Christina Gough
Research expert covering sports and video gaming
Sport in Canada - statistics & facts
Sport in Canada consists of a wide variety of activities, from Canada’s two national sports - ice hockey and lacrosse - to other team sports such as football and soccer. Canada’s large land area and relatively cold winters contribute to the popularity of these outdoor field sports and winter activities, which also include skiing, and snowboarding. The market size of the ski and snowboard resorts industry in Canada recovered following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and hit 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Recently, eSports, which refers to video games and competitions played online in teams or individually, have also become an important sector in the overall sports market. The total revenue of the eSports market within Canada was forecast to exceed 177 million U.S. dollars by 2028.
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. Professional ice hockey, and specifically the NHL is also extremely popular in Canada. The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, two of the seven NHL franchises based in the country, are the two NHL teams with the most Stanley Cup wins.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 over 500 in 2023. There are many different genres of eSports games, from sports games such as Rocket League to multiplayer battle area games like League of Legends. However, the leading eSports game in Canada in terms of cumulative prize money won was Fortnite. Canadian eSports players had accumulated over eight million U.S. dollars in prize money earnings playing the multiplayer battle royale game.
