2:10pm: The Pennsylvania Department of Health has formally vetoed the Blue Jays’ Pittsburgh plan, per Will Graves of the Associated Press (Twitter thread). In a statement issued to the AP, Dr. Rachel Levine said the following: “To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams.”
2:00pm: With the Blue Jays unable to play their home games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre in 2020, the club thought it had worked out an arrangement to use Pittsburgh’s PNC Park as an alternate site. That deal, however, appears to be in jeopardy. ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that neither the Jays nor MLB have received the go-ahead from the Pennsylvania government yet, adding that the team is again exploring alternate sites. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that the deal with Pittsburgh is “falling apart.”
Exactly what this means for the Jays remains unclear. They’ve previously explored playing home games at their spring facility in Dunedin, Fla., but Florida’s rapid rise in Covid-19 cases has complicated that idea. The Jays have been working to upgrade their Triple-A facilities in Buffalo in order to bring the lighting and clubhouses up to MLB code, although the organization’s preference has been to be able to play its “home” games in an MLB park, general manager Ross Atkins stated this week. Oriole Park at Camden Yards has also been suggested as an alternative, and the fact that the Pittsburgh plan appears in danger of being scrapped entirely could push the Jays to look more closely into that possibility.
One more extreme possibility, per Olney, would be for the Jays to travel to the home city of every team they’re scheduled to play in 2020, but function as the “home” team on days where they’d been scheduled to host an opponent. With fans unlikely to attend games for much or all of the 2020 season, that may not be quite as detrimental as it would be playing in front of each opponent’s fans, although the aggressive travel and constant changes in scenery would likely make that an unpalatable last resort.
The Jays don’t have a “home” game scheduled until July 29 when they’d host the Nationals, which provides at least a bit of cushion as the team scrambles to find a suitable venue. The clock is ticking, though, and Pennsylvania’s rejection casts some doubt on whether other U.S. cities — particularly those already home to one franchise — will be more amenable to welcoming the Jays for the length of the season.
Oh boy
The vagabond Blue Jays. Brooklyn has a stadium so to Staten Island so dose Trenton nj there’s an abandoned Sam’s Club that they could play in the parking lot
These players we’re gonna have to pay state tax city tax United States taxes provincial taxes and Canadian taxes. As my grandfather would say F me
They would only be required to pay taxes on money made in Canada. So since they are playing all their games in the US it would exempt them from Canadian taxes.
Here is the solution. I understand that the Jays WANT to play in a MLB facility, but that just isn’t likely.
MLB just needs to put them at Bowman field in Williamsport, PA. They have held the LL Classic there for the last few years, and obviously have the experience of making it a facility to host an MLB in season game.
If they need additional lighting, they already know exactly where and what they need. It would and should have been the easiest and quickest solution.
Williamsport is still in Pennsylvania.
Its not about being in PA. Its about sharing the same facility with twice as many people. The cleaning and sanitizing of equipment, all the protocols that are going into this season. The state doesn’t want that. However, if there was a 3rd separate location in the state, it would not be an issue.
You are incorrect. It has everything to do with entering the State…not the location, as the protocols have been approved for that site.
But good try…lol
All this talk about lighting is ridiculous. Play DAY games!
They should. MLB Network could use some fresh daytime programming. Great idea!
It’s not only lighting, it was also that Buffalo did not have MLB-level clubhouses. With social distancing and virus concerns, space and amenities are major issues for major league teams.
Barnstorming Blue Jays! So old school.
A cynic may think the governments of Canada and Pennsylvania are denying the Blue Jays the ability to play baseball to be seen as proactive in trying to prevent “Rona spread.
If Toronto sees a spike after hockey re-starts, we’ll see fingers being pointed in that direction and a “told you so” from others regarding the Blue Jays.
Daily cases in Ontario have been edging up since many businesses and patios were allowed to open. Not a spike, but worrisome enough. We don’t want to recharge the first wave.
Increase in testing will do that. If the death rate drops then that is the best takeaway here.
