Blue Jays partnership could be homerun for New Brunswick: marketing professor

New Brunswick is forging a $1.6 million partnership with the Blue Jays to bolster tourism, a move a marketing expert says may be a homerun.

New Brunswick is swinging for the fences with its latest partnership.

The Government of New Brunswick is partnering with Canada’s lone baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays, over the next three years to promote the province as a tourism destination for Canadians. A day after the announcement, Tourism, Heritage and Culture Minister Isabelle Thériault says the campaign has been dubbed “Get a sense of New Brunswick.”

“The goal of our department is to promote New Brunswick and to showcase New Brunswick as a unique destination, a national tourism destination, and sport events are great places to catch people’s attention,” says the minister.

The deal comes at a price tag of $1,624,000 over the course of three years. The money will be used for promotional game-day experiences, national contests, as well as storytelling and media opportunities.

Thériault says the province did similar promotions with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens last year. While no numbers were available to back it up, Thériault believes those promotions helped the province to a very strong 2025 summer season for tourism.

“We know that during a sport game, people are excited, people are enthusiastic,” she says. “So, it’s a good moment to get their attention and make them dream about New Brunswick.”

The deal will also help the province achieve its goal of increasing its annual tourism revenue to $3.7 billion by 2031 the minister says.

Yunzhijun Yu is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of New Brunswick within the faculty of management. She says the success of the deal won’t be known for years but says the logic in doing a deal with a brand like the Blue Jays is a homerun.

“The Blue Jays are one of the few brands that can give you real coast-to-coast Canadian rich,” says Yu. “Then they also have something most advertising cannot buy, which in this case is really just fans emotional engagement.”

When people are watching streaming services or videos on social media it is easy to skip ads. However, Yu says sports fans tend to be more engage with what they are seeing.

But with praise for the deal comes some questions.

In 2024, Prince Edward Island signed a deal with the National Hockey League to brand the province as an official travel destination of the NHL. The deal was worth $2.5 million and was met with some backlash as people questioned if they money should have been spent elsewhere.

Similar questions have been asked in New Brunswick, with the most recent budget featuring cuts to the tourism sector resulting in uncertainly for the future on a number of long standing attractions in the province like Cape Enrage.

When asked if the money would have been better spent locally, Yu says it depends.

“If it’s just like logos at stadiums, it’s probably not going to be a great return,” she says. “But if it’s storytelling, if it’s like game-day experiences that could really showcase the province, then the value would compound.”

In a statement to CTV Atlantic, Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick CEO Ginette Doiron says any opportunity to position New Brunswick as a premier destination is welcomed by the industry.

“From our perspective, initiatives like this can contribute to strengthening the province’s visibility and supporting broader tourism growth objectives, especially when they complement the momentum already underway across the sector,” says Doiron. “Our industry is ready to capitalize on opportunities that help drive visitation and reinforce New Brunswick’s reputation as a destination of choice.”

But Doiron notes success will be measure by tangible return on the government’s investment and looks forward to the partnerships results.

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