CFL fan base remains strong: Angus Reid poll

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B.C.FAN
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A new Angus Reid poll shows the CFL is as popular as ever across the country, and stands in strong second place in fan interest after the NHL nationally and in B.C. The main weak spot is the lower level of support among 18 to 34 year olds, who say they would rather watch the Super Bowl than Grey Cup if they were told they could only watch one championship.

Roughly half of Canadians agree with the statement: "The Grey Cup is an important part of Canadian culture and identity."

The numbers in the poll are similar to those in previous polls. People in Saskatchewan love the CFL more than anything, people in Quebec, Manitoba and B.C. love the NHL more than those in other provinces, and the NBA and MLS lag well behind other leagues in support nationally and in B.C.

Some highlights:

Professional sports leagues closely followed in Canada:
NHL 40%
CFL 21%
NFL 17%
MLB 18%
NBA 8%
MLS 7%

Professional sports leagues closely followed in B.C.:
NHL 44%
CFL 21%
NFL 18%
MLB 13%
NBA 5%
MLS 13%

Preferred football leagues in Canada:
CFL 44%
NFL 29%
Both 27%

Preferred football leagues in B.C.:
CFL 50%
NFL 25%
Both 25%

There is lots more information in the full study here.

Gordon McIntyre reports on the poll in a Province article, with reaction from the league:
CFL fan base is aging, but the league has a plan
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WestCoastJoe
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Thanks for the information, BCF. That is encouraging.
..............

Other polls ...

Canadians are missing Ron MacLean in host role as they adjust to new Hockey Night in Canada broadcast ... Not me. I got tired of him. Thought he brutalized Alex Burroughs.

Three-in-four Canadians call airlines’ new checked luggage fees “unacceptable”, “money grab” ... No reaction.

just-over-half-of-canadians-not-confident-in-ability-of-security-services-to-prevent-home-grown-acts-of-terror ... Agreed. Percentage-wise, terrorism is small, but it gets a large emotional reaction, as is the intention of the terrorists.

Three-quarters of Canadians back inquiry on murdered and missing aboriginal women ... Agreed.

Majority of Canadians call for more robust efforts to curb climate change ... Agreed.

Two-thirds of Canadians support some involvement in American-led action against ISIS ... Agreed.

Canadian opinions on world leaders: Putin “arrogant”, Obama “influential”, Merkel “strong” ... Sounds about right. "Influential" is a strange word for Obama. God help the American political system. Gridlock.

Six-in-ten Canadians support legalizing marijuana, but say it’s not a top justice priority ... Agree with the legalization.

On promoting growth and innovation, Canadians say government, not business, should be responsible ... As stated, that one is complicated. Some agreement.
............

American stock market closed early at 10:00 am. Gonna go back to bed for a nap. LOL
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
dupsdell1
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I have noticed that at lions games , grey cups , etc that the age is getting older , I think the thinking of the younger youth know is if you get 5 million a year you are cool . if you get one hundred thousand a year you are nothing, I am sorry but the NFL super bowl will always be bigger in the 18-30 year olds eye as the show. Nothing anybody can do about it.
dupsdell1
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Talk about no interest , just cam back from downtown , nobody at the convention centre , nobody downtown, do not even know if there is a grey cup going on.


wonder how many will attend the parade tom ?
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sj-roc
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dupsdell1 wrote:Talk about no interest , just cam back from downtown , nobody at the convention centre , nobody downtown, do not even know if there is a grey cup going on.


wonder how many will attend the parade tom ?
*shrug* I don't know exactly what you're expecting. It's mid-afternoon on a weekday. Locals are still at work. Out-of-towners are still crawling out of their hotel beds hung over from last night. And it's also Black Friday today, btw.

I'm getting all sorts of stuff in my facebook feed from friends who are taking in the festivities. I haven't been downtown to check things out for myself but it seems people are having a good time. Or at least, the people looking for one are.

Check out all the party venues around 9 or 10pm tonight and tomorrow night, then come back and tell us it's dead down there.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
dupsdell1
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sj-roc wrote:
dupsdell1 wrote:Talk about no interest , just cam back from downtown , nobody at the convention centre , nobody downtown, do not even know if there is a grey cup going on.


wonder how many will attend the parade tom ?
*shrug* I don't know exactly what you're expecting. It's mid-afternoon on a weekday. Locals are still at work. Out-of-towners are still crawling out of their hotel beds hung over from last night. And it's also Black Friday today, btw.