That actually has been the case in Southwestern PA. Increased testing and the numbers that caused the spike in cases was the data catching up from early June. Hospitalizations and deaths still running low. Pa is not spiking like Florida, Texas, California, etc.
Yikes!
Such a joke
Shows what a joke the Pirates and MLB are if they first didn’t have permission to even make this happen
Stupid factless comment. Einstein, maybe they did and the fine folks like clueless Levine may have taken days to decide.
Maybe next time, you dont assume.
Clapto: Grow up
The media is to blame. This wasn’t a done deal and they came out pretending it was in the first place. They reported it as such.
That’s completely backwards. First the Jays and Pirates have to see if it can work on their end, then they pitch their safety plan to the government. The government will NOT give them approval without seeing a plan.
Ding, ding, ding!!! We have a winner! What was being proposed should have been approved actually based on the same data that was used to deny the plan. There was not actual big surge in Southwestern PA like there has been in other states.
Dummy, The Pa dept of Health had to approve of this … Media jumped the gun !!!
Another loss for the Pittsburgh economy. Oh well, maybe people like sinkholes.
youd figure Pittsburgh would want at least one good team playing at PNC
I was thinking maybe we could just cancel the Pirates and let the Blue Jays play here instead. The general consensus at my work is the Pirates will win 20 games. Ouch.
I’d say 10. They’re def trading Bell for prospects.
Levine does not know what she is doing, nor does our govorner. sadly we cant recall him.
says the genius who can’t even spell governor
“sign painter for lockdown protesters” was the job that required the least amount of education in all of America this year.
Might not have spelled the word governor correctly but his message is correct. Wolf and Levine have been as transparent with their decision making during the pandemic as any of the 3 rivers in Pittsburgh after a decent rainfall.
sorry i cant spell a word. guess my point is invalid. smh man.
You sound like an idiot
easy for you to say. id rather not go off on what this state has done wrong because this board is not about politics. main point: this is par for the course.
I agree, Wolf is out come November though. I don’t see how 2 teams flying in on private planes and coming to a stadium on a private bus, with none of their fans entering the region, is any cause for concern.
Wolf is not out in November. He was elected in 2018 so we are stuck with him till the election of 2022……….
No, Wolf is the Governor until 2022 !!!
Other state governments are going to follow suit. They are going to end up living in various hotels for the full season, as Canada won’t let them back into the country once they leave. Man, it’s going to be a rough year for the Blue Jays and their families!
The Blue Jays honestly should just pull out of playing this season altogether, and refuse to pay any player salaries for 2020. The bottom line is, this incompetence is entirely on Manfred and MLB. Their season plan is idiotic compared to the bubble plans that the NBA and NHL are running and just creates unnecessary risk for everyone. Why could MLB have not done a similar bubble, or even one bubble per division plan?
no, that’s a stupid idea
Agreed….real stupid idea
Because NBA & NHL teams don’t play virtually every day. To do 3 bubbles, 1 for each of the 10-team divisions this year, a host city would require a minimum of 3 MLB-calibre stadiums to accomodate 5 games almost every day, and that assumes stacking 2 games for 4 teams in a single day is even logistically feasible.
Yet we somehow manage to do so every spring training between Arizona and Florida.
Living in Arizona, I can tell you, February/March is a lot different than July/August/Sept outside.. You would have to play games at 9am and 9pm to avoid the heat, and the storms that we get at this time of year.
Not to mention courts and even the ice can be ready fairly quickly for the next game. A field can take such a beating during a game, that more than 2 a day, 3 if you’re lucky, would the most. And doing 3 a day, everyday, would make it nearly impossible.
But let’s not let facts and logic get in the way LOL
Did you think that through? Only an idiot would put a bubble in Florida or Arizona right now.
Terry, the NBA just said hold my beer..
Poor Ol’ Jays, no one wants them!!!!
They don’T want players from Florida and Georgia…the same as Canada!
