During the Grey Cup, I wondered aloud on Twitter how many Torontonians under the age of 40 were tuned in. There was a Raptors game on, which I was watching, and if my Twitter feed was any indication, the only tweets about the Grey Cup were from those paid to cover it.
A woman with the handle @cfllady wrote me suggesting the Argos are more popular than the Raptors in Toronto. When pressed for evidence, she could only point to television ratings.
Soon thereafter, my pal Freddie P chimed in to suggest the same. Again, his evidence is television ratings. Without a doubt, the national CFL ratings are higher than Raptor ratings.
I asked Arash Madani about his during our recent chat. After all, he covers the CFL for a living, and if anyone can gauge the popularity of the Argos in Toronto, it's him. Arash agreed with me that there's very little interest in the Argos in Toronto. He laughed when I told him some have suggested the Argos are more popular than the Raptors.
As I see it, the Leafs are far and away the most popular team in this city. If you had asked me a year ago, I'd put the Raptors at #2. The 2015 Blue Jays were so popular in this city, they might be the new #2. If that's the case, the Raptors are a very strong #3. After that, I think TFC is #4, the Argos are #5, the Marlies are #6 and the Rock are #7. I recently charted this here.
- Maple Leafs
- Blue Jays
- Raptors
- Toronto FC
- Argonauts
- Marlies
- Rock
Still, Fred persists. I don't understand how he can think it's even close. Remember, we're talking about the GTA, where most people wouldn't recognize a Toronto Argonaut if he was standing two feet away.
How would you rank Toronto's top 7 professional sports teams in the GTA?
