Blue Jays and the Buffalo Economy

[HowAboutThat]

I tried to find out what was the economic impact for the city of Buffalo of the Blue Jays playing in Buffalo, but was unable to find anything.

interesting question though. I think a whole lot of people will be unhappy to see them leave.

[SteveA]

I doubt it was that much.  Last year's games were in front of no fans.  They played April and May in Dunedin.  So you are talking about maybe 30 games total in June/July.  Looks like they averaged about 7000/game in that stretch.  Of course they displaced the minor league team which is playing in Newark, and I would guess the minor league team would have gotten 2 or 3k per game.  So maybe 4500 extra fans for about 30 games?  How much does that really affect the economy.  It's not that much more than the Bills getting one extra home game in their 70k+ seat stadium this year as the NFL goes to a 17 game season.

[JimGinSP]

Not much for the normal MLB city but for Buffalo it will prove to be noticeable. Probably a better comp would be the Sabres.  If the Blue Jays were averaging 7,000 that would be about half the hockey night crowd.  Sahlen Field and Key Bank Arena are in downtown Buffalo, the Bills play out in Orchard Park.  Revenue from lodging the Blue Jays personnel and of course the visiting teams would be significant for a small market such as Buffalo.  
Taking it all the way down to hiring,  a baseball home stand could support a full time work week for a bartender a dishwasher, a hotel housekeeper or a barista.   That would have been true even last year with no fans only teams in hotels.  Comparatively, one football game every other week gives a temporary spike over about a 36 hour period. 

The biggest long term benefit to Buffalo, if they close to build on it, is the money the Blue Jays put into Sahlen Field.  

[JimGinSP]

51 minutes ago, JimGinSP said:

Just to clarify,  the homestand would support each of those occupations (I should not have used the “or” before barista). Probably 10 or more folks in room service!