How Toronto’s Hotels, Venues and Restaurants Rallied Behind the Blue Jays

Everyone in Toronto may be a little bit heartbroken at the moment, but we couldn’t let this historic moment go by without acknowledging the way everyone across the city came together for the Blue Jays during their playoff run this fall. 

Everywhere you looked, Canada’s underdog baseball team was on display: Toronto sports teams reworked their logos to feature the Blue Jays and every city firetruck flew a blue and white flag. Toronto hotels, venues and restaurants got in on the action too, from hosting watch parties to offering Blue Jays-themed food and drink.

Here’s how the city’s hospitality scene embraced the Blue Jays this October and what meeting planners can learn from this remarkable cultural moment to create memorable events.

Hotels

The hotel with the most obvious number-one Blue Jays fan energy is none other than the Toronto Marriott City Centre, the hotel that boasts 70 suites overlooking the Rogers Centre baseball field. Their social-media marketing during October was on point: didn’t get a ticket? Organize a watch party in a room instead. (And with the price of resale tickets, a hotel room seemed like the deal of the century.)

Then there were the accommodations across the city that catered to thousands of Canadians who would be making the trek to Toronto to watch the Jays take on the Yankees, Mariners and Dodgers. At SoHo Hotel, for example, you could show your baseball ticket and get 15 per cent off your stay.

Hotels like the downtown outpost of Novotel went all in on the Jays frenzy: they streamed the games in common spaces and offered Jays-themed cocktails and mocktails like the Springer Dinger with vodka, blue curacao, lime and soda, and I Born Ready a.k.a. a Vladdy margarita.

Meeting planner takeaway: Create opportunities for communal moments. Guests didn’t want to watch the game alone, they wanted to experience the wins together. Meeting planners can do the same by creating social spaces where connection and networking happen naturally. 

Venues

Of course, the Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, went all out celebrating the World Series-bound team this year. The venue is always a Jays superfan, but during October, they amped it up even further, from themed cocktails to ticket giveaways to merch galore. They also hosted watch parties during away games so the fans could continue celebrating together.

Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, showed their hometown pride by rescheduling games so they didn’t conflict with Jays playoff matchups and hosting epic stadium watch parties of their own. Tickets were just $15, which went to charity.

Beyond the big sports arenas, outdoor spaces all across the city, such as Nathan Phillips Square outside Toronto City Hall, Aga Khan Park, the University of Toronto and RendezViews, hosted free watch parties. At Nathan Phillips Square, the chill in the air didn’t stand a chance against DJs, Blue Jays trivia between innings, food trucks and thousands of people cheering together.

Meeting planner takeaway: Small details will elevate an ordinary event into an extraordinary one. Whether it’s a curated cocktail or dish, custom merch, on-brand décor and music or fun activations like games or trivia, everyone loves when event planners go all in on a theme.

Restaurants

Although it may have seemed that every single one of Toronto’s 10,000 restaurants was jumping on the bandwagon (we’re here for it!), Left Field Brewery, the city’s only year-round baseball-themed brewery, delivered what they’re always known for: watch parties, ballpark-inspired food (think: hot dogs, nachos, wings and pizza) and baseball décor everywhere in sight.

The Pint, a popular sports bar located right next to the Rogers Centre, hosted a spooky-meets-baseball party called Boo Jays Night when Game Six of the World Series (in)conveniently took place on Halloween. And Sneaky Dee’s, a dive bar on College Street, transformed their upstairs dance floor into a projector-powered watch party and made their own whimsical Blue Jays logos.

Craig’s Cookies, the iconic Toronto bakery, made a blue cookie with Oreos and white chocolate chips, whereas Continental Noodles crafted limited-edition blue and white pasta, and French Made served a blue matcha latte. Carousel Bakery, inside St. Lawrence Market, marked the last time the Jays won the World Series in 1993 by serving a peameal bacon sandwich and lemonade for $9.93.