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How much do you spend on your team?
Billions of dollars get invested every year at all levels of all kinds of sports. BetVictor wanted to know how much it costs the people who matter, the fans, to follow their beloved teams. We took the most popular teams in Canada’s favourite sports, and compared them to determine which teams and sports are the best value for fans to watch.
Key Findings:
- Ice Hockey is the most expensive sport to watch in Canada
- The CFL is the most value-for-money sport in Canada
- Toronto Blue Jays are the most expensive team to watch in Canada
- You could watch almost every Saskatchewan Roughriders home game for a season for the price of a single Toronto Raptors ticket
- Canada’s most expensive game day beer is found at BC Place, costing $18.25 while watching the Vancouver Whitecaps play soccer
The results showed that the Canadian Football League (CFL) is the cheapest league in Canada for fans to follow. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the most affordable sporting team to follow in Canada, they scored an almost perfect 99 out of 100 on our affordability index.
Toronto Argonauts came in a close second scoring a total of 91, meaning the top two spots are comfortably occupied by CFL teams. If you’re a fan of the CFL or either of these outfits, count yourself lucky as other sports are much more expensive for fans. Our bottom three is made up of three different, but extremely popular sports.
Canada’s resident MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays, is Canada’s most expensive team to follow if you want to catch a game in person, scoring zero on our affordability index. The Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL and Toronto Raptors, Canada’s representative in the NBA, also scored poorly proving they are costly for their fans to follow.
Toronto is the most expensive city in Canada to watch sports
As you can see from the bottom three, Toronto is the most expensive city in Canada to follow sports teams, if you are interested in ice hockey, baseball, or basketball. This is mainly due to the ticket prices, on average it costs a staggering $161 to attend a Raptors game at the Scotiabank Arena. For comparison, you could watch almost a full season of the Saskatchewan Roughriders home games for the same price as a single Raptors ticket.
Tickets for the Blue Jays are more reasonably priced, costing on average $94 per game. However, the cost of watching the MLB at home is much more expensive than the NBA. Sportsnet+ gives you access to all of the Blue Jays games and coverage, but costs $179.99 per year to access, in comparison to just $49.99 per season for an NBA League Pass.
Ice Hockey is the most expensive sport to follow in Canada, with three of the bottom five least affordable teams belonging to the NHL. If you want to see your team on the ice in the flesh, then be willing to loosen the purse strings.
If you like to indulge in a beer on game days, then it may be best to avoid BC Place, home of MLS outfit the Vancouver Whitecaps, as it will set you back an eye-watering $18.25. It’s not much better at the Scotiabank Arena either; a cold one will cost you $18 while watching the Raptors or the Maple Leafs.
Does money equal success?
Money isn’t always an object, and it’s much easier to forget about how much a day out at the game costs when your team wins. Which of Canada’s most popular sports teams are the best to follow when it comes to value and success?
Toronto Argonauts are the best value-for-money team to watch in Canada. They have an affordability rating of 91 and boasted a 100% winning record at BMO Field in the 2023 CFL season, which helped them secure first place in the Eastern Division.
The Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs both climbed the rankings, as they both sported 66% home-winning records in their last full seasons in the NBA and NHL, respectively.
Canada’s MLS representatives, the Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC, and CF Montreal also scored highly in this metric, as they all have solid win percentages at home and rank as affordable for their fans to watch compared to other franchises.
Methodology
The teams involved in this study were chosen based on the teams that had the highest number of Instagram followers in each sport as of 01/02/2024.
The affordability index was made up of five metrics all weighted differently to make one overall ranking score, the metrics were:
- The price of a jersey for each team- weighted at 20%
- The price of a beer at each stadium/arena- weighted at 10%
- The price of legally watching the team’s away games on TV at home– weighted at 30%
- The average cost of a ticket for a game, which was based on the average price for a standard ticket for a team’s next three home games as of 01/02 or the price of the cheapest season ticket divided by how many games you would get for that price for the upcoming season- weighted at 30%
- The average price it would cost to park on game day within 2km of the arena- weighted at 10%
For the overall ranking, the home win percentage for each team’s last full season in their respective league was combined with the affordability index. This provided a combined ranking that demonstrates which is the best value-for-money team for fans to watch in Canada.