Sports fans have been putting up with what is now known as “the new normal” for six months and counting.
The good news is that sports have returned but without fans and without the normal atmosphere that a full stadium brings to a match. Instead cardboard cut outs and piped in crowd noises have become the norm for fans watching from home.
Even better news is that some leagues and teams in various sports have begun to allow fans back into stadiums. One example is Japan’s top flight soccer league, the J-League
Like leagues throughout the world, the J-League suspended play in March. Matches were allowed to begin again on June 27th. There have been isolated cases of players testing positive, but the league has carried on.
The government decided to start allowing fans to return in early July with a limit of up to 5,000 fans per match. There are also restrictions on what those in attendance can do. Alcohol sales are prohibited which is not surprising. What is interesting is that initially clapping, chanting, cheering, singing, and drumming were not allowed. (Recently the league decided that clapping would be allowed as it is low risk for spreading the virus and will now be allowed.)
In a recent New York Times article here’s what the writer observed at a recent F.C. Tokyo home match:
When the fans applauded a great play it made the match feel more like a symphony concert than a soccer game.
Everyone that attended the match had to have a temperature check prior to entering the stadium.
Throughout the stadium there were markers on the ground reminding fans to social distance when lining up to buy food or souvenirs.
Every other row in the stadium was kept empty and each ticketed spectator had two empty seats to their right and to their left (this included people from the same family).
The area of the stands usually filled with away fans was totally empty.
Those in attendance had to provide their names and contact information for contact tracing purposes.
The J-League is going to reevaluate its policy on fan attendance at the end of September to see if more fans will be allowed to return to matches.
Here in the states Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, Orlando City SC and Real Salt Lake have received permission from local governments to allow a limited amount of fans in to their stadiums..
Sporting KC CEO Jake Reid was asked whether it was worth it to open the stadium for a small number of spectators. His reply was, "Finances aren't driving much of major league sports at this point." It appears the real priority is trying to restore some sense of normalcy to the games.
Hopefully we’ll be able to return to a “real normal” in the near future. In the meantime it’s a strange scene inside soccer stadiums throughout the world.
What do you think about the current state of things with regards to fan attendance?