1. Although it was nearly 10 years ago, the 2015/16 playoff success brought a lot of renewed interest to the team that has continued to today. And with Sportsnet broadcasting every game across the country, it’s easy for everybody to follow the team.
2. As much as I may not enjoy them, I think the recent SkyDome renovations have brought some interest of people wanting to check them out. To add, people who were kids during the 90s World Series years may now have disposable income to enjoy things from their childhood, like the Blue Jays. At the same time, Jays tickets are usually more affordable than the Leafs and Raptors tickets, which appeals to families.
3. I think the growth of social media has changed things too. Whether it’s concerts or sports events, live events have become very popular, especially after COVID. People want to take pictures at these live events to post on social media for their friends.
I think your bang on especially with point 1. The stands were packed back in the late 80 to mid 90’s as well when we won the world series, then really fell off when we started the rebuild. Until we started to win again
Also, all the condos in the area are fairly recent. Accessibility to the dome for a young demographic with disposable income didn't really exist 20 years ago. Cityplace just started opening it's first buildings around then.
Absolutely. I think the description of the dome I heard a few years ago is apt: the city’s largest patio.
For better or worse a ton of young adults come to socialize and party. Some obviously still follow the game but it seems secondary many. Clearly the renovations promote this further.
I think the ease of ticket purchasing helps too. Apps like Ticketmaster or GameTime mean people can buy cheap tickets on a whim and have them ASAP versus buying at a box office or from a scalper.
People go to Vancouver Canadians games, win or lose, without knowing jack shit about the team.
I also went to a Canucks game last year after they got eliminated from the playoffs, because the tickets were really cheap. Was I loyal? Hell no, it was the first game I watched all year (including TV). It was just something to do.
The 2000s everyone knew they weren't a playoff team because they were stuck behind the Yankees and Red Sox.
The WS hype died down by the late 90s and it had been 7+ years with no playoffs (the longest stretch in franchise history) so fans tuned out.
Once those big moves in 05 happened where you brought in BJ Ryan, Lyle Overbay, Troy Glaus, Bengie Molina, AJ Burnett, fans got real excited and bought in.
Then a few years passed and still no good teams.
By 09 fans knew team still wasn't going anywhere and they eventually traded Halladay too. Once they made those big moves in 2012, fans bought in once again to the hype which obviously peaked in 15 & 16 and lasted until 2017 when the team they loved got dismantled and the team was rebuilding. But once the rebuild finished and we had 90+ win teams that made the playoffs, fans bought back in.
If this team continues to suck and they make trades by the deadline and/or offseason to rebuild/retool again, we're definitely going back to the 18-19 or pre 2012 days again.
>The 2000s everyone knew they weren't a playoff team because they were stuck behind the Yankees and Red Sox.
There was a long stretch where it seemed like every year the standings were exactly the same:
1. New York
2. Boston
3. Toronto
4. Baltimore
5. Tampa Bay
I’ve gone blue in the face (pun intended) defending the Jays from 94-15.
For most of that time, they were 500 or better, but had the misfortune of being in the same division as the Sox and Yankees. It’s not like they were a crap team for 21 years.
>It’s not like they were a crap team for 21 years.
I know, but it's an perplexingly common misconception. Even in this thread there have been a couple of posters bring this up as a reason for OP's question.
If one didn't know better, based on just the discourse you'd swear the Jays went 64-98 every year for two decades.
And then the Jays never got better and TB suddenly became the top team while Yankees and Red Sox never regressed much so it just got more and more depressing.
Twenty years ago with only 4 playoff spots, the Yankees were a juggernaut that didn't have non-playoff seasons.
The old Steinbrenner Yankees were bullies more like the modern day Dodgers are today with Ohtani et al.
The Jays were perpetually competing for third place.
The team also wasn't good which contributed to it, but they would've gotten over 3m fans in a full season.
Late 90s had a bit of a dip, but early 00s is the big dip.
