The Blue Jays have been denied approval from the Canadian federal government to play their regular season games in Toronto, the club announced on Saturday.
The club is in the process of finalizing the best home location for the 2020 season.
“From the onset of discussions with league and government officials, the safety of the broader community -- our fans -- and the team remained the priority of everyone involved, and with that, the club completely respects the federal government’s decision,” Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said in a statement. “Though our team will not be playing home games at Rogers Centre this summer, our players will take the field for the 2020 season with the same pride and passion representative of an entire nation. We cannot wait until the day comes that we can play in front of our fans again on Canadian soil.”
The club had received a federal exemption to carry out Summer Camp in Toronto, but the regular-season issue was a separate negotiation with the added complications of visiting teams crossing the Canada-U.S.A. border, which is still closed to all non-essential travel. The regular season also would have involved the Blue Jays traveling to American cities for road games, then returning home across the border.
In a statement announcing the decision, Canadian minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship Marco E. L. Mendicino left open the possibility that the decision could be revisited for potential postseason games in Toronto "should the risk of virus transmission diminish."
Player and staff have been operating under a strict “modified quarantine” plan through Summer Camp, which has seen them refined to Rogers Centre and the attached hotel. The club’s proposal for regular-season play, which had the support of the municipal government in Toronto and the province of Ontario, called for visiting teams to follow that same protocol with advanced testing.
Now, the Blue Jays are faced with even more uncertainty with Opening Day looming on July 24 and their home opener -- wherever home might be -- on July 29 against the Nationals.
The club’s Dunedin, Fla., complex had been Plan B for much of this process, but their Triple-A stadium in Buffalo, N.Y., has recently re-emerged as the likely candidate.
Challenges would remain in Buffalo, too, but many teams have found ways to creatively use space in concourses, suites and the bleachers, which will not be housing fans.
Time to shuffle off to Buffalo.
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