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July 18, 2020 4:07 pm  #1


No baseball games in Toronto...Jays fly south to play

The Federal Government has ruled against the Jays playing baseball here this season. While I have a passion for baseball, I don't mind this decision as a way to manage the current pandemic. It is exploding in other countries, we don't need to see a spike ourselves.

Here's more on the story, and I would imagine the T.V. and radio crew will stay put and not travel with the team...but that remains to be seen.

The decision was made today.


https://globalnews.ca/news/7192976/ap-source-decision-looming-on-blue-jays-games-in-toronto/
 


The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
 

July 18, 2020 6:05 pm  #2


Re: No baseball games in Toronto...Jays fly south to play

Muffaraw Joe wrote:

While I have a passion for baseball, I don't mind this decision as a way to manage the current pandemic. It is exploding in other countries, we don't need to see a spike ourselves. 

I am in full agreement with you.
 

 

July 18, 2020 6:40 pm  #3


Re: No baseball games in Toronto...Jays fly south to play

Media Observer wrote:

Muffaraw Joe wrote:

While I have a passion for baseball, I don't mind this decision as a way to manage the current pandemic. It is exploding in other countries, we don't need to see a spike ourselves. 

I am in full agreement with you.
 

yep.  me too. we're not alone.  apparently 80% of Canadians want the border closed for awhile.
 

 

July 18, 2020 6:52 pm  #4


Re: No baseball games in Toronto...Jays fly south to play

Also joining the choir that agrees with this move.  It would be too risky to have the team going back and forth across the border and opposing teams in and out of Toronto.  As we have seen with COVID-19 things can easily turn quickly for the worse, so why risk it.

However on the news tonight it was mentioned that the Jays may be looking at playing their games in either Dunedin, or in Buffalo.  The Bisons are a triple A affiliate of the Blue Jays and there is a chance that the Jays could end up playing their games at Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo.  

Until the border opens up, Jays fans in Southern Ontario would not be able to go to Buffalo to watch the games, but the federal government did say there is still a chance of some play in Toronto if circumstances change later in the summer, or if the border with the US opens.

 

July 18, 2020 10:43 pm  #5


Re: No baseball games in Toronto...Jays fly south to play

It appears the Toronto TV crews for Sportsnet will be forced to call all their games from home, since the rules say they're not allowed to travel to the host cities. The rules for radio in the U.S. are a bit different, it seems, but I would find it highly unlikely that they will go on the road, either. 

Here are a few examples of what other team broadcasters are already preparing for, including staying at home for every game and having the announcers being divided by plexiglass in the broadcast booth. (Why not just put them in separate booths? It's radio - it's safer and besides, who'll know the difference?)

Rays TV, radio broadcasts will put a new spin on work from home

Pandemic will create a whole new way to broadcast Dodgers games

The fact that the Toronto crews have the added issue of the border creates just another layer to all this. The Jays aren't playing ANY of their games here for the foreseeable future. Does that mean Mike Wilner & Co. take up residence in Buffalo if that's where the team ends up? Or do they stay here and do the play-by-play from SN H.Q. in Toronto? 

Another added weird wrinkle. I heard Wilner on the Jays intrasquad broadcast last week give a shout-out to co-anchor Ben Wagner, noting he was "still in quarantine," as anyone who crosses the border from the U.S. into Canada must do. What happens if the Toronto crew decides to set up shop in Buffalo? Do they all have to go back into quarantine again just because they passed from one country into another? Is there enough time to get through that forced isolation before the season begins?

About the only thing certain is that this will be a season like no other for both the teams and the broadcasters covering them. I'm a big baseball fan overall, but frankly, given everything, I could live without it this year. 

 

July 20, 2020 2:09 am  #6


Re: No baseball games in Toronto...Jays fly south to play

The rumor now is Pittsburgh, at least for some of the games.