Players from Florida and Georgia coming to Philly. Same as NYC and Boston. Why is it ok for all of those teams to come to Philly but not Pittsburgh?
I’m wondering if the Blue Jays do find a stadium, will their current game times’ change.
Here’s a crazy idea why not play at MetLife in Jersey
This shows just how difficult it is to navigate all this Covid stuff. I think most of us knew it was an enormous undertaking and various unforseen issues would arise.
This is one of those.
Anyone who’s been keeping their businesses going through this time realize how problems, changes, new situations and circumstances are basically a daily occurrence.
Semper Gumby, man.
So by this logic, they should ban all baseball in the region. Teams are still going to be visiting the play the Pirates
That was my first thought, too. Levine and Wolf are two dork balls.
Teams on private planes and buses. And I’m pretty sure players will be holed up in hotel rooms and not hanging with the general public for their own health and safety. Makes no sense. Just Wolf throwing his weight around.
The decision by the Pennsylvania authorities makes little sense. If they were concerned about teams traveling into the state, why didn’t they reject the Pirates and Phillies playing, because in both of those cases, they will be travelling in and out of the state, and visiting teams will be too.
If this statement ” “To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams.” has any validity, they should be blocking all MLB games. This smacks of targeting a Canadian team for the sake of scoring political points while actually accomplishing nothing.
I had the same thought. Can’t wait to see the clarifying spin.
“This smacks of targeting a Canadian team for the sake of scoring political points while actually accomplishing nothing.”
Indeed.
Blame Canada! All the trouble in America is their fault.
Those rotten maple syrup stinking hockey pucks make me sick. How dare they think they can walk into Pittsburgh and pollute it with their filth. They can take their craps in Buffalo and build their igloos there.
prolly cause it would mean twice as many people traveling to PGH than if PNC was only home to one team.
That’s kind of what I was thinking. They’re already taking a risk, why double it. It’s not like it would be a huge economy boost. Right now it would just be the Jays and their opponents, and their hotel rooms, food, and such. Not double ticket sales, not double the fans traveling to the area and spending money. Simple risk management
So why haven’t they banned travel to and from Pennsylvania altogether?
you do realize anyone can travel to Pennsylvania right now
Not much risk. Teams would not be mingling with the population. The hotels and Pittsburgh restaurants could use some business because Wolf and Levine just crushed them again by reducing capacity. This would have been huge for those businesses. Would be a whole lot more takeout/delivery business than they are getting now.
This is the same governor that forced COVID-19 patients back into nursing homes, which caused several of them in the Pittsburgh area to have 70+ deaths in each of their facilities. So, bad decisions are happening all the time here in PA.
That’s no bueno
So it’s okay if other teams come to PNC park for games against the Pirates, but can’t host the Jays? I’d like to see a bit more of why this is an issue. Is there a significant added health risk i’m not seeing?
The answer is Levine. That person has made zero sense through the whole covid situation. A complete and useless human.
yes because it doubles the amount of travel in and out of the state, you will constantly have both the east NL and AL teams in ind out on a daily basis
You will already have every single team from the NL East and NL Central travelling to Pennsylvania to play Phillies and Pirates, also most of the AL East (Including Toronto) will be travelling to Philly for Interleague games as well as the entire AL Central travelling to PNC for Interleague against the Bucs. If I’m not mistaken there will be 16 MLB teams total playing in the state of Pennsylvania in 2020. If you add the Bluejays to the mix, that would be a whopping 18 teams. Imagine that, 2 entire extra teams would be travelling to the state.
Buffalo starting to look better and better
Said no one ever
Visiting NFL teams throughout most of this century were pretty happy to go to Buffalo.
Hiflew –
Had to laugh at that one!
Ha
So true
At this point just cancel. It’s x1000 times worse than what it was when it was first canceled (number is very generous), and after watching the exhibition games, they don’t even look enjoyable to watch…
“To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams.”
