Canadian ice hockey
One of the hallmarks of Canadian sport is ice hockey, a winter team sport that is played on ice skates at either indoor or outdoor ice rinks. Canada has by far the largest amount of indoor ice hockey rinks worldwide, with nearly three thousand facilities across the country. When looking at outdoor ice hockey rinks, only Canada and Russia have at least five thousand rinks, though Russia, with its huge land area and freezing winters, claims the most outdoor ice hockey facilities.The sport is extremely popular among Canadians, with nearly half of surveyed Canadians stating they are fans of at least one Canadian National Hockey League (NHL) team. The NHL is the professional league for ice hockey in North America and the Canadian teams with the most self-reported fans are the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The two franchises also happen to be the two NHL teams with the most Stanley Cup wins. In terms of team revenue, both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens had a peak revenue of around 243 million U.S. dollars in the 2018/19 season. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ revenue has grown more quickly in recent years, likely owing to the team being based in Toronto, by far Canada’s largest and most populous city.
The rise of eSports in Canada
With the growing speed and availability of the internet, eSports have started to make an impact on the sports industry. Though the United States is home to most of the world’s professional eSports competition players, active eSports competition players in Canada numbered nearly 600 in 2020. There are many different genres of eSports games, from sports games such as Rocket League to multiplayer battle area games like League of Legends. The eSports game genre that Canadian fans prefer most is sports games, followed by first person shooters, real-time strategy, and racing games. For fans who want to watch these multiplayer video game competitions, the most popular source for streaming eSports in Canada is sports broadcaster websites, though a significant amount of fans also used YouTube Gaming or Twitch streaming services.
