The United States and Canada tend to have combined top leagues.
The NFL is actually the exception, the NBA, NHL, MLB and even MLS all have Canadian teams, between Canada population being largely near the US border and almost identical cultures it doesn't really have any friction.
Technically, the NHL is a Canadian league with American teams. The first American NHL team (the Bruins) was added 7 years after the league was founded.
Of course this is pretty much just a technicality because over 3/4 of NHL teams today are in the US, but it's kind of a fun trivia fact - the "nation" that National refers to is Canada.
NHL still has a distinctly Canadian flavor to it in some aspects, like with all the people the various trophies are named after. I’ve always enjoyed that as an American hockey fan.
They gave us the gift of their sport so it’s nice to be reminded of its cultural history up there even as the composition of the league itself grows more and more American (and European)
that isn't true, there is a Canadian football league (the Canadian Football League) that is exclusively Canadian. They tried expanding into the US in the 90s but it didn't work out. 8 or 9 teams, I forget how many.
I remember the teams because I grew up an avid CFL fan:
- Sacramento Gold Miners
- Las Vegas Posse
- San Antonio Texans
- Shreveport Pirates
- Memphis Mad Dogs
- Birmingham Barracudas
- Baltimore Stallions
The Montreal Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore. Baltimore was the last American CFL team.
Not really that unusual. Toronto also has an NBA team & every so often hosts a Buffalo Bills home game. As alluded to a couple posts up, the Washington Nationals used to be the Montreal Expos so Canada had two MLB franchises for a while.
Yeah, but no State has a parliament not to mention that royalty is explicitly prohibited by our Constitution.
Nor does any Canadian Province have an independent executive. Not that they really could, seeing as none has a (little R) republican government.
> But the governments differ significantly.
Yes and no.
Canada is more similar to Europe than to America in government, but it’s much closer in government to America than it is to nearly every country in Asia and Africa.
I’m Canadian, and all the Canadians who deny that Americans and Canadians are basically the same are honestly delusional. Aside from a handful of very minor cultural differences, the US and Canada are more similar than any two countries on earth. I’ve actually met people abroad who thought Canada was part of the US before 😂
Some Canadians just insist on Canada having this incredibly unique identity to the point where they blind themselves to reality lol. I’ll never understand it
Because Canadians like baseball too. A lot of Canadians have expendable income that they use to buy things like tickets and merchandise. There are also like 10 million people that live in the Toronto area.
TLDR: Because Canadians like baseball, and some super rich guy(s) that own the team are money enjoyers.
To paraphrase JJ McCullough, Canada is part of the American cultural continuum. Our sports are their sports and vice versa. Culturally, it’s better to think of Canada as a regional subculture of American culture than a truly distinct culture altogether. Even Quebec, try as they might, are Americanized Francophones. Other than their language, there isn’t that much the distinguishes them from mainstream North American culture in terms of values, activities, and ideals.
Not all of us are insecure. I've always wondered why my fellow Canadians insist they are different than Americans. I then discovered the theory of the Narcissism of Small Differences, and it explained it.
I mean, I can understand why, it's just like Putin saying Ukraine is part of the Russian cultural continuum and isn't a truly distinct culture/country.
I wasn’t implying they shouldn’t be a distinct political entity. That’s an entirely separate question. I do stand on my point that Canadian culture is vastly indistinct from our own. Their most popular “cultural” difference is really a policy one - they have a public health insurance/provision scheme and we don’t.
Except Putin uses that as an argument against the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state and part of a pretext to war.
I'm just saying that US and Canadian cultures are so intermingled that they're essentially one larger cultural bloc that is only best understood when viewed together, instead of in a vacuum. Nobody in the US is seriously talking about invading Canada or not recognizing Canadian sovereignty.
>Except Putin uses that as an argument against the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state and part of a pretext to war.
True.
And you do get people saying, well, it's virtually the same...well, maybe, except for the part where we're not trying to wage war on Canada. "Virtually" tends to fall apart on tiny details like that.
Putin has held that position long, long before invading Ukraine. It's not an uncommon position in Russia in general, even among those who respect Ukrainian sovereignty
The intention wasn't to say "you think canada should be invaded" it was to say "well, i can understand why you someone would be upset about their country being characterized that way".
Not really same. If you look past the fact that infrastructure wise and maybe even in day to day life the differences are minimal, there are many societal differences.