If they want no travelers, then why don’t they close the airport and all the hotels in Pittsburgh? There will be a bunch of guys who have all tested negative repeatedly and will be observing mask and social distancing policies. If they don’t no doubt these players will be penalized.
It looks like they have a number of flights currently scheduled for arrival, many from outside Pennsylvania.
flypittsburgh.com/pittsburgh-international-airport…
And how is Captain Useless feeling, know a rotation of 10 teams will be visiting the Pirates 30 times this year…
This is nothing more than a lifelong useless person who may have been background noise, now in position of power, making their power known.
I made that point about Toronto a couple days ago. It didn’t resonate. Flights from covid hotspots continue to land in the city.
I think it may have more to do with the massive increase in cases in that area in recent weeks. It is possible they just might be concerned with Blue Jays personnel contracting C-19 and then spreading it when they leave?
Yes, Levine and Wolf have appeared very inconsistent with their restrictions to businesses.
Massive increase in cases? Not so much if you look at the data.
No one is more spiteful than Americans, basically denied the Blue Jays for the same reason the Canadian federal government denied American teams from going to Toronto except the Pirates are still going to play in Pittsburgh and still have tons of teams travelling there to play them.
I don’t think this is the same nor do I think any spite was the motivating factor in this decision.
Yeah the governor of Pennsylvania was really mad the Canadians said the Phillies and Pirates, two NL teams that weren’t playing the Blue Jay , an AL team, couldn’t come to Canada when they weren’t going to anyways.
/s
Governors have no idea what they’re doing. Good to know it’s not just Newsome who’s a complete idiot. Makes me feel a little better.
/s
Governors have no idea what they’re doing. Good to know it’s not just Newsome who’s a completely useless. Makes me feel a little better.
NotoriousVC –
What?
Give up on the major league amenities…play in Buffalo or Manchester
Is anyone here familiar at all with the stadium in Buffalo? I’m curious how far from ML ready it really is. I’d think as long as it’s capable of providing the required Covid precautions, missing out on some ML amenities would sure beat spending 2 months on the road.
I typically visit once a year. Always an afternoon game on a weekend so I can’t speak on the lighting issues being reported. The field seems fine. Bases are still 90 feet. Grass and clay looks maintained.
From a viewing perspective I love watching the Jays AA team in New Hampshire. The park looks cool on TV. I’m curious if that park was ever in consideration.
I think it’s more a matter of facilities and amenities available from the player’s perspective, at least from other articles I’ve read. (things like workout rooms, batting cages etc to warm up, clubhouse and change rooms not built to accomodate 30-man rosters.
Not sure if its accurate but I picture it as the difference between staying in a luxury suite in Vegas to a $40/night motel room in Akron (or any other mid-population vanilla city)
So why are the Pirates playing there??
Because the pirates are from Pittsburgh. The Blue Jays are not.
Double teams means double teams showing up to the area since Pirates are NL and Blue Jays are AL. They don’t share any common opponents.
If the Jays were in the NL they’d probably be allowed to do so considering the pirates play the same teams anyways.
Honestly I have no idea why they’re not allowed. Probably looked at an old schedule or something to base their decision.
You’re wrong, the state of Pennsylvania is set to host a total of 16 teams in 2020 between the Phillies and Pirates, perhaps you’ve heard of intrasquad games? If you add the Bluejays schedule to the state, they would be seeing a whopping 2 extra teams entire the state, wow, that would be a catastrophe.
Interleague***,
People who have never attended a baseball game or care about baseball making a baseball decision for the rest of us that do care
You can’t attend games so why would you want the traveling caravan of covid infected players coming to u you sure city? They can play in Buffalo.
If they were COVID infected they wouldn’t be traveling or with the team…….
Except that you can be spreading this thing for 2 weeks before testing positive. Have you read anything at all about the transmission of Covid-19, Donb34? It’s about tracing.
Being a Pa. business operator who was just allowed to reopen June 26, I’m living at the mercy of everyone who refuses to mask up or follow safety protocols. MORE interstate travel is the last thing we need.
