Canada has fewer teams across the major leagues compared to the US, but they remain central to the country’s sports culture. On the ice in the NHL, the most represented country is Canada, but there are only seven Canadian teams compared to the 25 from the US. In the MLB and NBA, there is only one team from north of the border, and both play out of Toronto.
Over the decades, this has generated a kind of underdog mentality. The disparity makes the triumphs of the Blue Jays and the Raptors all the sweeter. U.S. teams have continued to dominate the championships, but the levels of fan optimism in Canada remain relatively close to those shown in the US, according to a recent survey.
US vs Canadian Sports Fan Optimism
In the biggest major league sport in Canada, the last few decades have failed to produce a Canadian-based Stanley Cup champion. The Edmonton Oilers made it to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals and lost twice. Now, fans and outlets like THW are left wondering what went wrong again.
Maybe it is down to fond memories of the championship-winning years. Maybe there is a lot of trust in the league set-up giving the chance to succeed through the draft. Whatever it is, Canadian NHL fans have nearly as much optimism as US ones.
This is all according to a recent fan optimism survey by Betano. Fans got a score of optimism based on whether they believe their team has a high chance of getting to the postseason and if their team will win over half of their games. Canadian NHL came in at 7.60.
Down in the US, NHL fans scored a 7.80. It’s a bigger score, but it isn’t distinct compared to each other set of US fans. MLB fans score the highest at 7.90, and all others were at 7.80. In Canada, optimism lies with a local team’s success in the moment.
Cause for Optimism among Canadian Team Fans
The NFL score could be misleading. Optimism can be more skewed here as people get to pick whatever team they want without any sense of local allegiance. With the MLB, NBA, and NHL, Canadian fandom is greatly skewed by locality. Looking at the state of play of Canadian teams in those leagues, you can see where the optimism score is logical.
The NBA optimism score among Canadian fans is the lowest at 6.90. In the most recent NBA power rankings, the Toronto Raptors sit in the bottom third or just above. They’re in a rebuild, and while the team has great talents, the levels of experience and chemistry shown don’t make them playoff contenders yet.
On the flip side, the MLB score came in at 7.10 as Toronto looks to be in a good place. At the time of writing, FOX had the team in the top five overall, with their supporting cast helping to power the team to, perhaps, unexpected heights. Entering the season, the Blue Jays ranked 20th in MLB.com’s power rankings.
Connor McDavid and the Oilers fell short in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, but the 2024/25 season saw an outsized Canadian contingent get to the playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Montréal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers all made the cut. This will have helped bump the 7.60 rating.
While US teams currently dominate, Canadian fans continue to stand out for their optimism and passion — especially in MLB and NHL.
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