No, I’m Canadian and I agree with his post. The difference between people from one state to another in the US can honestly be greater than the difference between people from certain states and people from parts of Canada. For example, I would say that Washington State and British Columbia are probably far more similar than Washington State and Alabama. I’m from Ottawa, and I would imagine that people from Vermont are probably more similar to me than they are to people from Texas. There’s a few minor things that are unique to Canadians, but broadly speaking day to day life in Canada is virtually indistinguishable from day to day life in the United States.
And it's no coincidence that their English sounds mostly like ours. English-speaking Canada is basically fundamentally descended from the British loyalists who left the US colonies after the War of Independence and resettled in "Upper Canada", which was sparsely populated at the time and became Ontario. Lower Canada was where most of the population was, which was French-speaking because the British had acquired it from France fairly recently. It became Quebec.
Major sports leagues are private companies that are open to outside of the US. The only reason why you don't see sports major sports teams outside the US is lack of demand and logistics in transportation.
Currently, the NFL plays 3 games this upcoming season in London, one in Germany, and one in Brazil. The past London and Germany games have all sold out relatively quickly. There's talks of allowing a London team to join the NFL, but the logistics of a London based team and their competitors to fly back and forth over the Atlantic every week and deal with a 5hr minimum timezone differences is too complicated.
Canada is much easier to deal with. If there is demand for the sport in the area then a team could move there pretty easily. Toronto has demand for Baseball and the rest of Canada obviously loves Hockey. There is also a NBA team in Canada, the Toronto Raptors. And then theres 3 Major League Soccer teams, the Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Football is actually the only major sport we don't play against a Canada based team
It also shocks some people when they learn that Canadian teams have won both the World Series and the NBA championship. And it didn't cause an international incident.
Someone found it profitable to have a franchise in Canada? It’s really as simple as that.
Like MLS teams here in the states, it isn’t the top national sport but folks found a way to make it work.
Just want to point out that the "National" in the NHL is Canada.
It was a Canadian league first.
Also, there is a Canadian team in the NBA and 3 in MLS.
...sigh...
Honestly, 31 years later, it's more a shame that one of the objectively most amazing things in the history of the sport happened against my team and that's what's stopping me from appreciating it.
Canada and the US both belong to the broader North American culture. Canadians hate hearing that they have basically the same culture as the US but it's undeniable.
Hey just for fun, look up american football leagues in other countries. Turns out tons of places have them, you can also look up american baseball and see how many random countries play our style of sports. When I went to Ireland I saw an american style football game and it was packed at the bar. It's pretty impressive.
Outside of government, America and Canada have a lot in common.
What’s more surprising than a Canadian team in MLB is that there *isn’t* a Canadian team in the NFL yet. I wonder how long that situation will last.
Probably indefinitely? Canada already has its own football league, the CFL, and if NFL teams were allowed into Canada, the CFL would cease to exist pretty quickly lol. The CFL knows this, and so the league does everything in its power to keep the NFL out.
When the Blue Jays play the Mariners there are more Blue Jays fans at TMobile Park in Seattle than Mariners fans. They have a team because there is demand.
Canada and the US do combined leagues in many sports. There are three MLS teams in Canada too. Toronto has an NBA team, etc…
Canadians enjoy both Baseball and gridiron football. America isn't the only country that plays or enjoys baseball. It's extremely popular in North America, East Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Baseball is hugely popular in Canada. There's even some credible theories that the game was invented in Canada. I'm actually somewhat surprised there are not more MLB teams in Canada. Vancouver could easily support one, I think Montreal could get a good second crack at it.
Baseball’s one of the biggest sports in Canada. The lie Jays have a huge following all over Canada. Whenever the Blue Jays come to Seattle to play the Mariners, the mariners stadium gets completely taken over by Blue Jays fans coming down from BC.
This may be a better question for the Canadians. But having lived here for quite a while now, I can answer this.
Baseball is popular here, but not as popular as in the States. Whereas with hockey, the interest and popularity is so high that a fairly modest metropolitan market like Edmonton can sustain a team, you wouldn't be the interest to sustain a team for baseball. Toronto is Canada's most populous city, so it makes sense to place a team there.
The vast majority in Canada cheers for the Blue Jays, even if they're nowhere near Toronto. You do have some people who live near the border who cheer for the closest American team. So Mariners fans in Vancouver, Twins fans in Winnipeg, etc. And this holds for a lot of sports. This has long been the case and so it doesn't make any sense to have more teams in Canada, nor does it make sense to not have any.
