Opening Day is upon us! Happy Opening Day! I love this day, I think I love it more in the spring that I do in mid-Summer, but nonetheless, Opening Day is my Christmas morning. Every year we are optimistic, but no other year does “hope springs eternal” mean more than 2020. With most of the country in quarantines, with questions on when schools will reopen, on if it is even safe to go visit your family, baseball’s return can provide us a sense of normalcy in a world which is anything but.
We were prepared to go into the 2020 season with no fans in the stands. This was a position MLB has taken, and teams have followed. It seemed as if that would be the case. But, Cubs President of Business Operations, Crane Kenney, has said the club has presented the City of Chicago and MLB a plan that would allow for between 6,000 and 7,000 fans.
According to state guidelines on outdoor gatherings, there can be 20% capacity outdoors. Wrigley Field can seat roughly 41,000 fans, which would put a “safe” attendance around 8,200 fans. Personally, I have attended a Chicago Dogs game and this is something that can be done – safely. It is all in the plan and the execution of the plan, and the Cubs have presented the city with strict protocols so fans can safely attend games.
Under the plan, fans would be able to buy tickets in groups of two, four, and six seats. They will be provided designated gates for entry and exiting, with staggered entry/exit windows.
The Cubs aren’t looking at this as a way to recoup lost revenues, but they want to test potential plans as there is no certainty that the 2021 season will be normal. As Kenney states (as told to the Chicago Sun Times), they want to, “see how the ballpark operates with those rules.
“We have to plan for the potential of that happening next year, where we’re not allowed to have full capacity in the ballpark… where it wouldn’t be safe to do that.”
If allowed, this would give the Cubs a great opportunity to see what works, what doesn’t and how to better prepare in the event that the pandemic isn’t subsided next season.
As mentioned, I went to a Dogs game and saw how things can be run. While Impact Field is much smaller than Wrigley, their plan was greatly reduced concessions, they had clearly marked walkways, and when in common areas all fans MUST wear a mask. Additionally, fans had to have their temperature taken at the gate, regardless of age, and concession lines had clearly marked six-foot lines marked. You were seated with your group of purchased tickets (I believe they allow up to eight seats together) but you were separated by six feet from the next closest spectator.
The Cubs plan is similar.
“If you’re coming with your family… people you’re spending time with in your home… and there are hour or six of you, you could sit together. But you would be six feet from anyone else in the ballpark.
“Masks would be required on the way in. They would be required any time you weren’t in your seat. Concessions would largely be ordered from your seat so you didn’t spend time in line,” Kenney added.
I have spent many hours combing through the state regulations for spectators. I have done this because I am a board member of a youth baseball program and have needed to help draft return to play guidelines. The Cubs plan seems to exceed most of the guidelines that I have seen, and I’m particularly encouraged by the concessions. We (our youth program) have elected to not open our concessions because we couldn’t positively eliminate lines. When you have mobs of people in a small space, that is when germs can be passed.
I also am encouraged by their staggered entry times, something that we have also done for our youth program – albeit, not at such a large scale.
Rather than saying that’s it’s a 1:20 PM game and you can come any time up to two hours prior to the game to get into the ballpark, you would be assigned a specific entry window and you would be designated a gate to use for entry and exit,” Kenney added. “No one would be asked to leave the game prior to the game’s ending. It would just be a staggered exit.”
The Mayor’s office has said that this is part of an ongoing conversation, and there are many people, departments, and research to be done.
The City has remained in close coordination with all of Chicago’s major sports teams throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and looks forward to welcoming back fans at a time when it is deemed safe,” a statement from the Mayor’s office stated.
Kenney had also noted that fans in Wrigley would not happen until at least the half-way point of this 60-game season. There are a ton of details to be worked out, and many more conversations to be had. The biggest impact on any plans would be infection rates in Chicago. If there continues to be an increase in infections, Chicago will more than likely need to close something down again. The first thing will be inside bars and dining, and if this were to happen, there’s no real way to then open ballparks for fans.
So, if you want to be in Wrigley this year, or even be able to watch and have some semblance of actual fans and crowd noise – you have to wear a mask. You have to practice social distancing. You have to use the commonsense things that we were all taught in Kindergarten on covering your mouth and nose and washing hands.
