Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
Do fans travel in great numbers for anything in Canada, though? The distances are so vast that not all that many people are going to go from, say, Edmonton to Vancouver or whatever to watch their home team play on the road. It's not like going from Chicago to Milwaukee or what have you.
Any well supported local sports team is generally supported by locals, not by away fans in any significant numbers. So in that sense U Sports teams have large population bases to potentially draw from... they don't necessarily need visitors.
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Because the Jays fan base is all across Canada, and some MLB cities in the US are within driving distance of the border, a number of US cities get decent attendance from Jays fans.
Several mentioned Seattle already; I made the trip in early July, and actually made a one-week vacation out of it. I went to two of the Jays games at T-Mobile Park, and easily over half of the fans in attendance were Canadian. I was on the Link train on the way to one of the games, I spoke with people visiting from Maple Ridge, Langley, and even one guy who came all the way from Lethbridge. In the stands I was sitting next to some people visiting from Abbotsford.
I recall earlier in the season when the Jays played a rare interleague series in Pittsburgh; there were a sizable number of Jays fans in the stands. This also happened when the Jays played a series against Minnesota (though they're in the AL). Detroit is an obvious location for Jays fans crossing the border, and I would imagine Cleveland gets a decent number of Jays fans.
Myself, I have plans for next year to take a vacation in April doing a two-week tour of the Southwest, see the Jays in Anaheim, and then in Houston. I have my doubts there will be many Jays fans at those games, but I'm sure I won't be the only one. Especially if the Jays go far in the upcoming playoffs.
On the hockey side, with border restrictions now gone, I would expect that some Vancouver Canucks fans will travel to Seattle for Kraken games this season. It likely won't be like Jays fans going to Seattle as Canucks fans can just see home games in Vancouver, but I'd expect there would be some.