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(Reuters) - The
Toronto Raptors will begin the National Basketball Association
(NBA) season playing in Tampa, Florida, due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic, the team said on Friday.
The league, which wrapped up its previous season in a
quarantined "bubble" at Walt Disney World after four months of
hiatus, is set to kick off a 72-game season on Dec. 22, with
teams this time playing in their home markets.
The Raptors, the only Canada-based NBA franchise, announced the
relocation days after officials in Ottawa and Washington told
Reuters that the land borders between the U.S., Canada and
Mexico would remain closed for non-essential travel at least
through Dec. 21 due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
"The Raptors worked diligently with public health officials at
the local, provincial and federal level to secure a plan that
would permit us to play our 2020-21 season on home soil,"
Raptors President Masai Ujiri said in a statement.
"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."
The Raptors, who won the championship in 2019, did not specify
which venue they planned to use.
The NBA, which held its "virtual draft" this week, will begin
its pre-season on Dec. 11.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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