Interest in the "once downtrodden" Blue Jays has "surged following last week’s deadline trades" for SS Troy Tulowitzki and P David Price, according to Daniel Otis of the TORONTO STAR. Through Monday’s game, in which Price debuted for the club, home attendance "was at 1,594,933 for the year -- nearly fifty thousand higher than at the same point last year." Monday’s crowd of 45,766 "was the sixth sellout of the season." With more than 50 games left in the regular season, it "looks like the Jays will be able to surpass the 13 sellouts they enjoyed" in '14. The demand for tickets "is reaching new levels." StubHub Country Manager for Canada Jeff Poirier said, "2015 is going to end up being the highest-selling season StubHub has had for Blue Jays tickets." He added that the four games through the long weekend -- Friday to Monday -- "were the highest-grossing days for Blue Jays tickets since the site began offering them" in '11. SeatGeek reported a "surge in ticket prices for Monday’s game, from an average of $37 to $69 [all figures C], after it was announced" that Price would be starting. SeatGeek analyst Clint Cutchins said, "The David Price trade was enough to singlehandedly make Monday’s game the Blue Jays’ most expensive home game of the season." Otis notes merchandise sales "are also up." On Saturday and Sunday, the Jays reported selling more than 700 Tulowitzki t-shirts and 300 of his jerseys, making it "one of the biggest overall merchandise weekends in the club’s history." Overall, the Jays have reported a 40% increase in merchandise "over the past several days" (TORONTO STAR, 8/5). The CP noted before the Price trade, an estimated $60,000 "had been spent on tickets on the secondary market for Monday's game." In the five days between the trade and his first start, an estimated $300,000 "was spent on the secondary market for the game" (CP, 8/4).