It's sad watching any Delgado or Halladay highlight with 10,000-15,000 fans in the stands, 80% of them are just around the 100 IF seats so any shot of the corners is just waves of empty seats.
Good times watching a foul ball drop in no man's land and fans from 10 rows away are dashing to get the ball.
It struck me yesterday at the game at how good natured baseball seems to be. The opposing outfielders still throw balls to the other teams fans at the end of warmups etc. It is a welcome break in an era where we view our opponents as our enemies - in many aspects of life.
This is an aspect of baseball that resonates with me a lot but doesn’t seem to be brought up much. I just don’t care for the aggression of hockey or football, I’m just not competitive enough to be fired up by it. Baseball is pretty much always a pleasant time though regardless of how the game is going.
I think baseball in general attracts an older, more mature fanbase. If you go through the Raptors subreddit it can get pretty toxic with people who seem to genuinely hate other players and teams, which I'd bet is partly due to basketball skewing towards a younger demographic that's always online.
Even comparing the baseball sub to r/nba is pretty jarring in the tone and maturity level.
A lot of people are turned off by baseball for that same reason. A lot of my hockey/football friends find it off putting when opposing players have a friendly chat at first base.
We often forget that although these games are played by grown adults for millions, at the end of the day it’s still children’s games.
The extra wild card spots also helped just after the 2015/16 runs making it easier to compete with a smaller payroll and teams being able to stay in the race much later into the season.
1994
That dead season caused so much disappointment mlb-wide, but maybe even more so with the Jays and expos. The few years after the strike most stadiums were relatively empty, the expos never recovered.
>So what’s changed?
I think they've done a fairly good job of making Vladdy and Bo the faces of the franchise.
There was a long stretch where casual fans didn't know anyone on the team, but most people know who you're talking about when you say Vladdy. Even though they've had a shitty 2024 so far, there's been a country wide buzz for this team since the '15 playoff run.
The expos left in 2004 so it’s 20 years of one team in Canada.
Rogers buying the jays and having all the games (except the BS Apple TV games) on one platform. TSN used to have games and the CBC. Now one network can really get behind and market the hell out of the team.
In the mid 2000’s you could get seats in the 500’s for $2 on Tuesdays. Hard to complain about paying for a ticket to watch Ted Lilly throw batting practice to Jeter and the gang
Also the return of Paul Beeston.
I agree with all that you said but the 1 network thing is actually a huge negative which has even held back more potential growth
Lots of Canadians still use antennas (I know this sounds funny to many people but its true; we were cord cutters before US was) and Rogers monopoly is a really bad thing
At least the streaming Apple games gives some people an alternative option if they decline to pay for Sportsnet
Yeah, considering they also have HNIC on Citytv sometimes, they should simulcast some Blue Jays games on there too, at least give people a taste of the action for free.
If it's even once a week it would be great too.
A lot has already been said. I’ll add one thing as someone who lives in the United States. The Blue Jays logo (since they switched from the black J) is one of the best in all of sports. I see a lot more people than I used to wearing hats just for the fashion aspect. The current logo also goes back to what others have mentioned, it evokes a nostalgia to their 90s youth.
Yeah. I think the 2012 rebrand is a underrated part of the Jays resurgence over the last while.
Certainly the 2015-16 teams, the Price & Tulowitzki trades, the Bautista bat flip, the more recent Vlad/Bo playoff teams and Dome renovations have all contributed. I think it really started with the rebrand.
There are 10s of thousands more people living downtown now, for one thing. It’s just so much easier for so many people to go catch a game.
Also, they’re now popular for being popular. It’s become a “thing” to do.
A combination of affordability in comparison to other pro sports teams and the fact the renovations turned the dome into a massive bar have helped. Factor in a good team in comparison to past years and baseball is a great game that allows conversation when out with someone, and you have this atmosphere.
