DUNEDIN, Fla. — Tampa Bay will soon be the regular season "home" to another Canadian sports franchise.

The Toronto Blue Jays will open the 2021 season at their Spring Training home in Dunedin. 

What You Need To Know

The team says it will use TD Ballpark in Dunedin for regular season home games from April 8 through May 2. 

The team will then assess whether it can return to Toronto. 

The Toronto Raptors currently are playing home games at Amalie Arena in Tampa. 

The teams temporary relocations are due to Canadian travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Officials have not officially released information regarding tickets but have said seating of up to 15 percent will be made available for Spring Training games.

 

The TD Ballpark in Dunedin has a capacity of about 8,500. It opened in 1990 as Dunedin Stadium, built on the site of old Grant Field. The ballpark, known as Knology Park from 2004–08 and Florida Auto Exchange Stadium from 2010–17, had a major renovation in 2019-20.

Toronto last played at 49,000-capacity Rogers Centre on Sept. 29, 2019, an 8-3 win over Tampa Bay.

The Blue Jays played home games during the shortened 2020 season in Buffalo, New York, and were 17-9 at Sahlen Field, home of their Buffalo Bisons Triple-A farm team. The Canadian government didn’t allow the team to play at home because of the risk of spreading COVID-19 due to frequent travel required during a baseball season.

Last year's Major League Baseball regular season was played without fans.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.