The plan did not start with the baseball game.
It started with a schedule, a bit of foresight, and a Calgary Flames logo on a hat.
By the time the Clipper pushed off from Victoria’s Inner Harbour, Greg Cundal already knew exactly why he was on board. The nearly three-hour trip to Seattle was not just travel; it was the middle piece of a weekend built around one game that quickly turned into two.
“I had this Vancouver Island trip booked, but I shamelessly booked it knowing that the Flames were playing in Seattle this weekend,” he said.
Cundal, a Calgary-based sales manager whose region spreads across Western Canada, was on one of his quarterly visits to Victoria. The rest fell into place around it.
“I reached out to a friend of mine who lives in Seattle and asked if he was around and if he wanted to catch a hockey game,” Cundal said, sporting a Calgary Flames hat. “So that’s kind of how it played out.”
Since he was already in town, Cundal kicked off his weekend at the ballpark.
“The baseball game tonight is a bonus, definitely a bonus,” he said with a big smile.
That extra perk came Friday night at T-Mobile Park, where nearly 45,000 fans packed the stadium to watch the Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros 9-6 in the first of three games during a weekend sweep. Before the first pitch, the club unveiled a statue honouring Ichiro Suzuki, who retired in 2019 as the record holder for foreign-born MLB hitters with 3,089 hits.
Seattle continues to draw big crowds after reaching the ALCS in 2025, sitting eighth in MLB in average attendance with 35,633 on average in their first six home games.
Less than 24 hours later, the focus shifted to Climate Pledge Arena, just kilometres away.
A crowd of 17,151 filled the building on April 11 as the Seattle Kraken hosted the Calgary Flames. The Kraken, who boast one of the highest attendance rates in the NHL at 100.3 per cent, delivered a 4-1 win behind netminder Nikke Kokko, who stopped 27 shots in his first NHL game.
On the other side, Mission, B.C.’s Abram Wiebe made his NHL debut for Calgary. Wiebe played 131 games across four seasons with the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCHL. Four of those games saw him suit up against the Grizzlies at the Q Centre in Colwood.
But for travelling fans like Cundal, the on-ice milestones are only half the appeal. The games were the anchor, but not the full story.
“Being able to tie that into a trip to see a city that you have never been to… It’s a given,” he said. “It’s a jumping off point, a reason to go.”
Once the game ends, the rest of the experience takes over.
“You get a chance to talk to the locals, make friends, have fun,” he said. “Ask them… where should we go and check out. I don’t want to look at Google. I want to listen to what you have to say.”
The Clipper plays a central role in making that possible. The downtown-to-downtown route removes the usual friction tied to travel, dropping passengers within three kilometres of Seattle’s major venues. No car, no parking, no long commute after the final whistle.
It is a different option for Victoria sports fans, many of whom look to Vancouver for similar trips. The Lower Mainland offers a full slate of teams across multiple leagues, but Seattle presents a compact alternative with the Mariners, Kraken, Seahawks, Storm, and Torrent within arm’s length. Soon, they could be joined by an NBA franchise, as the league officially voted to explore expansion in March.
And while the Seahawks are amid their off-season, months after claiming Super Bowl LX, the NFL team is a massive draw for Canadians, with a large contingent coming from Victoria. The Seahawks have nearly 4,000 Canadian season ticket holders, and average more than 25,000 single-game tickets sold to Canadian buyers each season.
The Meyers family – Jason, Malory, Teaghan, and Maddie – spent four days in Victoria after travelling from Saskatchewan, before taking the Clipper to Seattle for the Kraken and Flames matchup on April 11. (Tony Trozzo/Victoria News) (Tony Trozzo/Victoria News)
There are still factors working against cross-border travel.
Statistics Canada reports transborder traffic to the United States dropped 10.2 per cent in February compared to the same month in 2025, marking 13 straight months of declines. The February total also sat 12 per cent below 2024 levels, reflecting shifting travel patterns tied to costs and broader tensions.
Even with that, sports continue to stand out.
Clipper officials say Mariners series remain among the strongest draws on the calendar, with Blue Jays matchups leading the way and pacing toward sellouts again. Early demand tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup is also beginning to show, with booking patterns trending higher on certain days.
“Even though politics have pulled our two countries apart, sports is still something that brings people together,” said Nik Coutinho, director of sales and marketing. “Right now, that way is through the love and passion of sports.”
For some, it starts months in advance with a schedule and a bit of planning. For others, it takes shape on the fly.
Either way, the formula holds.
Pick a game, get on the boat, and let the weekend build itself from there.