62 percent of football fans in Canada would prefer to watch Super Bowl over Grey Cup: report

Graphic courtesy: 3DownNation (Photos: AP/Chris O'Meara | Arthur Ward)

The Grey Cup may be Canada’s national party, but it is the Super Bowl that is the more popular championship game north of the border.

According to a new poll by the Angus Reid Institute, 62 percent of football fans in Canada would choose to tune into the NFL’s annual title bout if forced to pick between the two games, while just 38 percent would watch the Grey Cup.

Men and women over the age of 55 were the only demographics in which the majority showed a preference for the CFL championship game. The majority of people in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta said they would tune into the Grey Cup, while all other regions of the country sided with the NFL.

An average audience of 8.1 million Canadians tuned in to watch the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI last February, with viewership peaking at 11.4 million during the halftime show.

The Toronto Argonauts’ victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 109th Grey Cup this November drew an average audience of 3.1 million, marking a seven percent increase from last year. Viewership peaked at 4.7 million late in the fourth quarter.

The study, which surveyed a randomized sample of 1,515 Canadians from across the country, found that 20 percent of respondents said they followed the NFL closely or very closely throughout the season compared to 16 percent for the CFL. That represents a five percent dip from a similar study conducted in 2018, when 21 percent of those surveyed followed the CFL closely — an equal number to the NFL.

The least likely to follow the CFL closely were men and women aged 18 to 34, as well as those in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Among those who self-identified as football fans, 36 percent said they preferred the CFL while 44 percent preferred the NFL. 19 percent indicated they enjoyed both leagues equally.

Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles is scheduled to kick off on Sunday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m. EST.