The return of in person sporting events has been one of the most anticipated moments of the entire reopening process. With rising vaccination rates and falling case numbers, athletes can strap their gear on again and practice in person, and fans can dust off their favorite jerseys in preparation for stadiums to open back up in the near future.
Major League Baseball (MLB) started its season on April 1st, allowing teams to play each other surrounded by crowds of mainly cardboard fans. California teams, the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s in specifically, were both allowed to fill their stadiums to 20% capacity, allowing around 9,000 fans inside. Fans allowed in the stadium are required to follow proper CDC guidelines, including social distancing and mask wearing.
In an interview with ABC News, Larry Bear, the CEO for the San Francisco Giants, expressed his excitement about fans returning to the stadium and provided some details about what COVID-safe sports will look like for the fans:
“We have something called FanSafe. It’s gonna involve sanitizers, it’s gonna involve checks, it’s gonna involve pod seating. We’re gonna have menu items that will be familiar but we’re going to be really careful as to how they’re delivered. A lot of delivery to the seats, more so than going up to the stands. Baseball is about energy, baseball’s about relationships, and you go with your parents, or you go with your children, or friends or your spouse and that’s what baseball is and to not have that energy in the ballpark it feels different. I think people would say it feels rather hollow without the fans”
Other professional sports have followed the same criteria, such as the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season started early November and arenas didn’t allow fans inside at any capacity until California moved into the yellow tier.
Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League (NFL), allowed states to make their own decision when deciding if fans will be in the stands. On March 30th, after an NFL owners meeting, Goodell came out and said in a press conference, “All of us in the NFL want to see every one of our fans back. Football is simply not the same without fans, and we expect to have full stadiums in the upcoming season.”
Goodell went on to describe that the NFL will follow state guidelines when it comes to stadium seating. The goal is to have fans back, but safety is still the number one priority, and the state officials will make the final decision.
Sonoma State and the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) are also extremely eager to get back to the fields and courts as well.
Sonoma State golf has been able to play rounds socially distant, but other than that, no other sport has gotten the opportunity to play. There are positive speculations around sports being able to come back in the Fall with some modifications and restrictions in place.
As Sonoma State prepares to return to in-person instruction for the Fall semester, student athletes and spectators remain hopeful that they will be able to participate in some in-person events soon.
Starting goalie Derik Engebretsen, a senior for the men’s soccer team, talked about looking forward to playing in the fall: “It was a huge let down not being able to play our Fall season because of COVID-19. We started practicing a couple weeks ago and it has been great to be back. There has been quite an adjustment the team has had to make because of the pandemic because of masks as we play and trying to be as socially distant as possible. As of now it looks like we will be able to play our whole season in the Fall and I couldn’t be more excited. We are ready to get started and win some games.”
