Hint: the Supreme Court of Canada, Sen. Marco Rubio and the NFL itself all share part of the blame
Once upon a time, Canadian football fans could tune into their network of choice on Super Bowl Sunday and watch the exact same game—and more importantly to some, the exact same commercials—as their neighbors to the south.
A fragile peace allowed Canadians and Americans alike to raise their glasses to the Bud Knight, cheer at Doritos’ celebrity cameos and indulge in WeatherTech’s patriotic made-in-America messaging. But that arrangement was short-lived. After a series of tense cross-border political interventions, millions of dollars worth of mistargeted TV advertising, and a protracted legal battle that made its way to Canada’s highest court, U.S. Super Bowl commercials were wiped from Canadian airwaves as quickly as they’d arrived.