Patrons watch a Blue Jays game on the TV at the St. Louis Bar and Grill in Toronto on Tuesday. Fans are racing to snag tickets while local businesses are seeing jumps in sales.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
The World Series frenzy has kicked off in Canada.
Toronto Blue Jays fans raced to snag tickets to the World Series after the club defeated the Seattle Mariners in a tense Game 7 Monday night, clinching a championship spot for the first time in over three decades. Across the country, bars, bistros and retailers are preparing for pandemonium and a chance to score a big wave of business.
Tickets to Game 1 of the Jays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers championship series, set for Friday in Toronto, sold out on Ticketmaster in about 30 minutes on Tuesday morning. Hundreds of seats appeared on resale platform StubHub with nosebleeds starting at more than $2,000 a ticket, going up to more than $10,000 for premium field-level seats near the dugout.
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Aris Daghighian, whose wife Dina Kalakos tried to buy tickets for the couple, said she was number 4,300 in the Ticketmaster queue for Game 6 early Tuesday morning. Crunching the numbers, he said, the couple should have been ahead enough in line to get tickets “even if everyone in the queue bought four tickets each.”
But when it was finally their turn, there were no tickets left. “Each time she clicked something, it said unavailable.”
The only tickets on offer, he said, were “verified resale” for $3,000-$7,000 a ticket. “This was at 10:20 a.m. – just 20 minutes after tickets went on sale.”
Toronto is set to host games 1 and 2 of the World Series and, if needed, games 6 and 7.
Tickets for home games officially went on sale at 10 a.m. Tuesday, but scoring tickets looks to be as much of a nail-biting experience as the game itself.
The crowd during Game 7 of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners in Toronto on Tuesday. Tickets to Game 1 of the Jays vs. Los Angeles Dodgers championship series sold out on Ticketmaster in about 30 minutes.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Kendall Yale from Toronto was number 7,212 in the Ticketmaster queue early Tuesday morning, with her friend standing by for backup but trailing in at number 232,523.
She doesn’t expect to get her hands on tickets within her budget of $500 through Ticketmaster, but she has a plan.
After failing to snag tickets during the initial release for Game 6, Ms. Yale spent a rainy Sunday evening outside the Rogers Centre with her mom – a former house league player who passed on the love of the game to her daughter – to catch last-minute deals.
The two anxiously refreshed the Ticketmaster app as O Canada coursed through the Rogers Centre. Just minutes before first pitch, they landed seats in the 100 level for about $250 each after a sudden price drop. “We were literally screaming and ran inside,” Ms. Yale said.
Ms. Yale wants to try the same approach, which hinges on resellers dropping prices before Ticketmaster closes sales, in the opening moments of Friday’s game.
Ms. Yale said it’s hard to believe that just a few months ago, she was able to regularly score Jays seats for $20-$40, albeit in the standing and 500-level sections.
Regular tickets for games last Sunday and Monday sold out in minutes and resale tickets on platforms such as Ticketmaster and StubHub went for around $392 per seat for the 500 level and up to $7,390 for TD Lounge.
But that hardly compares to the average prices now, which hover at around $5,000 on StubHub across all seating levels.
People shop for Blue Jays gear at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday. Toronto is set to host games 1 and 2 of the World Series.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Trish Dorak from Milton, Ont., initially tried to get tickets to the first few home games of the American League Championship Series when they were released. “I was in a meeting at work, when I logged in 15 minutes late … all that were left were 500s, and they all ranged $400-$500 per ticket.”
On Tuesday, she logged in an hour early and had her information ready in Ticketmaster in advance − though she has low hopes of scoring seats through the ticketing giant.
The two ALCS games she ended up going to in the past few weeks were thanks to a friend’s corporate seats and a district ticket drop. The latter landed Ms. Dorak general admission to Game 7 at $100 each for standing room.
A district drop is a program from the Toronto Blue Jays allowing fans to subscribe and follow ticket drops, which often happen last-minute.
“Watching [George] Springer’s home run and the crowd’s reaction was unbelievable,” Ms. Dorak said. “People in the general admission area were hugging strangers, jumping up down.”
One group sure to benefit from World Series excitement is the country’s local businesses.
“We went through two full kegs of Guinness in about an hour,” said Alia Monteforte, general manager at Saint John’s Tavern in Toronto of Monday’s game. “That’s over 176 Guinnesses and roughly $2,200 before tax.”
Alia Monteforte, general manager at Saint John’s Tavern, at the downtown Toronto bar on Tuesday.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
She said her business is looking at sales increases of “anywhere between $2,000-$5,000 per night when the Jays play.”
During Game 1 of the ALDS, dining outlets near the Rogers Centre experienced a 6-per-cent jump in transaction volume, according to data from payments company Moneris. Transaction size jumped 1 per cent compared with regular-season benchmarks.
Early data also showed a 6-per-cent increase in demand for hotel rooms on the day the Jays played their first playoff game against the New York Yankees.
During Game 4, which was played away, restaurants near the Rogers Centre saw a 15-per-cent jump in dining transaction volume and an 11-per-cent surge in transaction size.
“Staff are going to be getting a lot more hours in the next few weeks,” said Restaurants Canada president and CEO Kelly Higginson, which is especially helpful for young people who have been struggling in the job market and make up a large portion of the food and beverage sector.
Barbara MacPhee, who manages The Cat’s Cradle Sports and Spirits in midtown Toronto, said the bar’s sales surged 300 per cent on Monday. “People are pumped, the adrenaline is amazing.”
What’s your favourite piece of Blue Jays memorabilia?
For the first time since 1993, the Toronto Blue Jays are headed to the World Series. As fans reminisce about the last time Canada’s baseball team got this far, we want to hear about your most treasured piece of Blue Jays history. Is it a signed hat from your favourite player? A memento from the ’90s World Series wins? Submit your story in the form below. If you’d like to include a photo, submit it through this link.