With it increasingly looking like there will be no relaxation of Canadian border restrictions in coming months, the Toronto Raptors (NBA) announced they would finish the season at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.
“Florida has been really welcoming to us and we’re so grateful for the hospitality we’ve found in Tampa and at Amalie – we’re living in a city of champions, and we intend to carry on the tradition of winning for our new friends and fans here,” Raptors President Masai Ujiri said in a press statement. “But home is where the heart is, and our hearts are in Toronto. We think often of our fans, of our Scotiabank Arena family, and all those we are missing back home, and we can’t wait until we can all be together again.”
The Raptors had been hoping to return to Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena at some point this season. But well-laid plans oft go astray. There are a few consolations here: a small number of fans are attending upcoming Tampa Bay Lightning games, and the hope of that a limited number of fans–say, 3,800 or so–be allowed to both Lightning and Raptors games by mid-March.
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