Report: 17 million Canadians consider themselves fans of women's sports

TORONTO — Allison Sandmeyer-Graves always suspected there was a large fan base for women's sports in Canada, and now she has proof.

Sandmeyer-Graves, the CEO of Canadian Women & Sport, led a panel of luminaries in women's sports on Monday that reviewed a new report commissioned by the non-profit organization.

Among other things, the report titled "It's Time: Unlocking the Power of Pro Women's Sport Fans," found that two in three Canadians between the ages of 13 and 65 — approximately 17 million people — consider themselves to be fans of women's sports.

"If we're going to convince businesses in Canada to make confident decisions, having that Canadian data can really make a big difference, so that they're not trying to guess at what it might look like here in Canada," said Sandmeyer-Graves, noting that previously all data about support for women's sports was from the United States.

"Having confidence that some of the trends that we're seeing globally are happening here, but more than that, there are 17 million Canadians who are already describing themselves as fans can give more confidence to the strategies and the decisions made by businesses."

Monday's study was commissioned by Canadian Women & Sport with its research partner IMI Consulting. The study was conducted in October 2023 with a representative sample of over 2,000 Canadians aged 13-65.

It also found that two in five Canadians aged consider themselves "avid fans" and regularly watch women’s professional or elite sport. That includes tuning in for major events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Six in 10 fans responded that brands should do more to support women’s sport in Canada, with four in 10 more likely to support