[PepsiFree]

I think the number of fans thing isn’t even meaningful anyway. Calgary to me has always been more of a “locals only” kind of vibe. More of a club. The Oilers (thanks to the Gretzky years) are like Toronto. They get hyped so the fans are more corny and casual. The long stretches of suck don’t matter because people are Oiler fans just to say they’re a fan of something. Like cheering for the Yankees outside NY. It’s cheesy and takes no effort. Flames though? Nothing trendy about it outside Calgary. A little closer to the heart for a lot of people.

EDIT: put another way, in a situation where one of the two teams made the finals against an American team, you’d have a lot more “Oilers fans” cheering for the Flames as “Canada’s team” to win than Flames fans cheering for the Oilers as “Canada’s team” to win.