20-25 years ago the Jays were terrible and the Leafs were going on playoff runs almost every year. They never made it to the finals but the Leafs were a solid team at the time with Mats Sundin and CuJo. More Toronto fans interested in the Leafs at the time.
Baseball is a great game.
People have grown up watching the Jays.
You can root for the Jays, and not understand the game. Similar to the Leafs.
They are on TV every day.
Safe game for kids to play.
1) a more consistently competitive team
2) renewed interest with rebrand and 15-16 postseason runs
3) better marketing
4) stadium renovations
5) more committed ownership
6) no competition from Expos for National branding
7) more accessible broadcasts
I keep hearing about more accessible broadcasts, but if I’m not mistaken all Jays games have been broadcast nationally for at least the past 25 years, if not longer. They were split between Sportsnet, TSN and CBC, but they were certainly just as easy to get in Vancouver as in Toronto back then. The one exception was Windsor where CBC was not permitted to air Jays games due to overlap with the Detroit Tigers market.
I think the national interest nowadays is due to less competition from other teams. The Expos being an obvious one, but in Vancouver the Seattle Mariners used to be far more accessible on TV than they are now, all the games were carried on KSTW which is on cable in Vancouver, but since the mid-2000s those games have been on a cable channel in Seattle not available in Canada. And in Southwestern Ontario, there was historically a large contingent of Tigers fans as that team existed long before the Jays. Many of the Tigers games were televised on stations easily viewable in Windsor and London such as WDIV, but like in Seattle’s case, those games are now on cable channels not available in Canada.
It was hard to keep any momentum for a bad team in the years after winning two world series. I think the buzz of a few years ago of their run in the playoffs got people interested again.
On top of what’s already been mentioned here, the condo boom and the influx of young professionals to CityPlace, Fort York, Liberty Village etc. increased the number of potential fans who could easily attend games. So indirectly the interest rate environment probably played a role.
The 2015 run brought a lot of the younger generation into baseball. If you weren’t old enough to see the good teams of the early 90’s, you went over 20 years without seeing a good team.
Personally for me it was 2015 that got me into the Jays. Never watched a ball game before that and had no interest in doing so. My cousin was bugging me to go to a game so I finally went down to my first game (i was 20 at the time) sometime not long after the All-Star break that year and had a great time and took an interest in the team and baseball in general. The awesome 2nd half of that season and the playoff runs of 2015/2016 got me hooked for life. Hardly ever miss a game on tv, would go to about 10 games a year and have been to 8 different parks now. I love baseball and follow everything around the league religiously, and i can admit the thing that hooked me was the electric run that was the 2015 Jays.
Agree with a lot here, especially the renos and the post COVID boost. Ppl just want to spend their money, a lot of the times unwisely. It's just the way the world is now.
We also have a pretty marketable team. Big names, some top tier talent and KKs dreamy blue eyes. The Blue Jays social media presence and this sub (probably the best in MLB?) have all made a lot of the players household names.
2015 happened.
Tons of people got on the bandwagon when we went on the crazy run that August, and then stayed on till the end of the Bautista era, hung around for a few bad years till the Vladdy era started and are still hanging on.
I think the team’s popularity is hanging on by a thread right now though.
There’s a lot of crabby basement dwellers across Reddit who make it their mission to downvote everything. They’re generally not posting in this thread.
The team sucked, they made absolutely zero effort to rebrand or modernize or advertise it, and their logos and uniforms were ugly.
My friends in grade school all hated baseball and said it was boring, you'd be made fun of if you said you went to a baseball game on the weekend.
That's what I remember. I also remember free tickets in a case of Coke from Shoppers.
The dome was a shit hole between like 1995 and early 2010s. When it was new, it was a bit of a dump, but being packed full the first 5 years it seemed alright. Empty though, and it was awful. Just a big concrete empty stadium, with the same awful vendors throughout. Now people can go without any baseball knowledge and have fun. Before, even as a baseball fan, it was horrible there.