It’s a good thing their season isn’t scheduled to start at “home”.
this isnt a normal season. it 60 games. just play in a minors league ball park and call it a day. why not try vegas they just built a new place that might not be such a bad place to use
I’d think any group or city vying for a relocation or expansion franchise some day should be jumping up and down screaming “me, me, me!”
The thing about all the current MLB parks is they all already have an MLB team in them.
The Governor’s office is only doing what’s Reich.
It’s really rich to watch a state like Pennsyltucky lecture a real country like Canada who has its act together on what’s safe and what isn’t.
Yeah. Sure.
Let’s just ignore the fact that Canada has less than 10% the population of America.
“Real country”.
PA literally made the same decision as Canada.
Certain members of media reported this as though this was a done deal. Was this a directive from the Blue Jays or elsewhere?
Canada’s Gov’t made this decision not to further hurt their own reputation in the event there is a spike in cases in Toronto. Having no games in Toronto doesn’t hurt the PM’s PR. Whoever knows Pittsburgh might have some insight on why they don’t want Toronto. We’re a day away and they don’t have a home park. They are the Unwanted!
so no nhl or mlb or nba or any other major events it seems is the call in canada …. lol little people up their in complete control of the people’s lives!
NHL hub cities are Toronto and Edmonton, so Canada said yes to hockey.
the one big difference there, they are not coming and going weekly…. they are all coming at once, then staying until elimination
And that’s suddenly better? If you think the NHL players will stay in the bubble you are sorely mistaken. I’d be just as fine with MLB players taking precautions on private flights as the NHL players who will be up to shenanigans.
You know the nhl players have to quarantine here for 14 days right? Whereas mlb players wouldnt and on top of that, many of the players will be coming from Florida where the virus is totally out of control and the governor is completely asleep at the wheel
So what? NHL players aren’t capable of breaking quarantine? Half the league will adhere to all rules?
Obviously the Canadian players will all be adhering to the rules.
There are pretty severe penalties for that. But great argumentation yet again wild bill.
Excellent trolling Yarp. I guess you believe all NHL’ers will 100% abide by the rules. No athlete has ever broken a rule in your world!
By that logic, nobody should be permitted to enter the country because they might not follow quarantine. Great argumentation yet again!
Another uninformed opinion on your part. No, the logic is human beings will do what they want to do even in a pandemic. Young, rich, twentysomethings with family and friends in the Toronto or Edmonton area. There is a chance they will break quarantine. I thinks that’s a fair assessment, no? Believe it or not, athletes have snuck out past curfew, cheated on their spouses and committed debauchery over the last 100+ years of sports. This pandemic might stop 99% of the players from doing any of that. But there’s that pesky 1%.
Man are you draft. After they have been quarantined for 14 days they dont necessarily need to stay in a bubble due to the considerably lower number of cases in canada. Whereas baseball players need to constantly cross the border and some of them will be coming from dangerous cesspools like florida
Mar A Largo
That’s the Buffalo of Florida
Jays are like one of those cruise ships that couldn’t come ashore & dock at the beginning of the pandemic.
What a mess!
So lets see the phills n pirates n penguins n steelers n 6ers n eagles won’t bring in any risk… yep Pennsylvania head nutcases should deny the bluejays!!!
The Jays can play at the White House.
Florida, here we come!
It does seem odd to me that the Phillies and the Pirates are allowed to play in PA, but the state government would not allow the addition of the Jays. In theory, the Blue Jays would be following the same protocols that the other two “local” teams are following and therefore, the risk to the surrounding community in Pittsburgh doesn’t seem to be greater than is already the case. The Jays are gonna end up in their minor league park in Buffalo, further diminishing the overall value of this crazy season that probably shouldn’t be happening to begin with.
New Hamphsire. You can’t tell me the owner cant get modification made to temporarily provide players what they need from an mlb stadium in like a portable or something.
