Though not comparable to US Canada still has a good sporting presence
By Mo Hussain, Sports Reporter
Although most of the major professional sports teams are in the United States, it’s not as if Canada goes empty handed. Canada has professional teams in sports that range from basketball, to hockey, soccer, lacrosse and more. Here are the Canadian provinces with the most major professional sports teams:
Ontario
No province compares to Ontario when it comes to professional sports teams.
The province has:
- Two NHL teams (hockey): Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators
- The only Canadian NBA team in Canada (basketball): Toronto Raptors
- Three CFL teams (football): Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Redblacks, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- The only Canadian MLB team (baseball): Toronto Blue Jays
- An MLS team (soccer): Toronto FC
- An NLL team (lacrosse): Toronto Rock
- The only Canadian teams in both the rugby league (Toronto Wolfpack), and the rugby union (Toronto Arrows).
This list alone brings a total of ten professional sports teams in Ontario. Let’s just say if you’re looking for a major sports province in Canada, look no further than Ontario.
British Columbia (BC)
BC is one of the largest provinces in Canada, so it only makes sense that it has its fair share of professional sports teams. Here’s the list:
- One NHL team: Vancouver Canucks
- An MLS team: Vancouver Whitecaps
- A CFL team: BC Lions
- An NLL team: Vancouver Warriors
Although BC unfortunately lost an NBA team 20 years ago, it’s still quite impressive that they have four professional sports teams. Considering how Vancouver has been continuously gaining traction over the last number of years, it’s not that far-fetched to think that more teams may be on the way.
Alberta
Not only is Alberta not that far behind BC in terms of the general population, but it is also not that far behind in terms of how many professional sports teams they have in the major leagues. Alberta has:
- Two NHL teams: Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames
- Two CFL teams: Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders
- One NLL team: Calgary Roughnecks
It will be interesting to see if Alberta will benefit from other provinces like Ontario or BC landing more professional sports teams.
As for whether we will see more major Canadian professional sports teams throughout the entire country is yet to be determined. However, considering how NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently talked about how “it would be nice to have a team in Vancouver,” and the CFL and XFL looking to do business together, you never know what could happen.