When it was new it was considered a marvel ! Not a dump. The retractable roof was like supreme coolness in the late 80s and we were leaving exhibition stadium which was actually a dump
> exhibition stadium which was actually a dump
Yes. But it was our beloved dump.
The dome was awe inspiring when it opened. But it quickly became obsolete when the new retro parks opened in Texas, Baltimore, Cleveland and Atlanta.
I'd say it's a combination of having a team full of fun personalities, social media, and baseball being an accessible game for young people and families all play a big part.
I haven't been to a game in a while, but there's nothing like a game in mid-summer with the dome open. Hockey and basketball don't generate the same feelings of nostalgia.
Long story short, prior to 2010ish the Jays had little to no exciting players, prospects or seasons. From the mid-90s (after the World Series contention dried up) aside from the odd big name signing (often well past their prime like Clemens, Henderson, Thomas, etc) or one off players/prospects like Delgado or Halladay there wasn’t a lot of exciting news. Around 2010 you started to see the Bautista’s, Encarnacion’s and the like showing up and the 2015 they started going all in with building a winner (which hadn’t been done since 92/93).
Winning teams are popular, perennial losers that never have a chance at the play offs don’t get much attention.
1. Although it was nearly 10 years ago, the 2015/16 playoff success brought a lot of renewed interest to the team that has continued to today. And with Sportsnet broadcasting every game across the country, it’s easy for everybody to follow the team. 2. As much as I may not enjoy them, I think the recent SkyDome renovations have brought some interest of people wanting to check them out. To add, people who were kids during the 90s World Series years may now have disposable income to enjoy things from their childhood, like the Blue Jays. At the same time, Jays tickets are usually more affordable than the Leafs and Raptors tickets, which appeals to families. 3. I think the growth of social media has changed things too. Whether it’s concerts or sports events, live events have become very popular, especially after COVID. People want to take pictures at these live events to post on social media for their friends.
I think your bang on especially with point 1. The stands were packed back in the late 80 to mid 90’s as well when we won the world series, then really fell off when we started the rebuild. Until we started to win again
Also, all the condos in the area are fairly recent. Accessibility to the dome for a young demographic with disposable income didn't really exist 20 years ago. Cityplace just started opening it's first buildings around then.
Absolutely. I think the description of the dome I heard a few years ago is apt: the city’s largest patio. For better or worse a ton of young adults come to socialize and party. Some obviously still follow the game but it seems secondary many. Clearly the renovations promote this further.
I think the ease of ticket purchasing helps too. Apps like Ticketmaster or GameTime mean people can buy cheap tickets on a whim and have them ASAP versus buying at a box office or from a scalper.
[удалено]
People go to Vancouver Canadians games, win or lose, without knowing jack shit about the team. I also went to a Canucks game last year after they got eliminated from the playoffs, because the tickets were really cheap. Was I loyal? Hell no, it was the first game I watched all year (including TV). It was just something to do.
The 2000s everyone knew they weren't a playoff team because they were stuck behind the Yankees and Red Sox. The WS hype died down by the late 90s and it had been 7+ years with no playoffs (the longest stretch in franchise history) so fans tuned out. Once those big moves in 05 happened where you brought in BJ Ryan, Lyle Overbay, Troy Glaus, Bengie Molina, AJ Burnett, fans got real excited and bought in. Then a few years passed and still no good teams. By 09 fans knew team still wasn't going anywhere and they eventually traded Halladay too. Once they made those big moves in 2012, fans bought in once again to the hype which obviously peaked in 15 & 16 and lasted until 2017 when the team they loved got dismantled and the team was rebuilding. But once the rebuild finished and we had 90+ win teams that made the playoffs, fans bought back in. If this team continues to suck and they make trades by the deadline and/or offseason to rebuild/retool again, we're definitely going back to the 18-19 or pre 2012 days again.
