The Blue Jays are coming! Canadian fans, not so much

Just how many royal blue Blue Jays baseball jerseys and hats will grace the streets around Seattle’s T-Mobile Park and SoDo this weekend?

That’s the big question as the Seattle Mariners, local hotels, restaurants and hospitality businesses cross their fingers ahead of Blue Jays Weekend.

KUOW’s Kim Malcolm looked for answers.

Typically, upwards of 20,000 Jays fans, mostly Canadians, descend on the city to take in the three-game set every year, filling T-Mobile Park’s stands with enough Jays' colors and “Let’s Go, Blue Jays!” chants that they can make the ballpark feel like a home game in Toronto. It’s something former Mariners ace Felix Hernandez would complain about to reporters in his heyday, grumbling that they were taking over his house.

But this year, its unclear how many Canadians will make the trip, in the wake of what’s suddenly become a rocky relationship between the U.S. and what many used to describe as its closest ally: Canada.

Devoted Blue Jays fans who regularly drive or fly into Seattle for the games started canceling their bookings soon after President Trump announced tariffs on Canadian goods in early February. Insult was added to injury with Trump’s musings about annexing Canada and making it the “51st state,” and referring to then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor.”

For many Canadians, the Trump’s statements were a shock and felt like a betrayal from their longtime ally.

And then, they quietly took action.

“We started seeing it right away — it was like switch going off,” says Cathy Munro of the cancellations.

Monro runs Lifetime Highs Tours with her husband Sandy in Calgary, Alberta.

“People said immediately that they will not go across the border,” she said.

For 25 years, the Munros have been sending chartered bus tours down to Seattle for Blue Jays weekend, many with repeat customers.

Late last year, they were optimistic enough about demand that they contemplated sending down two coaches, with about 40 to 50 paying customers, at about $2500 per person for the week-long trip. This year, they’re running one bus only, and it’ll be half empty.

“One couple, literally, [said] they're going to go to Toronto," Sandy Munro said, "fly there to see them [the Jays] play there. They chose that instead of going to Seattle.”

Another western Canadian tour company contacted by KUOW says they typically send 150–250 people down for a four-night stay for the Jays series in Seattle. This year, they cancelled all those buses for lack of demand, as well as all their cross border trips into the U.S. from March through June.

It’s disappointing, they say. But it represents the reality of what they’re facing.

The quiet boycott picked up speed quickly. Border crossing data from British Columbia into Washington state in February showed a 30% drop in Canadian vehicles coming into the U.S., year over year.

In March that rose to a 42% drop, and the latest figures for April from WSDOT show the number of vehicles from British Columbia crossing into Washington state is now down by about 50% —a drop of about 100,000 vehicles.

Air travel is impacted as well. In March, Air Canada said it was reducing its flights to Florida, Arizona, and Las Vegas by 10% due to a drop in demand. The Canadian carrier Westjet announced Friday it’s suspending its flights from several Canadian cities to Austin, Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seatac, for several months this summer.

These trends are worrying for Seattle and King County businesses that rely on tourism. About 1.7 million Canadians visited Seattle and King County in 2024.

Canadians remain Seattle's single largest segment of all international visitors. They spent more than $583 million in 2024 and helped support 68,000 tourism jobs, a sector that continues to recover from the pandemic.

Visit Seattle CEO Tammy Canavan noted the financial impact of Blue Jays weekend may not provide a direct apples-to-apples comparison with previous years. The Canadian dollar remains relatively weak compared to the U.S. dollar, and this year’s series falls on the Mothers' Day weekend, as opposed to its usual time in July, at the height of tourist season. But Canavan notes the political rhetoric directed at Canada is playing a role in dampening visits to Seattle. She’s hoping things will eventually improve.

“It's an important relationship,” Canavan said. “We are saddened at this point that that doesn't feel very good right now. [We] hope that there is a time in the future, when Canada is ready, that we can have conversations about rekindling our love affair.”

In the meantime, a group of local businesses are trying to take away the sting for Canadian visitors.

Bob Donegan, the president of Ivar’s, the Seattle seafood restaurant chain, says he and Howard Wright of the Seattle Hospitality Group decided a few weeks ago to accept Canadian currency at par — about a 30% discount — for Canadian visitors showing a valid ID. It’s part of an effort they’re calling “Open Arms for Canada.” The deal is good for Canadians this weekend at the Space Needle, Ethan Stowell Restaurants, Argosy Cruises, and multiple hotels and local breweries.

“Canadians are so friendly and delightful,” Donegan said. “They have been mistreated by the other Washington and we don't mistreat our friends. We just want them to know that their friends and neighbors in Seattle miss them and would like to see them again.”