Originally Posted by
OV Argo
Soccer may continue to grow in popularity in Canada, but IMO, pro soccer will never become huge and approach even close to viewership numbers of hockey, OR, football - which (and a lot of people, like Simmons, don't get this) - IS a Canadian game - invented here and played here, competitively, at many levels, for over a hundred years.
IF Canadian football got even a fraction of the attention now - from media types - that hockey does, then the CFL would be much more popular - like back in the old glory days of the CFL - 60s & 70s say - when CFL football did get way more hype and attention and rivalled NHL hockey for coverage and respect in the old media (daily newspapers) of the day. Those days are long gone of course, and there are now decades worth of wannabes ignoring Canadian football and flocking to other sports as they were told the CFL wasn't major league or world class and worth any attention. But I still believe the CFL and Canadian football could see some sort of resurgence in popularity and respect - not sure I'd bet on that though. But I would be willing to bet that pro soccer in Canada (or the US) never gets anything close to the viewership numbers that the CFL has had in Canada. Part of this is because football is a Canadian sport.