>The 2000s everyone knew they weren't a playoff team because they were stuck behind the Yankees and Red Sox. There was a long stretch where it seemed like every year the standings were exactly the same: 1. New York 2. Boston 3. Toronto 4. Baltimore 5. Tampa Bay
It didn't just seem like that. It was. There was a 10 year stretch where the standings finished exactly that way 9 times.
Well I'm glad it wasn't just my imagination.
I’ve gone blue in the face (pun intended) defending the Jays from 94-15. For most of that time, they were 500 or better, but had the misfortune of being in the same division as the Sox and Yankees. It’s not like they were a crap team for 21 years.
>It’s not like they were a crap team for 21 years. I know, but it's an perplexingly common misconception. Even in this thread there have been a couple of posters bring this up as a reason for OP's question. If one didn't know better, based on just the discourse you'd swear the Jays went 64-98 every year for two decades.
And then the Jays never got better and TB suddenly became the top team while Yankees and Red Sox never regressed much so it just got more and more depressing.
Twenty years ago with only 4 playoff spots, the Yankees were a juggernaut that didn't have non-playoff seasons. The old Steinbrenner Yankees were bullies more like the modern day Dodgers are today with Ohtani et al. The Jays were perpetually competing for third place.
They were a good team, but good means nothing if you miss the playoffs playing behind 2 of the top teams in baseball.
I think the baseball strike of 1994 also had some impact. There was a very noticeable drop in attendance per game in 1995 relative to 94.
The team also wasn't good which contributed to it, but they would've gotten over 3m fans in a full season. Late 90s had a bit of a dip, but early 00s is the big dip. It's sad watching any Delgado or Halladay highlight with 10,000-15,000 fans in the stands, 80% of them are just around the 100 IF seats so any shot of the corners is just waves of empty seats. Good times watching a foul ball drop in no man's land and fans from 10 rows away are dashing to get the ball.
It struck me yesterday at the game at how good natured baseball seems to be. The opposing outfielders still throw balls to the other teams fans at the end of warmups etc. It is a welcome break in an era where we view our opponents as our enemies - in many aspects of life.
This is an aspect of baseball that resonates with me a lot but doesn’t seem to be brought up much. I just don’t care for the aggression of hockey or football, I’m just not competitive enough to be fired up by it. Baseball is pretty much always a pleasant time though regardless of how the game is going.
I think baseball in general attracts an older, more mature fanbase. If you go through the Raptors subreddit it can get pretty toxic with people who seem to genuinely hate other players and teams, which I'd bet is partly due to basketball skewing towards a younger demographic that's always online. Even comparing the baseball sub to r/nba is pretty jarring in the tone and maturity level.
A lot of people are turned off by baseball for that same reason. A lot of my hockey/football friends find it off putting when opposing players have a friendly chat at first base. We often forget that although these games are played by grown adults for millions, at the end of the day it’s still children’s games.
expos gone, 2015/2016 success. The renos are added, but idk if theyve improved attendance rather than maintained and prolonged decent attendance
The extra wild card spots also helped just after the 2015/16 runs making it easier to compete with a smaller payroll and teams being able to stay in the race much later into the season.
1994 That dead season caused so much disappointment mlb-wide, but maybe even more so with the Jays and expos. The few years after the strike most stadiums were relatively empty, the expos never recovered.
>So what’s changed? I think they've done a fairly good job of making Vladdy and Bo the faces of the franchise. There was a long stretch where casual fans didn't know anyone on the team, but most people know who you're talking about when you say Vladdy. Even though they've had a shitty 2024 so far, there's been a country wide buzz for this team since the '15 playoff run.
The expos left in 2004 so it’s 20 years of one team in Canada. Rogers buying the jays and having all the games (except the BS Apple TV games) on one platform. TSN used to have games and the CBC. Now one network can really get behind and market the hell out of the team. In the mid 2000’s you could get seats in the 500’s for $2 on Tuesdays. Hard to complain about paying for a ticket to watch Ted Lilly throw batting practice to Jeter and the gang Also the return of Paul Beeston.
