Bob Donegan of Ivar’s, a Seattle-based seafood restaurant chain identified for its slogan “Keep clam!”, says he’s a bit involved in regards to the lack of Canadians travelling south to cheer the Toronto Blue Jays as they sq. off in opposition to the Seattle Mariners.
Donegan says he loves Canadian baseball followers, referring to them as “friendly and goofy and delightful,” however he see indicators that they could also be passing up the possibility to see the Blue Jays throughout their solely journey to Washington state this season.
“I’m looking over the waterfront right now and there are hundreds of people walking the waterfront, not a single one of them has a Blue Jay cap or a Blue Jay sweatshirt on, and that saddens us,” Donegan mentioned Friday, forward of the Jays’ three-game set in opposition to the Mariners at T-Cell Park.
The Jays’ go to to Seattle comes as fewer Canadians journey to the U.S. amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats. April noticed a 51 per cent drop in automobiles with B.C. licence plates heading into the U.S. from southwest B.C. in comparison with the identical month final yr.
Julie Nimmock of Vancouver says she and a good friend have a practice of travelling south to look at the Jays in Seattle. This yr, she mentioned, is completely different given the continued commerce warfare and considerations that heightened scrutiny on the U.S. border makes journey to the nation too unsure.
“I think with everything going on right now, I just don’t feel 100 per cent comfortable going to the States currently, and I also don’t want to particularly support the economy either, considering some of Donald Trump’s statements towards Canada,” Nimmock mentioned.
WATCH | Seattle radio station host talks in regards to the absence of Canadian followers:
Fewer Canadian Blue Jays followers are crossing the border to look at the Seattle recreation
Kim Malcolm, the host of All Issues Thought of from NPR affiliate station KUOW, says loads of Canadians often cross the border to see Seattle-hosted baseball video games between the Blue Jays and the Mariners, however Seattle residents are seeing much less Canadian vacationer site visitors for the Might 9 recreation. She tells BC As we speak host Michelle Eliot about companies which have spoken to her a couple of decline in tourism that’s coinciding with U.S. President Donald Trump’s border rhetoric.
Nimmock mentioned she and her good friend agreed to skip this yr’s journey to Seattle and can reassess as issues go alongside. Within the meantime, she plans on visiting Nat Bailey Stadium to look at the Vancouver Canadians, the Blue Jays’ Excessive-A affiliate.
If attendance had been to drop, different components may very well be in play. This yr’s Blue Jays go to to Seattle is available in Might, when for greater than a decade it occurred in the summertime. There’s additionally the truth that the Blue Jays are off to a gradual begin, with a profitable proportion under .500.
Group’s file not an element, says sports activities columnist
Mike Wilner, a podcaster and baseball columnist with the Toronto Star, thinks the crew’s on-field efficiency is not going to have an effect on attendance in some way, as followers in Western Canada have a historical past of exhibiting up in power whatever the crew’s file.
“I was in Seattle in 2022 when the Blue Jays lost four straight, each in more humiliating fashion than the one before … but it was packed with Blue Jays fans,” Wilner mentioned.
Wilner notes that some Canadian followers should attend the video games as they purchased tickets to the Mariners-Jays collection final yr, forward of present U.S.-Canada commerce tensions.
Whereas it stays to be seen what number of followers will make the journey south, some Seattle companies are collaborating in a promotion to entice Canadians to go to the Emerald Metropolis.
Open Arms for Canadian Mates will see taking part companies take the Canadian greenback at par.
Donegan says between seven and 11 per cent of tourists to Seattle come from Canada, and “the lack of that delightful Canadian accent is noticeable” within the metropolis.
He says the aim of the promotion is to get Canadians to attend the Jays’ video games in Seattle, but additionally allow them to know “that you are our friends and our neighbours and we miss you and we hope that the relationship will survive this temporary roadblock.”
