- New York City is allowing in-person attendance of live sporting events, capping capacity at 10 percent of the venue’s usual capacity.
- Some stadiums and arenas have been allowing limited attendance throughout the pandemic, while baseball’s Texas Rangers plan to allow full capacity once the season begins.
- The risk of virus transmission is lower in outdoor stadiums than it is indoors.
- Enhanced safety measures are in place, including physical distancing, masking, sanitation, and signage.
For the past year, sports fans have been largely absent from arenas and stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the pandemic began to ramp up last March, virtually all sports leagues paused their seasons. When games resumed later that summer, most of them took place in venues with no fans in attendance.
Since last month, though, New York City has allowed limited attendance at sporting events: No more than 10 percent of the venue’s total capacity.
That works out to fewer than 2,000 fans at the city’s main indoor arenas, Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center.
The city’s two outdoor baseball stadiums — Yankee Stadium and Citi Field — will be able to accommodate between 4,100 and 4,700 fans.
It’s worth noting that some venues never fully shut their doors to fans. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, limited attendance to 50 percent of its usual 100,000-seat capacity for Dallas Cowboys football games.
The Texas Rangers announced this week that they would allow a sellout crowd of 40,518 at Globe Life Field once baseball season begins.
The news out of New York is significant, though, as it represents the first time in close to a year that fans have been able to enjoy live sports.
Of course, as the pandemic continues to endanger a population that’s still largely unvaccinated, it raises an important question: Is it safe to go to a game?
Source: healthline