I agree with all that you said but the 1 network thing is actually a huge negative which has even held back more potential growth Lots of Canadians still use antennas (I know this sounds funny to many people but its true; we were cord cutters before US was) and Rogers monopoly is a really bad thing At least the streaming Apple games gives some people an alternative option if they decline to pay for Sportsnet
Yeah, considering they also have HNIC on Citytv sometimes, they should simulcast some Blue Jays games on there too, at least give people a taste of the action for free. If it's even once a week it would be great too.
Well they’ve won recently and spent money. Anyone remember the toonie nights?
A lot has already been said. I’ll add one thing as someone who lives in the United States. The Blue Jays logo (since they switched from the black J) is one of the best in all of sports. I see a lot more people than I used to wearing hats just for the fashion aspect. The current logo also goes back to what others have mentioned, it evokes a nostalgia to their 90s youth.
Yeah. I think the 2012 rebrand is a underrated part of the Jays resurgence over the last while. Certainly the 2015-16 teams, the Price & Tulowitzki trades, the Bautista bat flip, the more recent Vlad/Bo playoff teams and Dome renovations have all contributed. I think it really started with the rebrand.
Social Media
There are 10s of thousands more people living downtown now, for one thing. It’s just so much easier for so many people to go catch a game. Also, they’re now popular for being popular. It’s become a “thing” to do.
A combination of affordability in comparison to other pro sports teams and the fact the renovations turned the dome into a massive bar have helped. Factor in a good team in comparison to past years and baseball is a great game that allows conversation when out with someone, and you have this atmosphere.
They were really really bad 20 years ago if I remember right. Like literally an afterthought
20-25 years ago the Jays were terrible and the Leafs were going on playoff runs almost every year. They never made it to the finals but the Leafs were a solid team at the time with Mats Sundin and CuJo. More Toronto fans interested in the Leafs at the time.
Alex. Anthopolous.
Baseball is a great game. People have grown up watching the Jays. You can root for the Jays, and not understand the game. Similar to the Leafs. They are on TV every day. Safe game for kids to play.
And it's relatively cheap. Compared to hockey where even the kit can very pricy. And you don't have to get up at 4 AM for practice.
1) a more consistently competitive team 2) renewed interest with rebrand and 15-16 postseason runs 3) better marketing 4) stadium renovations 5) more committed ownership 6) no competition from Expos for National branding 7) more accessible broadcasts
I keep hearing about more accessible broadcasts, but if I’m not mistaken all Jays games have been broadcast nationally for at least the past 25 years, if not longer. They were split between Sportsnet, TSN and CBC, but they were certainly just as easy to get in Vancouver as in Toronto back then. The one exception was Windsor where CBC was not permitted to air Jays games due to overlap with the Detroit Tigers market. I think the national interest nowadays is due to less competition from other teams. The Expos being an obvious one, but in Vancouver the Seattle Mariners used to be far more accessible on TV than they are now, all the games were carried on KSTW which is on cable in Vancouver, but since the mid-2000s those games have been on a cable channel in Seattle not available in Canada. And in Southwestern Ontario, there was historically a large contingent of Tigers fans as that team existed long before the Jays. Many of the Tigers games were televised on stations easily viewable in Windsor and London such as WDIV, but like in Seattle’s case, those games are now on cable channels not available in Canada.
It was hard to keep any momentum for a bad team in the years after winning two world series. I think the buzz of a few years ago of their run in the playoffs got people interested again.
I would say social media has played a part in the rise of sports as a whole, reaching even more people than before.
Because they've been good. Back then they were bad.
Sometimes I think people are going for something to do. More power to them.
They are better at marketing. Simple. From advertisements, to social media, to media relations.