I'm getting all sorts of stuff in my facebook feed from friends who are taking in the festivities. I haven't been downtown to check things out for myself but it seems people are having a good time. Or at least, the people looking for one are.

Check out all the party venues around 9 or 10pm tonight and tomorrow night, then come back and tell us it's dead down there.


Comparing to the super bowl I was at in new York it doe does not even compare that is all I am saying , I know it is the NFL and New York, but come on , ( Friday morning in new York was packed before the super bowl)
TheLionKing
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I'm volunteering at the Convention Center. There are quite a few people milling about. Tonight is going to be crazy. Heavy police prescence yesterday
dupsdell1
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TheLionKing wrote:I'm volunteering at the Convention Center. There are quite a few people milling about. Tonight is going to be crazy. Heavy police prescence yesterday


Ok then maybe I underestimated, sorry guys going there tom , working in video production. this morning was dead in there
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sj-roc
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B.C.FAN wrote:A new Angus Reid poll shows the CFL is as popular as ever across the country, and stands in strong second place in fan interest after the NHL nationally and in B.C. The main weak spot is the lower level of support among 18 to 34 year olds, who say they would rather watch the Super Bowl than Grey Cup if they were told they could only watch one championship.
The media reaction to this poll offers us a lesson in message framing.

There's the Vancouver Sun, which is generally even-handed with the CFL, is an official corporate partner of the Lions and has ties with Skulsky in the Lions' business ops offices and Pitblado (GC committee chair).

The headline on their story was: "Nearly one in four Canadians will watch Sunday's Grey Cup game, poll says". Pretty positive... upbeat... feel-good, right? Average Joe's reaction: "Wow, nearly one in four, that's like 8 or 9 million viewers. Hardly anything on tv gets numbers like that. This must be a pretty big deal, this Grey Cup thing."

There's even a picture under the headline of the smiling commish posing next to the Cup and showing off the inside lining of his suit jacket, brightly festooned with the logos of all nine CFL's teams. The article itself, while it isn't a full-on rose-coloured glasses treatment and offers good balance, was written in-house by Sun staffer Bruce Constantineau.

Contrast this with the Toronto Star, long recognised as one of the more hostile media outlets toward the league. Their headline? "Canadians love Grey Cup, but how many will watch?" No smiling commish in his novelty jacket. No trophy. The article is a pasted-in CP wire report. See the difference? Average Joe's reaction: "Ooooh, 'how many will watch?' Gee, that's kind of a downer. They must be in trouble viewer-wise, why else would they be asking the question in the first place? Sounds like things are looking down for the CFL."

And keep in mind far more people read only the headline of an article than the article itself. Frankly, I'm wondering, why didn't they just headline it as "Over three in four tuning out the Grey Cup" and be done with it?
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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sj-roc
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dupsdell1 wrote:
sj-roc wrote:
dupsdell1 wrote:Talk about no interest , just cam back from downtown , nobody at the convention centre , nobody downtown, do not even know if there is a grey cup going on.


wonder how many will attend the parade tom ?
*shrug* I don't know exactly what you're expecting. It's mid-afternoon on a weekday. Locals are still at work. Out-of-towners are still crawling out of their hotel beds hung over from last night. And it's also Black Friday today, btw.

I'm getting all sorts of stuff in my facebook feed from friends who are taking in the festivities. I haven't been downtown to check things out for myself but it seems people are having a good time. Or at least, the people looking for one are.

Check out all the party venues around 9 or 10pm tonight and tomorrow night, then come back and tell us it's dead down there.


Comparing to the super bowl I was at in new York it doe does not even compare that is all I am saying , I know it is the NFL and New York, but come on , ( Friday morning in new York was packed before the super bowl)
New York is packed, period. What is there, like 8 million people in Mahattan?

