Manning says TFC will open 2021 season in Florida

Toronto FC will open the 2021 regular season in Florida due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.

Tampa has been mentioned as a possible home. The Major League Soccer club also has ties to Orlando, having held training camp there in the past.

“We are preparing to open the MLS regular season in Florida, just finalizing our location,” team president Bill Manning said in a text to The Canadian Press.

“Reality is we are preparing to open in Florida as it seems unrealistic we’ll be able to host at home in April. If the government opens things up for us, we would immediately pivot back to BMO (Field), but for now we’re preparing to start down south.”

The MLS’s regular campaign is scheduled to kick off on April 17.

TFC won’t be the only Toronto team in Florida. The Raptors are set to play the entire National Basketball Association season in Tampa while the Blue Jays announced this week they will play their first two homestands of the Major League Baseball season in their springtraining home of Dunedin, just west of Tampa.

TFC opened camp under the bubble Wednesday at its north Toronto training centre. The league granted TFC permission to start early to prepare for the Canadian Championship final against Hamilton’s Forge FC, a matchup whose date has yet to be announced.

The winner will advance to play Mexico’s Club Leon on April 7 in the first leg of a roundof-16 series in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF’s flagship club competition.