Raptors are headed to Tampa Bay
Keeping an eye on the world of sports during the pandemic:
The Raptors will start the NBA season next month in Tampa, Florida, because of travel restrictions by the Canadian government stemming from the pandemic.
The Raptors had been looking at other sites for several weeks, including Sunrise, Florida, the home of the NHL’s Panthers. But with NBA training camp less than two weeks away and a season starting Dec. 22, the Raptors were pressed to make a final decision.
Instead, they will play home games at Amalie Arena, home of the Stanley Cup champion Lightning.
“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,” Raptors President Masai Ujiri said in a statement Friday.
An official familiar with the Canadian government’s decision told The Associated Press there is too much COVID-19 circulating in the United States to allow for cross-border travel that is not essential.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity and not authorized to talk publicly about the matter, said there’s a chance that the decision could be reviewed next year.
The Raptors, the NBA’s lone Canadian team, and the league needed an exemption to a requirement that anyone entering Canada for nonessential reasons must isolate for 14 days. The U.S.-Canada border remains closed to nonessential travel.
Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network, said the Canadian government made the right decision.
“With the current situation it is almost impossible for the government to reasonably sanction travel back and forth travel outside a bubble,” Morris said.
So, for the Raptors, it’s now time for Florida to be home away from home again.
“We’ll do what’s best relative to how we play the quarterbacks and the situations and what we’re trying to accomplish to win this game.”
— Saints coach Sean Payton in response to reports Taysom Hill will start for the injured Drew Brees and not Jameis Winston