The Toronto Raptors will move to Tampa (Florida) to start the NBA season after the Canadian authorities rejected the team’s request to avoid the quarantine that all people who arrive in the country have to maintain to control the covid pandemic -19.
Club sources informed Efe today of the Canadian authorities ‘decision shortly before the team’s president, Masai Ujiri, issued a statement in which he announced the Raptors’ decision to temporarily settle in Tampa to start the season.
“The Raptors have worked diligently with local, provincial and federal health authorities to secure a plan that would allow us to play the 2020-21 season at our home at Scotiabank Arena (Toronto),” said Ujiri.
“Ultimately, the current public health situation that Canadians face, combined with the urgent need to determine where we will play means that we will begin the 2020-21 season in Tampa, Florida,” added the Raptors president.
The NBA teams are scheduled to start the preseason on December 1 with the call of their players while the first official game of the 2020-2021 competition is scheduled to be held on December 22.
Canada has closed its border with the United States to all travel deemed nonessential from spring to control the spread of the disease. Precisely today, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the border will remain closed until at least December 31.
Travelers coming to Canada from abroad are required to adhere to a two-week isolation quarantine unless they receive an exemption. The Canadian authorities’ refusal to grant this exemption to the Raptors players and coaching staff makes it impossible for the Canadian team to play at its Toronto headquarters.
For months, both the Raptors and the NBA have been exploring with Canadian health authorities, medical protocols so that the team could receive its rivals in Toronto and that its players could travel to the United States without the need for quarantine.
The Raptors have been studying the possibility of temporarily settling in Tampa, Kansas City (Missouri), Nashville (Tennessee) or Newark (New Jersey) and although the Canadian team has decided to start the season in Florida, Ujiri’s statement does not clarify whether it will be the final headquarters of the team for the rest of the season.
