WCBL CANCELS 2020 SEASON
The Western Canadian Baseball League Board of Governors has voted unanimously to cancel the 2020 WCBL season. This difficult decision was based on our number one concern, the health and safety needs of all involved. Following the Federal, Provincial, and municipal government health guidelines and medical recommendations, the league determined it would be impossible to guarantee the safety of players, coaches, umpires, host families, staff, volunteers and fans during the COVID- 19 pandemic situation to the extent required by authorities.
The league faced a variety of problems and looked at all options before coming to the decision to cancel the season. Pushing back the start date of the season until July 4th or playing with only Canadian players to prevail over border issues are a couple options the league explored before cancelling. With the Federal government announcing that the border will remain closed until at least June 22, and that people must self-isolate for 14 days once they cross the border, we would not have enough time to carry out a season. Gathering size and social distancing were also major factors. With the Provincial governments announcing that gathering sizes are restricted to 50 persons, teams would face serious challenges trying to get fans into the stadiums. Social distancing would be a challenge in clubhouses and especially on buses that teams must use for travel purposed. The League even explored the option of reducing stadium capacities to allow for better social distancing and by operating with temperature checks and masks. Unfortunately, our franchises will not be able to adjust to the economic impact of such a model due to the reality that our teams rely mainly on park generated revenues plus the community initiatives to fund operations.
The league and its teams would like to thank all the players who signed to play baseball in the WCBL this summer. Your commitment and perseverance to play baseball this summer did not go unnoticed. It is heartbreaking that we will have to go a summer without baseball in the WCBL, and we feel for players whose college careers have been shortened by these unpronounced circumstances.
To our fans and communities, thank you very much for the continued support through these unprecedented times. Our fans make WCBL stadiums a special place to play for the players during the summer, giving them a chance to play in front of thousands of people in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The community support the league and its teams have received over the past number of years is fantastic! As a league we have plans to implement a strategy to stay relevant and connected until we can get back on the field. With no baseball this summer teams will need community support now more than ever as they shift to survive this crisis.
We would like to thank all our dedicated volunteers and sponsors for their support and look forward to coming back better than ever in 2021. Thank you for your continued support and stay safe and healthy.
(WCBL PR/PHOTOS: WANDA HARRON)
The Province trying to reopen but the Covid19 virus is starting to rear its ugly head again for his second go around.
Not true according to Stackhouse.
I see someone has taken over my handle & you’re welcome to it. The original SeeSeeRider is gone, not to return. As for your comment, I have nothing against Stackhouse. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it has a casual relationship to the facts.
Yes, my bad. With the increasing numbers here right across the country over the last week….I’m surprised we aren’t in lockdown mode again. If you look at the numbers at all countries around the world, numbers are spiking again as Italy, France, Germany, UK, United States …. all dealing with numbers far worse than two months ago. Despite what you see on the Sask government website, the numbers are exponentially higher. My understanding is Regina has cases into the tens of thousands right now and people are dead in the street….it’s just not being reported. Stay safe.
Yes, things are going in the right direction, Mike. But when you report 5,000 cases in 30 Million vs the actual 33,000 it’s kind of silly. Whether 33,000 or 5,000 in 30 Million the amount is infinitely small so the least you can do is get your facts straight. You don’t have to go all Trumpkin to prove that particular point. But as it was mentioned in a reply last week, you conveniently omit the impact being sick, never mind dead, has on people around the victims. Do you think that 80 year olds die in a vacuum with no… Read more »
Was there something incorrect? I think I said ‘excluding’ Quebec we had 5000 active cases. Today the number is actually 4941 excluding Quebec. Quebec has about 8 million people, Canada’s population is between 37 and 38 million. So what are you questioning exactly? I would have answered you last week but I didn’t understand what you meant. Or is your argument that i should not exclude Quebec because it’s Canada? If you feel that the rest of the country should wait for Montreal to get its act together I think you will find you are in the very, very, very… Read more »
The 2nd go round can be much worse, as you say. This whole mess could have largely been avoided. New Brunswick knew about this in January as did the federal govt. The difference is NB took immediate action & has had no deaths. They started re-opening the economy in April while the rest of the country was closing down. I’ve heard it said this couldn’t have been predicted. Nonsense. This is not that uncommon. After the 1918 Spanish Flu there was the 1957 Asian Flu – 80,000 deaths in the US & over 1 million worldwide. In 1968 there was… Read more »