If you are a football fan in Canada, you may find yourself turning towards the NFL rather than the CFL.
Teams like the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, and Seattle Seahawks have a larger Canadian following due to their proximity to Canada. These teams have leaned into it by encouraging Canadian fans to engage with them through things like Canadian-specific social media accounts.
This relationship has existed for years, but recent tensions between the United States and Canada have raised questions about whether the NFL’s relationship with Canada could begin to change.
We have already begun to see a shift in the dynamic of sports between the U.S. and Canada. At the Four Nations Faceoff in February 2025, the Canadian crowd booed the U.S. National anthem as it played before puck drop. The crowd were not the only ones with built-up tension over the political and economic rivalry. Once the game began, three separate fights broke out on the ice within nine seconds. Although hockey is an intense sport, the atmosphere around the game reflected the border tensions between the two countries. That was just the start of this feud. Over the past year, our once-closest ally has turned its back on us, and that can be felt in the shared culture, including our sports.
The difference between hockey and the NFL is that the NFL is not currently a cross-border league. Canadian cities and American cities are not competing face-to-face in the NFL.
A Canadian fan would have to cross borders to attend games, subscribe to the NFL’s official programming, and purchase merchandise. That distance may have an impact on the NFL as Canadians continue to reduce their travel to the United States.
Canadians have already reduced travel to the U.S. Cross-border tourism decreased by 25.4 per cent in 2025.
Drops in tourism could affect the NFL; we might see a change. The Buffalo Bills alone have 15 per cent of their season ticket holders residing in Canada, while the Seattle Seahawks had around 3,000 seasonal ticket holders prior to the pandemic. This does not include the individual tickets Canadians may buy to go see their favourite NFL teams.
In light of all this taking place between Canada and the United States, the Buffalo Bills announced on Sept. 9 that they will play O Canada after the Star-Spangled Banner at every home game. They are not the first Buffalo team to do this; they followed their other teams, the Buffalo Bisons and Sabres.
This could just be the Bills appreciating their Canadian fans, or it could be a tactic to keep Canadian teams supporting and watching the team, which is economically valuable. Buffalo knows that a large percentage of fans come from Canada, which means a decent chunk of their revenue comes from us, too.
The Seattle Seahawks did something similar back in December of 2021. The Seattle Seahawks are heavily supported by Canadians, with their Canadian fan base mainly in Alberta and British Columbia. The team came up with a slogan reading “North 12,” featuring a maple leaf and made a line of merchandise along with that slogan. The ‘12’ in the slogan represents the team’s infamous 12th man, which represents the team’s passionate fanbase acting as an extra player on the field, giving them an advantage during home games due to the deafening amount of cheering.
This was done before Canada and the United States ended their alliance, meaning the only reason the team would do this was not to keep fans supporting their team but to appreciate them. One thing is, Canadians are incredibly devoted supporters of their teams of choice.
