April 10, 2020

The Intercounty Baseball League’s Barrie Baycats and Brantford Red Sox announced in separate statements on Thursday that they would be suspending operations for the 2020 season.

Baycats suspend operations for 2020

BARRIE - Today, it is with deep regret that the Board of Directors of the Barrie Baycats Baseball Club announce that we will not be fielding a team for the upcoming 2020 season.

These are extremely challenging times for our families and all of society. The COVID-19 pandemic has completely caught all of us off guard. This situation is bigger than baseball and that is the reason we must make responsible decisions.

“Nothing is more important to the Baycats than the health and safety of our players, volunteers, fans, and officials,” stated Baycats President David Mills.

"At this time there exists too much risk and uncertainty to move forward in good conscience this season,” commented Mills.

“During these last couple of weeks, we have had a valuable dialogue with the Intercounty Baseball League. Presently, two other IBL teams (Kitchener and Brantford) have opted out of the 2020 season, and the remaining teams and their executives are considering their plans for the season that could potentially begin on July 1.

"Without any ability to predict as to when it will be safe and responsible to return to play, our Board of Directors unanimously came to this decision to withdraw from the IBL 2020 season.

"All of us play a part battling this virus so that we may be in a position to enjoy more Baycats baseball in the future.

The Baycats, a not-for-profit organization, has established itself with a strong community presence. It would be irresponsible of us as Directors and the custodians of this organization, its reputation, and its very future in this community, to risk all of our health and welfare by participating this season.

"By putting the foot on the brakes for 2020, we have another year to regroup, solidify our sponsors, players, and staffing and come out of the gate in 2021 in the same strong position we’ve been in for the last 20 years.

"Thank you for supporting Baycats Baseball and trust you understand our decision. We will continue to provide information on the team through social media and our website”.

David Mills

President Baycats

Red Sox suspend operations

BRANTFORD - The world is not as it should be, and the COVID-19 crisis is taking a toll on every single one of us. Many of us must stay home, we cannot see our family or friends. Many of us have lost our jobs, while others are working on the front line and putting themselves at risk in healthcare, fire, police, grocery stores and pharmacies (to name just a few), so that we may have the essential goods and services we need.

It is certain that a traditional Intercounty Baseball League season will not be possible this year. Even a modified season will have to have the blessing of the governments, health officials, and local municipalities. We appreciate that some teams in the IBL are still hopeful of playing a shortened season starting in July. The Brantford Red Sox organization has made the decision that we will not operate for the 2020 season. This was not an easy decision to make, but we feel it is the right thing to do for this team and our community.

We will miss baseball for sure, and we will miss spending our summer with all of you. We all must do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19 and make our community healthy again, because together we will get through this!

For anyone who purchased 2020 tickets through SeatGiant, you will receive a refund through them. Please visit www.seatgiant.ca/Contact-Us for any enquiries.

For anyone who purchased physical season tickets at Ackland Desjardins Insurance or Brant Sports Excellence, you have the option of:

• turning in your season ticket to your point of purchase for a full refund, or

• keeping them and having them replaced with season tickets for 2021 (2021 season tickets will be available early fall)

We ask those wishing to collect refunds to please be patient, as we will have to wait for businesses to reopen.

We thank you all for understanding, and for your support and encouragement each and every year. 2021 will be a great year, and we cannot wait to see you all again!

Be kind to each other and stay well! #TeamBrantford

Sincerely,

Connie & Rick Pomerleau

Owners, Brantford Red Sox

Panthers suspend operations

IBL's Baycats, Red Sox, Panthers suspend operations for 2020