Canadian Premier League’s Viral Championship Goal Ignites Major Momentum for the League

When Atlético Ottawa and Cavalry FC took the snow-covered pitch in Ottawa for the 2025 Canadian Premier League final, there may have been some doubt about whether playing the most important game of the season in tough conditions was a wise move for the league.

With David Rodriguez’s incredible ‘icicle kick’ goal now reportedly seen over a billion times around the globe, it’s safe to say that from a league marketing perspective, the iconic moment was worth braving the tough conditions.

Ultimately, that’s the magic of live sports – you never know when something incredible is about to happen. And thanks to the modern media landscape, a highlight from the Canadian Premier League can reach well beyond the audience of the league’s rightsholders, putting CPL in front of a reported 174 countries and countless of new potential fans.

Depending on the exact clip you – or millions of others saw – you might also have been exposed to TELUS, Westjet, Hellman’s, Degree, Burnbrae Farms, Allstate, Volkswagen, or other brands with presence near the pitch in Ottawa. Not a bad day when a sponsorship suddenly shows up on screens around the world a billion times.

This complex media landscape is also one of the reasons SponsorPulse began tracking the reach of sports & entertainment properties beyond just stated linear/streaming viewership – increasingly, the way sport properties (and their sponsors) are finding their audiences includes social media, athletes or personalities themselves, and short-form video highlights.

For a growing property like the CPL, it means the property’s total reach can often be equally divided between traditional viewership (watching/streaming matches) as it can to audiences exclusively consuming via newer forms of engagement – following scores, social media, clips/highlights, and betting on the matches.

Even before the historic kick, it was clear the Canadian Premier League, founded in 2019, was gaining momentum in Canada.

The league’s Opportunity Score peaked in 2024, driven by a notable uptick in property health – with all-time highs for metrics like Passion and Excitement.

The property also boasts impressive geographic coverage. With eight franchises, it’s notable for having engagement that’s consistent in all regions of Canada, including Quebec.

We’ll be watching the returns closely from our research to see if the incredible championship goal helps push the CPL’s numbers even higher. Until then, it’s a good reminder that engagement with sports can present sudden, unexpected opportunities for properties and their sponsors.

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