By Scott Leffler
scott.leffler@allwny.com
Players from both the home team Toronto Buffalo Blue Jays and their visiting opponents will be sequestered in local hotels while they are in Buffalo to play their games this season, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
The county executive said in a press conference this afternoon that the teams will come to Buffalo via chartered plane before being shuttled to a local hotel, where they will remain until they are shuttled to Sahlen Field for their games. At no time will players, coaches or other team personnel be allowed to co-mingle with the general public — as a public safety precaution.
Poloncarz said that the Blue Jays organization has been in contacts with local officials for a while to potentially work out playing the season in Buffalo after the City of Toronto told the team they would not be able to play regular season games at Rogers Center in downtown Toronto.
The team had also been in discussions with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and even Connecticut to potentially play their home games.
Asked if he was hurt by the fact that Buffalo wasn’t the team’s first option, Poloncarz said, “I wasn’t hurt. I understood why they were looking at other cities because they were major league facilities,” adding that while Sahlen Field is a great field, “it doesn’t have the accouterments you would see in major league facilities.”
“Fans are not going to be able to attend the games. So it’s not like we’re going to be able to go down there and watch the games,” Poloncarz said, but noted that there would still be community pride in being able to host the games. “It’s gonna be cool when the first nationally televised game … and ‘live from Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York.”
Poloncarz noted that the community would get economic as well as public relations benefits.
“On behalf of the people of Erie County, I want to welcome the Blue Jays organization to our community,” he said.
