Vancouver Islanders are a mere hop, skip and a jump away from watching Major League Baseball (MLB) in Seattle.
The sheer number of Canadians that make the trip to see the Toronto Blue Jays play the Seattle Mariners suggest a Vancouver team would thrive.
According to a recent poll by BC-based Research Co., a survey and statistics firm, three-in-five British Columbians would endorse bringing an MLB team to Vancouver.
MLB has been contemplating an expansion for the past three years and some teams, like the Oakland Athletics, have been considering relocation to a different North American city.
By region, 67% of those polled in Fraser Valley want an MLB team to come to Vancouver while 60% of Metro Vancouver, 57% of Southern BC and 53% of Northern BC are in support of the notion.
On Vancouver Island, 57% of residents who were polled would rather ferry to Vancouver than Seattle to catch a ball game.
“If Vancouver eventually hosts an MLB team, there would be no major fights over the remote control in British Columbia,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co.
“The proportion of men and women who are likely to watch the games at home is similar (53% and 49% respectively).”
As far as how much support the team would get from baseball fans who already have a favourite team, around 32% of British Columbians are die-hard Blue Jays fans, only 6% of BC chose the Mariners as their team and 3% had chosen other MLB franchises as their teams.
That leaves approximately 59% of British Columbians open to choosing a prospective Vancouver team as theirs.
Furthermore, 62% of people who had chosen a favourite team said they’d stop rooting for their squad to support a Vancouver team.
Research Co.’s results indicate that the team would be able to market themselves relatively easy in BC as well with 40% of those polled saying they would buy team branded apparel, 47% of Vancouverites saying they’d attend at least one home game a year and 19% who would be interested in buying season tickets.
What do you think about bringing an MLB team to Vancouver, or even Victoria?
If a team was coming to BC, what would you want to call them?
Let us know in the comments!
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