As the Canadian Premier League prepares to award its new North Star Cup on Saturday, Oct. 28, the league announced that it welcomed more fans over the 2023 regular season than any other in its five-year history, with league-wide attendance climbing by 19 per cent since 2022.
The CPL posted a record cumulative attendance of 429,915 this season, besting a cumulative attendance of 360,832 in 2022 and the league’s previous high in its inaugural season in 2019. Apart from expansion side Vancouver FC, which competed in its first season in 2023, six of the CPL’s seven clubs experienced growth in attendance and set individual club records for cumulative attendance in a single season.
“First and foremost, these results are thanks to the passionate fans who are coming out in record numbers to support top-tier Canadian professional soccer in their local communities,” said Mark Noonan, Commissioner, Canadian Premier League. “Together with our clubs and amazing players, the CPL is proudly and unapologetically growing our own version of the beautiful game in these markets from coast to coast, developing an organic soccer culture that is by Canadians and for Canadians.”
Last year’s regular season winners, Atlético Ottawa, set the league’s single-game attendance mark during the 2023 regular season, welcoming 7,044 people for its match against Valour FC on Sept. 24. Not to be outdone, last year’s CPL Final champions, Forge FC, led the league with a 44 per cent attendance increase year over year. Leading the league in overall attendance once again was Halifax Wanderers FC who continued to pack Wanderers Grounds for its home matches, averaging nearly 6,000 fans per match. On their way to winning the regular season title, Cavalry FC welcomed 17 per cent more fans to ATCO Field at Spruce Meadows in 2023 than it had in 2022.
In addition to attendance increases, CPL has seen a record uptick in all over key revenue categories over the course of the 2023 season, which will be released following the CPL Final.
The CPL will celebrate its most successful year in league history this week as it prepares for the 2023 CPL Final between Forge and Cavalry at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont. on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. ET. In the lead up to this weekend’s marquee match, the league will honour the best and brightest performances from the regular season at the 2023 Canadian Premier League Awards on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. ET. The league will also reveal the North Star Cup, the recently announced trophy to be awarded to the League’s playoff champion starting this season, as part of the awards ceremony.
The 2023 Canadian Premier League Awards and the CPL Final will be broadcast live on dedicated soccer channel OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Optik TV (Ch. 980), the pay-TV service operated by Telus, one of Canada’s “big three” telecoms companies, as well as on streaming service fuboTV Canada. OneSoccer is also offered as an affordable streaming service through the OneSoccer.ca website, via Roku, Chromecast and Apple TV devices and with the OneSoccer app for iOS and Android devices.