New survey from Probe Research maybe focused on incoming CFL rules changebut it pointed to two encouraging demographic trends in the process.
Angus Reid Institute Poll 2023. showed some alarming numbers in the age demographics of Canadians who follow the CFL “very closely or closely.” Only 11 percent of respondents aged 18-34 responded positively, compared with 15 percent of respondents aged 35-54 and 20 percent of respondents aged 55 and older.
In other words, the data shows that young Canadians are about half as likely to become CFL fans as older Canadians. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why this would be a major long-term problem for the league.
However, the data looks much better in this recent survey.
Among people ages 18 to 34, 14 percent of respondents indicated they were die-hard CFL fans, defined as those who attend games and watch them regularly on television, the highest of any age group. Only seven percent of respondents aged 35–54 indicated they were die-hard fans, while 12 percent of respondents aged 55 and older reported the same.
This is a poll about the Canadian Football League. Few could have predicted that the age group would react most positively to their hardcore fandom being the youngest.
Among casual or occasional fans – those who occasionally watch games on TV and check scores online – the data is much more evenly distributed across age groups: 27 percent in the youngest age group, 30 percent in the middle age group and 30 percent in the oldest age group.
A total of 41 per cent of young Canadians are CFL fans of some kind, followed by 37 per cent of middle-aged Canadians and 42 per cent of older Canadians. These demographics are not perfect—in an optimal scenario they would be even younger—but they are far from the disaster demonstrated by previous surveys.
Of course, CFL fandom still has a lot of room to grow. A survey conducted by The Strategic Counsel earlier this year found that 58 per cent of Canadians are NHL fans. The same poll found that 32 percent of Canadians were CFL fans, behind the NFL (37 percent) and MLB (34 percent) and ahead of the NBA (29 percent).
Looking at several similar polls conducted in the United States regarding the NFL, about 60 percent of respondents report being at least casual fans.
It seems unrealistic to expect the CFL to become more popular than the NHL in Canada or the NFL in the US. So it goes without saying that it's probably impossible for the league to surpass its fandom threshold of around 60 percent.
However, if the league currently has between 32 and 40 per cent of Canadians being fans of some kind, that means there is hypothetically another 20 per cent of room for growth in CFL fandom.
Perhaps the cultural demographics are just as encouraging as the age demographics in this latest survey.
Among the 78 percent of respondents born in Canada, 11 percent are dedicated CFL fans and 30 percent are casual CFL fans. Among the 22 percent of respondents not born in Canada, 12 percent are die-hard fans and 29 percent are casual CFL fans.
In other words, according to this survey, it makes no difference whether Canadians were born in this country or not – they are equally likely to be CFL fans.
This seems like fantastic news for the league. If people immigrating to Canada do not take care of CFL, they will inevitably suffer and potentially die. If people immigrating to Canada support the league, it should remain sustainable—and perhaps even grow.
Several CFL teams offer radio broadcasts in languages other than English and French, and that appears to be paying dividends along with other cultural initiatives.
The CFL faces many challenges—attendance looks set to remain virtually flat from last year and TV ratings remain a mystery—but these two data points from Probe Research are certainly encouraging about the league's fan demographics.