Secondly, who gives a sweet *frig* about the Super Bowl?
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
dupsdell1
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just got back from downtown very busy everywhere you go there is a cfl jersey, the lions den is rocken, will be down there all day tom.
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sj-roc
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I mentioned a few posts above this one how media are shaping the narrative of this Grey Cup and I see the Toronto Globe & Mail is piling on as well. I'm not going to quote their article or even post the link — not going to give them the satisfaction of increased page hits. I'll just post some of the more interesting reader comments to it from readers who took the TG&M out behind the woodshed.
I was out at Carderos (a restaurant in Vancouver) and it was packed with Grey Cup supporters.
Born and raised in Vancouver. Next time I'm at a party with a bunch of people who are there for a good time, I soooo want to be sitting next to [the two writers of this story].
I don't know why the CFL bothers the 30-something, big city, NFL obsessed media so much. If Toronto prefers the NFL because the football is so much better, why does Toronto perennially prefer the Leafs when there is so much better hockey out there. If Vancouver-ites don't care the Grey Cup is in town, that's fine. There are plenty of other events to riot at.

If you don't want to watch the Grey Cup or don't care about the CFL, don't bother. Leave us alone. For some of us, it's a great party, a great sport, home teams - and we don't care if you're not there. You can enjoy your Packers - 49ers game. But after your Packers win, remember, you still don't know where Green Bay is.

Happy Grey Cup, CFL Fans! We're awesome.
Can't stand the negative bias toward the CFL. "Thousands" of tickets unsold," says the writer. Instead of chirping about the 2-3,000 tickets (that will definitely be sold by game time) how about applauding the fact that more than 50,000 people have already committed to the game and that the streets, bars, and restaurants are full of out-of-town CFL fans from across the country. I was downtown all day today in Vancouver and saw all the fan-fest activities going on. The Globe and Mail always does its best to beat down the CFL though I don't know why.
One of the writers actually struck back at one point:
We are reporting facts. ... I was at a Grey Cup concert last night, 100 people watching -- 100 -- and then went to Lions Den, which was somewhat busy but not especially. I am out and about today and there were some people at the parade but the city has not been seized by this event. Yes, 50000+ tix sold -- but it dose not grip the city.
...which drew responses from two readers:
To begin with... nobody likes writers wading into the forum. You've already had your your say with the story. Don't know the word count, but it was a long one. So, now it's our turn to comment, not yours. If you don't like what we have to say, tough. You exposed yourself to public comment when you took the story assignment. So, grow up. Second, you say you're just reporting the "facts." But it's been my experience that "facts" are generally a form of confirmation bias... we find the ones to fit our argument. You do it, I do it, everybody does it. Here's a fact. If a well-known act came to Vancouver (for the sake of argument, let's say Katy Perry) and if 50,000 seats were sold to her concert guess what the headline to your story would be: KATY PERRY GRIPS VANCOUVER!! Her triumph would be complete when the reviewers did their gushing in the morning. It's about perspective ... and yours is anti-CFL.
Don't know where [the writer] watched the parade, if he did, but I was one of the parade marshalls at Burrard/Smithe, and the crowds were huge and enthusiastic. Around me were folks from many parts of Canada, plus U.S. tourists, a Japanese tour group, and folks who had recently moved to Vancouver from Kuala Lumpur...
I've been to 6 Grey Cup games and 1 Super Bowl...would take the G.C. anytime...it's a football championship and huge national party in one.
For the kicker, accompanying the article were about a dozen photos of fans all over downtown enjoying themselves. You'd think for an article whose headline is "In host city Vancouver, Grey Cup merely a blip on the radar", that they would have gotten at least ONE photo of a dead/empty party room, but I guess they couldn't find any to back up that bull *poop* claim.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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WestCoastJoe
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Thanks, sj. Great read.

Toronto is the NFL-envy Capital of the World. It seems that dream is on life support.

Plus they have the Leafs.

Enough self-punishment for a lifetime.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
TheLionKing
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Toronto can beg, plead whatever. The NFL isn't coming North anytime soon. Torontians are stuck with the Make Beliefs.
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B.C.FAN
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I was working downtown today and didn't get to any festival events but I loved seeing and hearing the fans from across the country wherever I went. It reminded me of the vibe from the 2010 Olympics. I'm ready for the game (and planning to dress warmly).
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