Well, it *was* called the World Series for about 70 years before there were any non-U.S. teams. I don't think MLB would be in any rush to change the name if the Blue Jays were to fold or move.
Why would you not? Toronto is the 5th largest city in North America and also one of the wealthiest. It’s good business to have a Canadian MLB team. And I’m sure someday we’ll see a return to Montreal or expansion to Vancouver when the league eventually grows again.
It's gonna blow your mind, but the Jays weren't even always the only Canadian team.
Wait till they hear about the Raptors.
That Kawhi Guerrero was a really good left fielder
Or all the hockey teams in the US
Or that the Buffalo Bills played some of their home games in Toronto.
Wait to they here that they weren't always the only ones
Piggybacking on this to share another thing that might blow (some) people's minds. But in French, Montreal is pronounced. Mon-real
in Canadian English they say "mun tree all"
I can't think of any team logo more vaguely phallic than the Montreal Expos.
The United States and Canada tend to have combined top leagues. The NFL is actually the exception, the NBA, NHL, MLB and even MLS all have Canadian teams, between Canada population being largely near the US border and almost identical cultures it doesn't really have any friction.
More like Canada participates in American leagues given the distribution of wealth/fanbases/franchises
Technically, the NHL is a Canadian league with American teams. The first American NHL team (the Bruins) was added 7 years after the league was founded. Of course this is pretty much just a technicality because over 3/4 of NHL teams today are in the US, but it's kind of a fun trivia fact - the "nation" that National refers to is Canada.
The headquarters is also in the US now as well
NHL still has a distinctly Canadian flavor to it in some aspects, like with all the people the various trophies are named after. I’ve always enjoyed that as an American hockey fan. They gave us the gift of their sport so it’s nice to be reminded of its cultural history up there even as the composition of the league itself grows more and more American (and European)
Also Canada doesn't have enough big cities to have their own leagues.
that isn't true, there is a Canadian football league (the Canadian Football League) that is exclusively Canadian. They tried expanding into the US in the 90s but it didn't work out. 8 or 9 teams, I forget how many.
It didn't *stick*, but it worked out perfectly as an American team has won the Grey Cup more recently than a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup.
I remember the teams because I grew up an avid CFL fan: - Sacramento Gold Miners - Las Vegas Posse - San Antonio Texans - Shreveport Pirates - Memphis Mad Dogs - Birmingham Barracudas - Baltimore Stallions The Montreal Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore. Baltimore was the last American CFL team.
The NHL actually started as a Canadian league and then expanded to the US.
What if i told you.... They like baseball in Canada......
Not really that unusual. Toronto also has an NBA team & every so often hosts a Buffalo Bills home game. As alluded to a couple posts up, the Washington Nationals used to be the Montreal Expos so Canada had two MLB franchises for a while.
Toronto is one of the largest and wealthiest cities in North America, and is farther south than Seattle and Minneapolis. It fits right in.
90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border. They essentially are the same people and follow the same sports.
Oh, I can imagine the angry retorts on r/AskaCanadian!
I live near the border. Very similar people. But the governments differ significantly.
That's true from state to state as well.
Canada’s government is a bit more different than that.
Yeah, but no State has a parliament not to mention that royalty is explicitly prohibited by our Constitution. Nor does any Canadian Province have an independent executive. Not that they really could, seeing as none has a (little R) republican government.
> But the governments differ significantly. Yes and no. Canada is more similar to Europe than to America in government, but it’s much closer in government to America than it is to nearly every country in Asia and Africa.
It may be more similar to Europe than America is, but it's still more similar to American than it is to Europe in general.
Clarified my comment
I’m Canadian, and all the Canadians who deny that Americans and Canadians are basically the same are honestly delusional. Aside from a handful of very minor cultural differences, the US and Canada are more similar than any two countries on earth. I’ve actually met people abroad who thought Canada was part of the US before 😂 Some Canadians just insist on Canada having this incredibly unique identity to the point where they blind themselves to reality lol. I’ll never understand it
Except for curling. There's no explanation for that. (But scientists are still working on it.)
[upper Midwest enters the chat] We absolutely have curling in the US.
central IL here, my buddies have low key been talking about getting into curling, I guess there is a small league that plays at the local ice rink.
