This is the brutal reality of the next few months.
The Boston Globe ( whose owner also is the majority owner of the Red Sox) takes a hard look at what lies ahead.
The experts seem to believe that a Champions League soccer game in Milan contributed to the explosion of the virus in both Italy and Spain.
Already, city and state government officials including Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, California governor Gavin Newsom, and New York mayor Bill de Blasio have all but ruled out the idea of fans in the stands before 2021.
The NFL can function without fan revenue - MLB and the NBA could also limp on but can the NHL???
PAYWALL What will the sports fan’s experience look like after coronavirus? - The Boston Globe
Initially, it seems virtually certain that there will be a period — measured at least in months — in which fans aren’t permitted into sports venues at all. There could be a gradual reopening of facilities where they aren’t empty but aren’t ready to be filled.
“Assuming no vaccine, no antiviral antidote, then I think what happens after the period of no fans, we move to a period of everybody separated by one seat and every row separated,” conjectured Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist. “That basically takes your stadium or arena capacity down to 25 percent of its normal level. So, Fenway, instead of having roughly 40,000 fans will now have roughly 10,000 fans at a sellout game.”
Crowd composition could be altered further by profiling. Might teams discourage those at greater risk of serious complications from COVID-19 — those over 60, or those with preexisting conditions — from going to games? Would teams restrict tickets to — or feature different seating plans for — those who could document they had developed antibodies to the coronavirus?
▪ Decontamination of stands will have to become a staple of stadium operations. Hand sanitizer will become omnipresent in concourses. Cleaning staffs would have to be vigilant about the “high-touch” areas of facilities — including railings (both in stands and on escalators) and elevator buttons.
▪ Might there be a requirement for spectators to wear masks? If so, masks with team logos might replace caps or jerseys as the most frequently seen form of team apparel.
▪ With diminished crowds, it’s possible some of the standard issues at sporting events of overcrowded restrooms would be resolved. Still, teams might restrict the number of people in a restroom at any given time.
▪ It’s a quintessential part of the stadium experience: A hot dog passed from vendor to fan to fan to fan, with cash flowing back in the other direction. In all likelihood, that familiar ritual will be gone.
“They’ll have to have no stadium vendors,” said Zimbalist. “They’re not going to have people passing hot dogs down or passing anything down. That has to stop.”
▪ At an extreme, it’s possible sports venues could eliminate food and beverages entirely. Yet given that takeout remains an option during this time of isolation, it seems more likely that food will remain available but in different form.
That could mean pre-ordered boxed meals or wrapped concessions that are purchased at the same time as the ticket to minimize the exchange of food and money. Food boxes could be available for pickup from carts or some other more secure mechanism once inside the stadium.
▪ Beer and alcohol would be particularly complicated because of the need for ID checks. Given that teams would be reliant on fans to “self-police” their behavior and act in responsible fashion to observe social distancing tenets, it’s possible sales of alcohol could be restricted or eliminated.
The Boston Globe ( whose owner also is the majority owner of the Red Sox) takes a hard look at what lies ahead.
The experts seem to believe that a Champions League soccer game in Milan contributed to the explosion of the virus in both Italy and Spain.
Already, city and state government officials including Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, California governor Gavin Newsom, and New York mayor Bill de Blasio have all but ruled out the idea of fans in the stands before 2021.
The NFL can function without fan revenue - MLB and the NBA could also limp on but can the NHL???
PAYWALL What will the sports fan’s experience look like after coronavirus? - The Boston Globe
Initially, it seems virtually certain that there will be a period — measured at least in months — in which fans aren’t permitted into sports venues at all. There could be a gradual reopening of facilities where they aren’t empty but aren’t ready to be filled.
“Assuming no vaccine, no antiviral antidote, then I think what happens after the period of no fans, we move to a period of everybody separated by one seat and every row separated,” conjectured Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist. “That basically takes your stadium or arena capacity down to 25 percent of its normal level. So, Fenway, instead of having roughly 40,000 fans will now have roughly 10,000 fans at a sellout game.”
Crowd composition could be altered further by profiling. Might teams discourage those at greater risk of serious complications from COVID-19 — those over 60, or those with preexisting conditions — from going to games? Would teams restrict tickets to — or feature different seating plans for — those who could document they had developed antibodies to the coronavirus?
▪ Decontamination of stands will have to become a staple of stadium operations. Hand sanitizer will become omnipresent in concourses. Cleaning staffs would have to be vigilant about the “high-touch” areas of facilities — including railings (both in stands and on escalators) and elevator buttons.
▪ Might there be a requirement for spectators to wear masks? If so, masks with team logos might replace caps or jerseys as the most frequently seen form of team apparel.
▪ With diminished crowds, it’s possible some of the standard issues at sporting events of overcrowded restrooms would be resolved. Still, teams might restrict the number of people in a restroom at any given time.
▪ It’s a quintessential part of the stadium experience: A hot dog passed from vendor to fan to fan to fan, with cash flowing back in the other direction. In all likelihood, that familiar ritual will be gone.
“They’ll have to have no stadium vendors,” said Zimbalist. “They’re not going to have people passing hot dogs down or passing anything down. That has to stop.”
▪ At an extreme, it’s possible sports venues could eliminate food and beverages entirely. Yet given that takeout remains an option during this time of isolation, it seems more likely that food will remain available but in different form.
That could mean pre-ordered boxed meals or wrapped concessions that are purchased at the same time as the ticket to minimize the exchange of food and money. Food boxes could be available for pickup from carts or some other more secure mechanism once inside the stadium.
▪ Beer and alcohol would be particularly complicated because of the need for ID checks. Given that teams would be reliant on fans to “self-police” their behavior and act in responsible fashion to observe social distancing tenets, it’s possible sales of alcohol could be restricted or eliminated.
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