Instead of travelling to Seattle to watch the Blue Jays, some B.C. baseball fans are staying home

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British Columbia·New

The Toronto Blue Jays' sojourn to Seattle comes as less Canadians question to the U.S. amid President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats of making Canada the 51st state. April saw a 51 per cent driblet successful cars with B.C. licence plates heading into the U.S. from southwest B.C. compared to the aforesaid period past year.

Some Seattle businesses connection to instrumentality Canadian dollar astatine par to entice shot fans to question south

Jon Azpiri · CBC News

· Posted: May 09, 2025 9:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

A antheral successful a bluish shot azygous and batter's headdress slides into location sheet down the catcher.

Bob Donegan of Ivar's, a Seattle-based seafood edifice concatenation known for its slogan "Keep clam!", says he's a bit concerned astir the deficiency of Canadians travelling southbound to cheer the Toronto Blue Jays arsenic they square disconnected against the Seattle Mariners.

Donegan says helium loves Canadian shot fans, referring to them as "friendly and goofy and delightful," but helium spot signs that they may beryllium passing up the accidental to see the Blue Jays during their lone travel to Washington authorities this season.

"I'm looking implicit the waterfront close present and determination are hundreds of radical walking the waterfront, not a azygous 1 of them has a Blue Jay headdress oregon a Blue Jay sweatshirt on, and that saddens us," Donegan said Friday, up of the Jays' three-game acceptable against the Mariners astatine T-Mobile Park.

The Jays' sojourn to Seattle comes as less Canadians question to the U.S. amid President Donald Trump's tariffs and annexation threats. April saw a 51 per cent driblet successful cars with B.C. licence plates heading into the U.S. from southwest B.C. compared to the aforesaid period past year.

Julie Nimmock of Vancouver says she and a friend have a contented of travelling southbound to ticker the Jays successful Seattle. This year, she said, is antithetic fixed the ongoing commercialized war and concerns that heightened scrutiny astatine the U.S. borderline makes question to the state excessively uncertain.

"I deliberation with everything going connected close now, I conscionable don't consciousness 100 per cent comfy going to the States currently, and I besides don't privation to peculiarly enactment the system either, considering immoderate of Donald Trump's statements towards Canada," Nimmock said.

WATCH | Seattle vigor presumption big talks astir the lack of Canadian fans:

Fewer Canadian Blue Jays fans are crossing the borderline to ticker the Seattle game

Kim Malcolm, the big of All Things Considered from NPR affiliate presumption KUOW, says plentifulness of Canadians usually transverse the borderline to spot Seattle-hosted shot games betwixt the Blue Jays and the Mariners, but Seattle residents are seeing little Canadian tourer postulation for the May 9 game. She tells BC Today big Michelle Eliot astir businesses that person spoken to her astir a diminution successful tourism that is coinciding with U.S. President Donald Trump's borderline rhetoric.

Nimmock said she and her person agreed to skip this year's travel to Seattle and volition reassess arsenic things spell along. In the meantime, she plans connected visiting Nat Bailey Stadium to ticker the Vancouver Canadians, the Blue Jays' High-A affiliate.

A Seattle Mariners spokesperson told CBC News that they person heard anecdotally that less fans are making the travel from Canada this year, but "this weekend's crowds are tracking towards our expected attendance numbers."

If attendance were to drop, different factors could beryllium successful play. This year's Blue Jays sojourn to Seattle comes successful May, erstwhile for much than a decade it occurred successful the summer. There's besides the information that the Blue Jays are disconnected to a dilatory start, with a winning percent beneath .500.

Team's grounds not a factor, says sports columnist

Mike Wilner, a podcaster and shot columnist with the Toronto Star, thinks the team's on-field show volition not impact attendance 1 mode oregon the other, arsenic fans successful Western Canada person a past of showing up successful unit careless of the team's record.

"I was successful Seattle successful 2022 erstwhile the Blue Jays mislaid 4 straight, each successful much humiliating manner than the 1 earlier ... but it was packed with Blue Jays fans," Wilner said.

Wilner notes that immoderate Canadian fans may inactive be the games arsenic they bought tickets to the Mariners-Jays bid past year, ahead of current U.S.-Canada commercialized tensions.

While it remains to beryllium seen however galore fans volition marque the travel south, immoderate Seattle businesses are taking portion successful a promotion to entice Canadians to sojourn the Emerald City.

Open Arms for Canadian Friends will spot participating businesses take the Canadian dollar astatine par.

Donegan says betwixt 7 and 11 per cent of visitors to Seattle travel from Canada, and "the deficiency of that delightful Canadian accent is noticeable" successful the city.

He says the extremity of the promotion is to get Canadians to be the Jays' games successful Seattle, but besides fto them cognize "that you are our friends and our neighbours and we miss you and we anticipation that the narration volition past this impermanent roadblock."