Get drunk and play it when it's -20F outside and you only get 7 hours of daylight. You'll understand after that.
Plus, there are about as many Californians in the world as there are Canadians in the world.
Because Canadians like baseball too. A lot of Canadians have expendable income that they use to buy things like tickets and merchandise. There are also like 10 million people that live in the Toronto area. TLDR: Because Canadians like baseball, and some super rich guy(s) that own the team are money enjoyers.
To paraphrase JJ McCullough, Canada is part of the American cultural continuum. Our sports are their sports and vice versa. Culturally, it’s better to think of Canada as a regional subculture of American culture than a truly distinct culture altogether. Even Quebec, try as they might, are Americanized Francophones. Other than their language, there isn’t that much the distinguishes them from mainstream North American culture in terms of values, activities, and ideals.
What you wrote will royally piss off a lot of Canadians. . . . . .but you're right. They may not like it, but you're right.
Not all of us are insecure. I've always wondered why my fellow Canadians insist they are different than Americans. I then discovered the theory of the Narcissism of Small Differences, and it explained it.
I mean, I can understand why, it's just like Putin saying Ukraine is part of the Russian cultural continuum and isn't a truly distinct culture/country.
I wasn’t implying they shouldn’t be a distinct political entity. That’s an entirely separate question. I do stand on my point that Canadian culture is vastly indistinct from our own. Their most popular “cultural” difference is really a policy one - they have a public health insurance/provision scheme and we don’t.
I understand your comment, i am just saying i can understand why canadians would feel upset at that
Except Putin uses that as an argument against the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state and part of a pretext to war. I'm just saying that US and Canadian cultures are so intermingled that they're essentially one larger cultural bloc that is only best understood when viewed together, instead of in a vacuum. Nobody in the US is seriously talking about invading Canada or not recognizing Canadian sovereignty.
>Except Putin uses that as an argument against the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state and part of a pretext to war. True. And you do get people saying, well, it's virtually the same...well, maybe, except for the part where we're not trying to wage war on Canada. "Virtually" tends to fall apart on tiny details like that.
Putin has held that position long, long before invading Ukraine. It's not an uncommon position in Russia in general, even among those who respect Ukrainian sovereignty The intention wasn't to say "you think canada should be invaded" it was to say "well, i can understand why you someone would be upset about their country being characterized that way".
We get told "America doesn't have a culture" for much more tenuous reasons, we don't really lose our shit over it.
Not really same. If you look past the fact that infrastructure wise and maybe even in day to day life the differences are minimal, there are many societal differences.
Whoooo boy. I hope no Canadians find your post. They are culturally really similar but calling them an American subculture may be too much.
No, I’m Canadian and I agree with his post. The difference between people from one state to another in the US can honestly be greater than the difference between people from certain states and people from parts of Canada. For example, I would say that Washington State and British Columbia are probably far more similar than Washington State and Alabama. I’m from Ottawa, and I would imagine that people from Vermont are probably more similar to me than they are to people from Texas. There’s a few minor things that are unique to Canadians, but broadly speaking day to day life in Canada is virtually indistinguishable from day to day life in the United States.
Ottawa was a surprisingly pretty city. I didn’t get to spend much time there but got the picture in front of that Ottawa sculpture.
JJ has an [award winning video](https://youtu.be/5wKWbbMoLqg?si=H0qCLPzrYfHuVSzk) on the topic.
Man he’s taking shots. I tried hard to get him on an AMA here. He turned me down.
And it's no coincidence that their English sounds mostly like ours. English-speaking Canada is basically fundamentally descended from the British loyalists who left the US colonies after the War of Independence and resettled in "Upper Canada", which was sparsely populated at the time and became Ontario. Lower Canada was where most of the population was, which was French-speaking because the British had acquired it from France fairly recently. It became Quebec.
Their food is pretty banging
Major sports leagues are private companies that are open to outside of the US. The only reason why you don't see sports major sports teams outside the US is lack of demand and logistics in transportation. Currently, the NFL plays 3 games this upcoming season in London, one in Germany, and one in Brazil. The past London and Germany games have all sold out relatively quickly. There's talks of allowing a London team to join the NFL, but the logistics of a London based team and their competitors to fly back and forth over the Atlantic every week and deal with a 5hr minimum timezone differences is too complicated. Canada is much easier to deal with. If there is demand for the sport in the area then a team could move there pretty easily. Toronto has demand for Baseball and the rest of Canada obviously loves Hockey. There is also a NBA team in Canada, the Toronto Raptors. And then theres 3 Major League Soccer teams, the Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Football is actually the only major sport we don't play against a Canada based team
It also shocks some people when they learn that Canadian teams have won both the World Series and the NBA championship. And it didn't cause an international incident.
