From April 11 to 13, 2025, we surveyed Canadians and Americans on March Madness, the NHL and NBA playoffs, and political influence in sports.
Highlights include…
- Americans are more likely to follow March Madness (both Men’s and Women’s) than Canadians.
- Both Canadians and Americans followed the 2025 tournaments to the same extent as last year’s tournaments, with the Men’s tournaments slightly outpacing the Women’s in terms of interest/followship.
- While Americans are more likely to follow March Madness in general, activity consumption among those who do follow the tournaments is quite similar between the countries, and between the tournaments (Men’s and Women’s).
- Overall, a higher proportion of Canadians said they will follow the NHL playoffs (55%) than Americans (33%), while Americans are more likely to follow the NBA playoffs (40%) than Canadians (27%).
- In both countries and leagues (NHL/NBA), there are more people who will follow the playoffs than the regular season. Most who will follow the playoffs but did not follow the regular season will follow the
playoffs slightly, while those who already follow the regular season will now follow the playoffs more closely. - Both Canadians and Americans who will follow the playoffs will bet on the games, play contests and fantasy, go out to bars/restaurants to watch, pay for streaming subscriptions to watch, and buy merchandise more than they did in the regular NHL and NBA seasons.
- Among those who will follow the playoffs, Americans are more likely to bet on NBA games (22%) than NHL (14%), and Canadians following either league (12% for NHL and 14% for NBA). Additionally, Americans who will follow the NBA playoffs are expected to show a greater increase in activity across all forms of consumption compared to Canadians.
- Around one-in-three Canadians are less likely to support a US-based sports team or league now due to the current political/economic climate between the two countries, and nearly half of Canadians believe it is more important than ever that a Canadian team wins the Stanley Cup.
Methodology
This web survey on the economy was conducted from April 11 to 13, 2025, with 1,630 Canadians and 1,007 U.S. residents, 18 years of age or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel.
A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size yields a margin of error no greater than ±2.45%, (19 times out of 20) for the Canadian sample and ±3.09%, (19 times out of 20) for the American sample.