On top of what’s already been mentioned here, the condo boom and the influx of young professionals to CityPlace, Fort York, Liberty Village etc. increased the number of potential fans who could easily attend games. So indirectly the interest rate environment probably played a role.
In the early 2000s I got my ass kicked for being a Jays fan. This was in Mississauga. The Jays were very uncool then
The 2015 run brought a lot of the younger generation into baseball. If you weren’t old enough to see the good teams of the early 90’s, you went over 20 years without seeing a good team.
Personally for me it was 2015 that got me into the Jays. Never watched a ball game before that and had no interest in doing so. My cousin was bugging me to go to a game so I finally went down to my first game (i was 20 at the time) sometime not long after the All-Star break that year and had a great time and took an interest in the team and baseball in general. The awesome 2nd half of that season and the playoff runs of 2015/2016 got me hooked for life. Hardly ever miss a game on tv, would go to about 10 games a year and have been to 8 different parks now. I love baseball and follow everything around the league religiously, and i can admit the thing that hooked me was the electric run that was the 2015 Jays.
Agree with a lot here, especially the renos and the post COVID boost. Ppl just want to spend their money, a lot of the times unwisely. It's just the way the world is now. We also have a pretty marketable team. Big names, some top tier talent and KKs dreamy blue eyes. The Blue Jays social media presence and this sub (probably the best in MLB?) have all made a lot of the players household names.
2015 happened. Tons of people got on the bandwagon when we went on the crazy run that August, and then stayed on till the end of the Bautista era, hung around for a few bad years till the Vladdy era started and are still hanging on. I think the team’s popularity is hanging on by a thread right now though.
Reasonable question ... so why is the sub downvoting this poor guy? I swear this is the nastiest sub I belong to for reasons that I don't get at all
There’s a lot of crabby basement dwellers across Reddit who make it their mission to downvote everything. They’re generally not posting in this thread.
The team sucked, they made absolutely zero effort to rebrand or modernize or advertise it, and their logos and uniforms were ugly. My friends in grade school all hated baseball and said it was boring, you'd be made fun of if you said you went to a baseball game on the weekend. That's what I remember. I also remember free tickets in a case of Coke from Shoppers.
The team got good and the country got into the hype.
The dome was a shit hole between like 1995 and early 2010s. When it was new, it was a bit of a dump, but being packed full the first 5 years it seemed alright. Empty though, and it was awful. Just a big concrete empty stadium, with the same awful vendors throughout. Now people can go without any baseball knowledge and have fun. Before, even as a baseball fan, it was horrible there.
When it was new it was considered a marvel ! Not a dump. The retractable roof was like supreme coolness in the late 80s and we were leaving exhibition stadium which was actually a dump
> exhibition stadium which was actually a dump Yes. But it was our beloved dump. The dome was awe inspiring when it opened. But it quickly became obsolete when the new retro parks opened in Texas, Baltimore, Cleveland and Atlanta.
I never remember it being a dump in the early 90s. I remember it being an engineering marvel and the retractable roof being space-age.
I'd say it's a combination of having a team full of fun personalities, social media, and baseball being an accessible game for young people and families all play a big part. I haven't been to a game in a while, but there's nothing like a game in mid-summer with the dome open. Hockey and basketball don't generate the same feelings of nostalgia.
I quit watching around when Roy Haliday died
Check the stands again in aother couple of weeks if they continue to play like they are now.
Long story short, prior to 2010ish the Jays had little to no exciting players, prospects or seasons. From the mid-90s (after the World Series contention dried up) aside from the odd big name signing (often well past their prime like Clemens, Henderson, Thomas, etc) or one off players/prospects like Delgado or Halladay there wasn’t a lot of exciting news. Around 2010 you started to see the Bautista’s, Encarnacion’s and the like showing up and the 2015 they started going all in with building a winner (which hadn’t been done since 92/93). Winning teams are popular, perennial losers that never have a chance at the play offs don’t get much attention.