Toronto Raptors Relocated To Tampa For Start Of NBA Season

The news came out Friday, and it wasn’t good for the Toronto Raptors. Call them the “Tampa Bay Raptors” for the foreseeable future.

Team president Masai Ujiri released a statement saying that Canada’s only NBA club has been denied government approval to play the 2020-21 season at their home court, Scotiabank Arena.

This puts a strain on the players who will be asked to uproot their lives and be away from their families for six or seven months.

“The Raptors worked diligently with public health officials at the local, provincial and federal level to secure a plan that would permit us to play our 2020-21 season on home soil and on our home court at Scotiabank Arena,” Ujiri said.

“These conversations were productive, and we found strong support for the protocols we put forward. Ultimately, the current public health situation facing Canadians, combined with the urgent need to determine where we will play means that we will begin our 2020-21 season in Tampa, Florida.”

The club will play home games in at Amalie Arena, the home of the NHL’s Tampa Lightning.

As TSN reported, Tampa emerged as a favorite among the players who were consulted in the process because the city’s warm weather and no state income tax.

Other venues were considered for Toronto, including Newark, N.J., Nashville and Buffalo.

The border between Canada and the United States remains closed for all but essential traffic, and with Covid-19 cases spiking to alarming levels in Toronto, the government was in no mood to lift those restrictions.

Earlier this year, the Toronto Blue Jays also could not convince the Canadian government authorities to allow them to play their Major League Baseball season at the Rogers Centre. They were eventually forced to play their entire 2020 season in Buffalo.

At a news conference on Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford laid down some new harsh restrictions in Toronto, imposing a lockdown that will last a minimum of 28 days.

Ontario, a province of 13 million people, has been reporting well over 1,000 cases a day for several days, with the majority in the Toronto area. And modeling shows cases could rise to more than 6,000 by mid-December without further action.

The biggest obstacle was the mandated 14-day quarantine period for those crossing the border. The government was not in favor of lifting those protocols.

Florida is a Covid-19 hot spot as well. It had 9,085 cases on Thursday and has logged the third highest caseload among U.S. states.

Time was not a friend to the Raptors.

NBA players are to report to team markets in less than two weeks, with group practices to follow, and preseason games coming in three weeks. The season is set to tip off on Dec. 22 in a shortened 72-game season.

The Raptors are coming off a season when they, along with the rest of the league, had to play in the bubble in Florida. The Raptors haven’t had a home game since a 99-96 loss to Charlotte on Feb. 28, and there’s no telling when Toronto fans will be able to see their 2019 NBA champions again.

It’s a hard blow for basketball fans in Toronto, and across the country, who fell in love with the club’s march to their championship in the summer of 2019 and turned out in droves in the streets of Toronto to celebrate the victory.

Toronto sports teams have had little luck lately getting to play at home.

The Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts had to relocate their “home opener” in 2015 clear across the country in Fort McMurray, Alberta, at the end of June because of scheduling conflicts at the Rogers Centre due to the Pan American Games. They weren’t able to return to Toronto for a home game until Aug. 8.

Then, the CFL club had to move to neighboring Hamilton that October to a scheduling conflict with the Blue Jays, who were in a playoff push.

There is a slight hope that the Toronto Raptors could return to their home court later this season, if conditions improve.

The NBA will be releasing its schedule in two parts, which may give the Raptors some hope that they can return at some point.

“We’ll be away from our home and our fans for now,” Ujiri said. “They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I’m not sure that’s possible for us – we love Toronto and Canada, and we know we have the best fans in the NBA.”

Ujiri had a simple message for the Raptors faithful.

“For now, I’ll ask you to cheer for us from afar, and we’ll look forward to the day we are all together again.”