So it’s all good for the Pirates and Phillies to welcome visiting teams, but if the Blue Jays want to play it’s somehow too risky? Something fishy or VERY stupid going on there……
Good.
???
I don’t get this dumb comment either.
Solution = Blue Jays forfeit all games and don’t play. The Yankees are now 10-0 on the season.
BREAKING NEWS: Several Bluejay’s players suddenly opt out of the season due to “Coronavirus” concerns!
For what it is worth, I live in the Pittsburgh area.
Dr. Levine is the class clown
The con game continues!
Ok. So the blue jays are denied even though other teams will play against Pittsburgh in pittsburgh. Makes no sense.
It isn’t the Blue Jays themselves that are the issue. Counting the Jays, there will be 10 additional teams coming to play in Pittsburgh. Also, the Pittsburgh area has seen a recent spike in COVID-19 cases. They have been responsible for a quarter of the new cases in Pennsylvania. On Monday, they had 139 new cases
Well the spike is among 20 year olds that were hanging out at the bars. The bars all shut down again, and the numbers are dropping. Allegheny county is still far from a hot spot. 536 hospitalizations in 4 months, with 1.2Million people in the county.
I don’t want them here in Baltimore. They will go to bars in Florida come here and infect people. Let them play in Buffalo.
Dont go to bars. Nothing good happens in bars. Go Orioles
Sounds like a good reason for the US to attack and conquer Canada..
It’s been tried and failed. Canada 2, USA 0. Stick to the Puk jokes.
Lol I bet he doesnt really know why his glorious White House is white 😉
Uh, @30parks. 0-1-1 is much more accurate. (1812 was a draw)
And, really the “invasion” in 1775 saw Arnold screwed over by politicians.
We never really gave it our best effort.
Man…I so seldom get to use the Military History I learned in OCS.
Thanks for the opportunity!
😉
Pretty safe assumption that our JV Military would run rough shod over Canada now.
But times have changed.
Lol. U sound like kevin Kline in A fish called Wanda. “Vietnam was a tie!!”
Lol. & “U” sound like a guy who can quote chick flicks but doesn’t know any history. “in A Fish called Wanda [sic]”.
“We whupped your hides real good!”
We occupied DC and burnt most of it to the ground. We let u have it back and didnt take any territory so I guess in your mind that makes it a tie but in reality: Canada 2, USA 0.
YY-The British burned the Presidents House and a couple of other government buildings in retaliation to the previous burning of the government buildings in York by the Americans.
The Canadians were British subjects at that point but not now.
The British were defeated a short time later in Baltimore which was when our National Anthem was written.
You are correct in stating that the Canadians are 2-0 because of the failure of the Americans to gain the country upon invasion but the British were 0-1-1.
A Fish Called Wanda references? Eat, Prey, Love thinks that’s weak.
Finally, we get our payback for the 1993 World Series!
Easy, nobody is giving the Pirates or Phillies a championship for the government blocking the Pirates intent to be welcoming. But sure, Philly fans, celebrate any victory you want to claim.
Good thing Shapiro and Atkins didn’t wait until the last minute to come up with contingency plans, oh wait…. They knew or should have known it was not a guaranty the Canadian government would open their borders to Americans, especially from hot spot cities.
Since Bisons are not playing, why don’t Jays use Buffalo stadium. It’s about the size of PNC park
seems legit… the DOH (acronym fits) is out east. they don’t like the west.
Its okay to release prisoners… but not okay to play baseball in an empty stadium… gotcha.
When they do find a place to call “home”, will there be a public outcry for a name-change?
the Jays are offended by getting assigned a color. so yeah, probably.
“To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams.”
So what do you call the teams coming to play against the Pirates at PNC then?
I think the teams from Florida were the deal breaker.
It’s lame for the Jays, no doubt, but almost no upside for PA in allowing them to play here.
Teams from Florida both will be playing in Philly. The upside was a little extra tax money and some additional business for the local Pittsburgh restaurants and hotels.
Not worth it for a few extra tax dollars.
