CFL Team Google Hits

In yesterday's post, I looked at the number of hits resulting from doing a Google search of a CFL city together with the team name as a proxy of popularity. Obviously there's some issues with that methodology, but I thought why not do it anyways for all the the teams. I searched with quotes and used whatever seemed to get the most hits, i.e. "toronto argonauts" rather than "toronto argos".

1. "Saskatchewan Roughriders" 463,000

2. "BC Lions" 361,000

3. "Edmonton Eskimos" 291,000

4. "Calgary Stampeders" 263,000

5. "Toronto Argonauts", 210,000

6. "Hamilton Tiger Cats" 203,000

7. "Montreal Alouettes" 191,000

8. "Winnipeg Blue Bombers" 172,000

Probably the biggest surprise for me is the BC Lions coming in second. I would have thought middle of the pack tops, but the Lions are solidly in second. Winnipeg coming in dead last was a little bit of a surprise. Is low internet usage in Manitoba responsible? The Alouettes coming in second last also a bit of a surprise considering they have the entire province as a fan base. Maybe I should have searched with an accent in Montreal, but I'm pretty lazy.

The Cats didn't do too bad, considering the population of the area they draw from. The Riders kicking ass is also no surprise.

For laughs I also looked at "Ottawa Rough Riders" (16,100) and "Ottawa Renegades" (9,110). Better than nothing I suppose and also more than the "Atlantic Schooners" with 2,470. Well 2,470+1 after this post.

Not particularly scientific, but interesting nonetheless.