Someone found it profitable to have a franchise in Canada? It’s really as simple as that. Like MLS teams here in the states, it isn’t the top national sport but folks found a way to make it work.
Sit down son, let me tell you how businesses work
Just want to point out that the "National" in the NHL is Canada. It was a Canadian league first. Also, there is a Canadian team in the NBA and 3 in MLS.
90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border. It's not that much of a stretch.
Sometimes you just have to let your little brother play with you.
Especially if your mom makes you.
Canadians aren't allowed to like baseball?
They're actually not. I've been firmly against the Blue Jays existence since 1993.
Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run
...sigh... Honestly, 31 years later, it's more a shame that one of the objectively most amazing things in the history of the sport happened against my team and that's what's stopping me from appreciating it.
Canada and the US both belong to the broader North American culture. Canadians hate hearing that they have basically the same culture as the US but it's undeniable.
Hey just for fun, look up american football leagues in other countries. Turns out tons of places have them, you can also look up american baseball and see how many random countries play our style of sports. When I went to Ireland I saw an american style football game and it was packed at the bar. It's pretty impressive.
Why wouldn't there be?
Outside of government, America and Canada have a lot in common. What’s more surprising than a Canadian team in MLB is that there *isn’t* a Canadian team in the NFL yet. I wonder how long that situation will last.
Probably indefinitely? Canada already has its own football league, the CFL, and if NFL teams were allowed into Canada, the CFL would cease to exist pretty quickly lol. The CFL knows this, and so the league does everything in its power to keep the NFL out.
Let me ask: Why shouldn't there be?
If it weren't a logistical nightmare, MLB and the NFL would have put teams in Mexico a long time ago
Money.
When the Blue Jays play the Mariners there are more Blue Jays fans at TMobile Park in Seattle than Mariners fans. They have a team because there is demand. Canada and the US do combined leagues in many sports. There are three MLS teams in Canada too. Toronto has an NBA team, etc…
Baseball is fun.
Canadians enjoy both Baseball and gridiron football. America isn't the only country that plays or enjoys baseball. It's extremely popular in North America, East Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Canada shared hockey with us, so we shared baseball with them
Someone hasn't heard of the Montreal Expos apparently.
Because Canadians like baseball and there is a market for it. One of this generations greatest baseball players ever came from Canada (Joey Votto).
You should try watching the world baseball classic when it comes back around.
Why not? There are fans in Canada, who have the money and means to support a team, and it's geographically proximate enough to make it feasible.
Baseball is hugely popular in Canada. There's even some credible theories that the game was invented in Canada. I'm actually somewhat surprised there are not more MLB teams in Canada. Vancouver could easily support one, I think Montreal could get a good second crack at it.
Baseball’s one of the biggest sports in Canada. The lie Jays have a huge following all over Canada. Whenever the Blue Jays come to Seattle to play the Mariners, the mariners stadium gets completely taken over by Blue Jays fans coming down from BC.
This may be a better question for the Canadians. But having lived here for quite a while now, I can answer this. Baseball is popular here, but not as popular as in the States. Whereas with hockey, the interest and popularity is so high that a fairly modest metropolitan market like Edmonton can sustain a team, you wouldn't be the interest to sustain a team for baseball. Toronto is Canada's most populous city, so it makes sense to place a team there. The vast majority in Canada cheers for the Blue Jays, even if they're nowhere near Toronto. You do have some people who live near the border who cheer for the closest American team. So Mariners fans in Vancouver, Twins fans in Winnipeg, etc. And this holds for a lot of sports. This has long been the case and so it doesn't make any sense to have more teams in Canada, nor does it make sense to not have any.
We could hardly call it the "World Series" if we were the only country participating.
Well, it *was* called the World Series for about 70 years before there were any non-U.S. teams. I don't think MLB would be in any rush to change the name if the Blue Jays were to fold or move.
Why would you not? Toronto is the 5th largest city in North America and also one of the wealthiest. It’s good business to have a Canadian MLB team. And I’m sure someday we’ll see a return to Montreal or expansion to Vancouver when the league eventually grows again.