Reopening Border Good For Business, Bad For Blue Jays In Buffalo

Buffalo baseball fans are keeping a close eye on what’s happening at the border between the United States and Canada, and for them, it concerns the Blue Jays.

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Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro says the border situation presents “significant challenges” for a club trying to figure out how to return home according to NEWS 4 Buffalo (WIVB-TV).

“That is not an easy thing to do,” Shapiro said Tuesday. “It’s not impossible. But it’s not an easy thing to do.”

According to Shapiro's estimates, it would take 3-4 weeks for the Jays to physically return to Canada once they get the government's ok.

The Blue Jays on Tuesday night at Sahlen Field, beat the Miami Marlins 5-1 in front of 5,321 fans. Their schedule currently has them playing home games in Buffalo through July 4.

Jamie Fiegel, a Buffalo immigration attorney says there is “a huge sentiment” among Ontario residents to get the border back open. It is currently closed through June 21st.

“People are seeing how the U.S. is handling the pandemic and how they’re reopening,” Fiegel said. “I feel like it’s giving Canadians a sense of anxiety and anxiousness.”

Fiegel suggested the quarantine requirements for international travelers are the biggest issue for the Blue Jays, who are the only Major League Baseball team to make a home in Canada.

“If they lifted the Quarantine Act, I believe that would eliminate 90% of the issues that they have,” she said. “But then they would have to look at, ‘What if Canadians can’t come to watch them.”

The Blue Jay Club President again stated...

“We want to get home,” ... “I think that that’s the overarching feeling. The desire to get back to Toronto would be one that we’d feel really good about. But it’s hard to answer that hypothetical because there’s been no reason to have that dialogue with our players yet.”