When you think about it, there’s something uniquely intimate about going to a game.
“Sports is an outlet for a lot of us,” says Griffins president Tim Gortsema.
Watching from the stands, you’re close to the players and even closer to that fan sitting beside you.
“It’s a unifier in terms of rallying behind the home team,” he explains.
But now it’s also could be a problem. Social distancing has never been on the mind of the average sports fan. Today however, it’s at the forefront and it could keep some people from returning to the ballpark when sports returns.
“I would be very cautious at first,” says St. Louis Physician Dr. Dan O’Brien. “We have to make sure that we have the public health policies in place and most importantly just for the safety or participants fans and everyone around.
Dr. O’Brien isn’t the only one who believes the fan experience is going to be very different in the post pandemic world. Gortsema agrees. In fact, he has already been working on plans to create a much safer arena experience.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new normal in terms of maybe thermo-scanner testing temperatures of people coming in.,” says Gortsema. “We’ve talked through different scenarios.”
You also may see extra hand sanitizers around the arena. Or you might see teams only selling half of arena tickets for events.
“Is it possible? Sure,” admits Gortsema. “The reality is, we won’t know and no one is probably going to know for what I think is going to be months as this plays out.”
We may be headed for overtime and for a lot of changes but Gortsema says when sports do return, fans will still have plenty to cheer about.