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Singapore is a good comparison to Toronto, both are good business travel destinations, with similar international appeal. I mean the statistics is not limited to purely leisure purposes, as there other types of travellers do exist
Singapore is a good comparison to Toronto, both are good business travel destinations, with similar international appeal. I mean the statistics is not limited to purely leisure purposes, as there other types of travellers do exist
Actually, I agree somewhat. They are both known business centers (though Singapore is more important) and both have high quality of life, but both are known for being boring and anonymous, and not really touristy.
Not saying Toronto doesn't have any interesting attractions, but stuff like being a country's air travel hub and main point of entry, its main centre of business (lots of people go there for work-related stuff) and home to people of every single origin in the world (lots of visiting relatives from around the world) contribute greatly to visitor numbers.
I agree. Toronto is a centre of business, finance, etc but what comes along with that is the diversity. Not just diversity of people but the diversity of events, cultural events, festivals, visiting family from all over the world and so on. These are some of the things Toronto is mainly known and attracts people to the city. Toronto is not a historical city like Philly or Boston, so if one is expecting that from Toronto be on the same historical level as Montreal, Boston, NYC, they need to think again. But the culture, importance is for sure there. History...somewhat.
In terms of being more globally recognized (forget baseball) my money is still on Rogers... Let me flip this- What would make you choose Fenway other than it being more recognized/iconic in the United States? Take into account Toronto has more International tourists than Boston... think carefully about it - we are not talking about the U.S we are talking about the world.. There's also an engineering aspect to Rogers that may speak a bit to this in addition to a prominent location at the base of another iconic structure that is in one of the most recognized skylines in the world..
I think the issue here is that you are probably not a sports fan so you can't appreciate Fenway. If you were a baseball fan or a sports nut, you will want to see Fenway, Wrigley and Yankee Stadium as these represent iconic stadiums with a history and atmosphere that you cannot replicate. I'm a Jay fan but I'm sure every real Jay / baseball fan (not bandwagon jumpers but people who really understand the sport) would much rather watch a game in Fenway than Rogers Stadium, which is a modern, generic multi-purpose entity and not a pure traditional baseball stadium. All my buddies who came to visit me in Boston have at least attempted to do a Red Sox game because they are big sports fans. When they couldn't, they did a stadium tour instead because they want a picture with the green monster in the background. The vicinity around Fenway is rammed with bars and clubs which get packed every single game both before and after games. When you are going out to Red Sox game, it's usually a late night for most and hence understandable to stroll into the office a few minutes late the next am. I know Jay games are not like this because I've been to tonnes of them. But that's the way it is in Boston. Boston is the biggest sports town on this continent and sports defines a big part of the culture here. People love to compete and love their teams, which are among the oldest on the continent. Sports fans understand this and hence respect Fenway as an institution.
Last edited by johnathanc; 08-22-2013 at 07:37 AM..
I see Yankees hat here yes and even Boston Red Sox. But in general baseball cap as a fashion is not nearly as popular as it is in us or Canada. Second people who wears them probably don't even know is a baseball team logo. Yes for Yankees they probably have more awareness.
I'd be interested to know, which part of Europe you may be from? Maye conducting a survey would be a better way to prove one point over the other. Or maybe just look at how many different types of major league games are broadcasted in each country and which channel try are broadcasted in. I'm fairly sure nhl is more popular than mlb in a large chunk of Europe but what do I know really.
Ice hockey's big disadvantage is that you need ice to play it and most places in the world don't have ice (natural nor artificial) readily available.
Looking at international federations is not 100% reliable but hockey's has 70 member countries which sounds a bit dubious - I would guess that many members probably have only one indoor ice rink in the entire country.
Baseball's has about 120. Of course, they're not all nuts about baseball, but conceivably most of them have grass and there are more opportunities to play baseball than hockey in, say, Thailand (which is a member of both).
It is also important to point out that when I am talking about the Red Sox/baseball/Fenway Park being more of an attraction, I am not saying that any people around the world will talk about Bill Buckner's error than cost the Red Sox the World Series in 1986... What I am saying is that they probably have seen images of a baseball game being played in an old stadium, and have an idea that Boston has a team playing that sport that is named the Red Sox.
You have things that are in people's minds and things that aren't so much.
I don't think it's a big stretch to say that when a lot of people around the world think of the U.S. and sports, they often think of something like this:
Ice hockey's big disadvantage is that you need ice to play it and most places in the world don't have ice (natural nor artificial) readily available.
Looking at international federations is not 100% reliable but hockey's has 70 member countries which sounds a bit dubious - I would guess that many members probably have only one indoor ice rink in the entire country.
Baseball's has about 120. Of course, they're not all nuts about baseball, but conceivably most of them have grass and there are more opportunities to play baseball than hockey in, say, Thailand (which is a member of both).
It is also important to point out that when I am talking about the Red Sox/baseball/Fenway Park being more of an attraction, I am not saying that any people around the world will talk about Bill Buckner's error than cost the Red Sox the World Series in 1986... What I am saying is that they probably have seen images of a baseball game being played in an old stadium, and have an idea that Boston has a team playing that sport that is named the Red Sox.
You have things that are in people's minds and things that aren't so much.
I don't think it's a big stretch to say that when a lot of people around the world think of the U.S. and sports, they often think of something like this:
I think its fair to say that baseball is more known worldwide as a sport given the popularity in North America, parts of Central/South America, Caribbean and some countries in Asia. It covers more geography. Baseball is also associated with the US like soccer (football) with Europe and Hockey with Canada.
But I've noticed Red Sox and Yankees hats/paraphernalia everywhere from the UK to Tokyo to Cape Town to Montreal. I can't think of any other team from any other sport that I consistently see somewhere else. Maybe the Lakers or Real Madrid to lower extent?
I think the issue here is that you are probably not a sports fan so you can't appreciate Fenway. If you were a baseball fan or a sports nut, you will want to see Fenway, Wrigley and Yankee Stadium as these represent iconic stadiums with a history and atmosphere that you cannot replicate. I'm a Jay fan but I'm sure every real Jay / baseball fan (not bandwagon jumpers but people who really understand the sport) would much rather watch a game in Fenway than Rogers Stadium, which is a modern, generic multi-purpose entity and not a pure traditional baseball stadium. All my buddies who came to visit me in Boston have at least attempted to do a Red Sox game because they are big sports fans. When they couldn't, they did a stadium tour instead because they want a picture with the green monster in the background. The vicinity around Fenway is rammed with bars and clubs which get packed every single game both before and after games. When you are going out to Red Sox game, it's usually a late night for most and hence understandable to stroll into the office a few minutes late the next am. I know Jay games are not like this because I've been to tonnes of them. But that's the way it is in Boston. Boston is the biggest sports town on this continent and sports defines a big part of the culture here. People love to compete and love their teams, which are among the oldest on the continent. Sports fans understand this and hence respect Fenway as an institution.
Good post. I think you and I can relate to this the most because we have experience entertaining people from Toronto in Boston. Everyone who visits me wants to see Fenway Park or go to a game, its just one of the things on everyones radar. Heck even my father in law who doesn't even like baseball asked to go to a game because it was the "thing to do"
The atmosphere at Fenway and as you mentioned before and after the games are not rivaled by anything in Toronto other than the Leafs, the Jays are not in the same category.
Singapore is a good comparison to Toronto, both are good business travel destinations, with similar international appeal. I mean the statistics is not limited to purely leisure purposes, as there other types of travellers do exist
I like the Singapore comparison as well.
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