quite liked in the rest of Canada. Did not since.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

In Québec we tend to love the Canadians more than hockey.

Quebec is the most disinterested, with 70 per cent saying they are not following the final round of the NHL's playoffs.


It felt true to me in 2004 and 2006, I imagine that bakc in the days those teams were hated only by the other alberta city, while quite liked in the rest of Canada. Did not since.

Yes I agree its why we have one of the dumbest fanbases in the world , so many of them don't watch\follow the league.

 

[Cams]

Agree with what a few people already said.....the Canadian sports media likes to automatically assume that (Edmonton in this instance) if a Canadian team goes far and is the only remaining Canadian team, then all Canadian hockey fans are cheering for them......
Sorry Edmonton fans...this isn't the case. I'm a Leafs fan, and since they've been eliminated, I have watched a little bit of one of the NYR/FLA series (1 period and OT), and maybe part of a Carolina game. Couldn't care less who wins. Although the series is going pretty much how I figured it would so far.

I honestly think it would be different if Toronto or Montreal were in the finals - these teams have much larger and quite possibly more passionate fan bases.

Watching the finals isn't even of my list of possible things to do on any given game night - I'd rather watch the Blue Jays, golf, cut the grass, whatever.

 

[Dr Pepper]

This isn't new, I don't why people are acting like it's a new thing. The Canada's team bullshit happens every time a Canadian team makes a final. I don't remember it as strong with Montreal though and I think thats a covid thing, but when the flames made it in 04 we got that Canada's team thing shoved down our throats by CBC, red mile this, red mile that. Same with the Oilers, Ottawa and Vancouver.

Never said it was a "new thing", I see it every year.

Most of the time it doesn't drag on for this long though, so kudos.