“Good evening Bulldogs family,

Well, this weekend was supposed to be our OPFL game 1 which because of the pandemic did not take place. As things stand now, all sports fields not being rented to football and other sports involving close contact with other athletes. The Province will be releasing the opening up of Ontario, including outdoor sports through the next several weeks. It is expected that municipalities will be making fields available to football once the Province deems it safe to do so.

We hope this will take place in July, but depending on the region, some municipalities may not open fields to football until later. North Bay has the lowest statistical number of COVID19 cases in the province so we expect that we will be among the first to see fields become available for football, but we don’t expect this until late June or early July.

Since 3/4 of the OPFL season is completed by July 4 it is clear the Provincial State of Emergency has caused the OPFL to suspend all football activities which means the 2020 football season as planned is canceled. As we learn what municipalities will be re-opening fields to tackle football and when the OPFL will look to put together scheduling in the various divisions and levels with available teams to conduct 6 or 4 game schedule. We need to identify the clubs that will have field availability for July and rework football scheduling around that group.

As you can imagine, where the schedule will be significantly less than the 8 game season, we will also be adjusting the player fees to reflect the shorter season we may be playing.

As a result, refunds will be issued to those who have paid their fees for 2020 and we will look to re-collect fees when we have firm information on start dates and game schedules.

We hope everyone has a great week and we will update you as more information becomes available both from the OPFL and from the government.

Sincerely,

Marc Mathon – President