Canada says no to Blue Jays playing 2020 home games in Toronto

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The Toronto Blue Jays will have to find a new place to play their home games for the 2020 season.

The Canadian government on Saturday denied the franchise permission to play at Rogers Centre this season due to continued concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. The Associated Press was the first to report this story.

Here is the official statement from the Blue Jays:

#BlueJays Statement On 2020 Season Home: pic.twitter.com/lpXLapRHUD

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 18, 2020

The Blue Jays will now reportedly look to two locations to play their home games for the 2020 regular season: Their spring training facility, TD Ballpark, in Dunedin, Florida or Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, home of their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons.

Buffalo may be the favorite landing spot for the Blue Jays at this point with the growing number of daily cases of coronavirus across the state of Florida. It was also reported by The Buffalo News last Saturday that the Blue Jays organization reached out to the ownership group of the Bisons about playing their home games in downtown Buffalo.

What would have made things extremely difficult for the Blue Jays to play their home games this season in Toronto is that the team would have needed to quarantine for 14 days every time it returned from a road trip to the United States, in accordance with measures imposed by the Canadian government.

Sahlen Field can hold close to 17,000 fans in attendance, but it has already been made clear that no fans allowed to enter these games. However, there is concern when it comes to the outdated lighting of the ballpark, in addition to smaller clubhouses, trainers facilities and batting cages, according to The Buffalo News.

The Bisons' 2020 season was canceled with the rest of the Minor League Baseball season back on June 30.

Jason Mackey from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Sunday that the Blue Jays are exploring the possibility of potentially playing some of their home games this season at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mackey does add that seven of the Blue Jays' scheduled home games conflict with the Pirates' home schedule, with six of those games coming Sept. 8 or later.

The Blue Jays say that the organization is in the process of finalizing the best location for its home games this season. They are scheduled to open their home schedule on Wednesday, July 29 against the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals.

RADIO.COM Sports' Dan Mennella contributed to this story.