A few extra people on Medicaid go to the ER and they are back in the red.
Actually, only the Marlins are playing in Philly. The Rays are not scheduled to come to Philly – they play only one series this season and it is in Florida.
Shapiro will find them a home for this year. If there is one thing he is good at it’s real estate and negotiating deals. Jays baseball will survive. Everyone take a deep breath.
What has Shapiro been doing for the last 2 months? He has no contingency plan and the season starts on Friday.
You are assuming that dealing with all these levels of government is a controllable and an easy thing to do. It is not. The gov;t [municipal, provincial/state, federal] all have their own conditions and process and timing.
This situation is not Shapiro’s fault at all.
Are you defending shapario #scouteyes? Has the whole world gone crazy?
Yah the world has gone crazy. Mark Shapiro is a great leader type and administrative machine. He may not know a ballplayer if he is standing in front of him but he can sure solve logistics problems.He oversaw the building of the Jake and the stadium in Dunedin and did a great job.
Breaking News.
Toronto Blue Jays opt out of 2020
1. Orlando
2. City with a NFL Team but not MLB Team yet.
3.Omaha where College World Series is played.
4. Field of Dreams site.
5. Where like Portland Timbers or so on MLS Team plays but no MLB Team yet.
Phillies2008WFC2 mins ago
Here is the solution. I understand that the Jays WANT to play in a MLB facility, but that just isn’t likely.
MLB just needs to put them at Bowman field in Williamsport, PA. They have held the LL Classic there for the last few years, and obviously have the experience of making it a facility to host an MLB in season game.
If they need additional lighting, they already know exactly where and what they need. It would and should have been the easiest and quickest solution.
Can’t be in PA………Wolf and Levine will never approve it now shuffling off to Buffalo
No, they (PA) obviously do not want 2 teams sharing a facility., using the same equipment, locker rooms, ect. PA would allow them to be in a facility by themselves.
They were going to make a separate clubhouse for the Blue Jays. They have to sanitize the visitor’s clubouse between teams anyway. They will have to sanitize the benches and areas around the lower stands where teams are spreading out the players constantly anyway. Same with the bullpens . They do not use any of the same bats, balls or any op other equipment. These are all guys testing negative to begin with. Not really any extra risk
There still is common equipment that would be used. Who is responsible for cleaning that? Would you take the word of another organization that they did exactly what they should? What would happen if there was an outbreak there? These are all the reasons why they don’t want a facility shared by multiple teams.
Every team has to depend on another team to sanitize when they travel, No team is sending a sanitizing squad to the next city that they travel to to clean before the the team gets there. There will be crews at each stadium to sanitize everything that can be used again after every game. They have,to because it will all be used again the next day.
Come to Birmingham, Alabama. We have a new AA park and Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in America. If you can’t play in an MLB park, play in one that has character.
Too bad they won’t just play at fenway.
I’m sure more than a few officials would complain if another team played home games at the classic Fenway, out of principles of integrity that have nothing to do with health risks.
What about Puerto Rico?
Seems unlikely and I’m not sure if maybe Montreal has been shot down by Quebec government yet?
They keep saying they want to bring baseball back, so time to put up or shut up, Montreal.
I like your thinking of heading to Montreal but no way it is happening. Canadian Federal gov’t won’t allow it.
Ah right, it wasn’t Ontario that locked the Jays out, it was the feds. Well, it would not be unprecedented for Quebec to thumb their nose at the federal government and rally support to secede as a sovereign nation. This is an opportunity!
If Toronto can’t play in Toronto, they sure won’t play in Montreal where Covid-19 in that Province is way worse and the worst in the country. It would also make the PM look bad if he made that decision.
You are incorrect. It has everything to do with entering the State…not the location, as the protocols have been approved for that site.
But good try…lol
Isn’t Toronto going to be hosting the Philadelphia Flyers in Toronto? Hmm
Come to CHS field where the St Paul Saints play…
The Toronto NOMADS. A team without a city.