Blue Jays fans working at the head offices of Canadian Tire Corp. won’t have to come up with elaborate excuses to catch the team in the playoffs this week.

The Canadian Tire head office in Toronto and the Sport Chek and Marks headquarters in Calgary have given employees Friday off to watch the Jays take on the Texas Rangers in Game 2 of their American League Division Series match-up.

In total, about 5,000 workers will have the day off so that they can cheer on the Jays.

It’s the first time Canadian Tire has given employees the day off for a sporting event, said CEO Michael Medline. He admits it was partly a selfish initiative – he has tickets to the Thursday and Friday games.

“I’m a mammoth Jays fan from when I was there on opening day in 1977,” said the executive who once dreamed of becoming president of the Blue Jays.

“I’ve waited 22 years for this and you never know when the next one comes around.”

Medline said he hopes other companies will follow Canadian Tire’s lead and give their employees time off or the ability to watch at work.

“It’s a special time and it unites all of our employees and it unites the entire country and you don’t get too many things like that.”

Blue Jays owners, Rogers Communications, will give 15,000 corporate employees and non-critical, non-customer service staff Friday afternoon off to watch the game, it told staff in an internal memo obtained by The Star. The country-wide time off is a first for the company.

Rogers told the rest of its 27,000 full and part-time employees who cannot take the time off, it will host office viewing parties with snacks.

Employees at individual Canadian Tire, Sport Chek and Marks stores aren’t as lucky, as the stores will remain open during regular business hours.

Toronto plays the Texas Rangers at the Rogers Centre at 3:37 p.m. EDT on Thursday and then at 12:45 p.m. EDT on Friday for Game 2.

The daytime schedules left many fans upset when they were announced earlier this week. Some had to resell their tickets when they couldn’t get out of work, while others hinted that they would call in sick to not miss the games.

“After waiting 38 years, brokenheartedly gave away my game 2 @BlueJays ticket,” a Jays fan tweeted.

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Fans’ hopes were bolstered when Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey said he supported giving Canadian fans the day off to cheer on the team.

“I vote for no work day for Toronto fans on (Thursday) or Friday so they can watch the games #nationalholiday,” he wrote on Twitter.

It’s not unthinkable for sports fans to get time off work to support their teams.

During the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, federal employees had half-days whenever the Brazilian national team played. Brazilian banks operated on a modified schedule on days Brazil’s team played and Sao Paulo declared a city-wide holiday on opening day.

While many Toronto fans will be at work during the games, that won’t stop them from showing their support for the Jays.

Andrea Ionescu will be at work at a Storage Mart store in Toronto on Thursday.

But she told the Star that she will be decked out in Jays gear alongside her colleagues at 25 stores across the GTA and in London, On.: the company is hosting a Blue Jays Spirit Day on Thursday to support the team.

“We are all going to wear our Jays gear tomorrow and make signs,” Ionescu said. “Even though we couldn’t be there, we want them to know that although we’re at work we still have them in our thoughts and we want them to do well.”

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