How much of a boost do fans in the stands give the home team?
Or to the athletes on the field in general?
Are the risks of having these fans back during a stubborn health crisis too great to even worry about these questions?
When the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium announced that up to 13,000 fans will be at their home opener on Sept. 20 versus the Buffalo Bills, with the Fish joining the Chiefs, Colts, and Jaguars in allowing fans in the stands, teams that won’t have a roaring, partisan crowd on their side began grousing. Bills head coach Sean McDermott, beholden to New York State regulations which ban fans from Orchard Park Stadium until further notice, called the uneven playing field “ridiculous.”
In the world of sports, like everywhere else, the ongoing complications of Coronavirus, both significant and mundane, continue.
With televised sports now back, the next big challenge is getting fans into the house safely so that a fun sporting event doesn’t turn into a dangerous super spreader event.
The Bills join at least two-thirds of the NFL’s clubs which won’t have any fans inside their stadiums to start the season.
The always entertaining, fast and furious NHL playoffs are showcasing generational talent like the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon…but only on NBC Sports Network. No fans are seeing the magic live.
And of course MLB has their fun cardboard cutouts, occasionally pummeled by a screaming line drive.
But not every sport is following an exclusively made-for-TV script.
For example, MLS clubs FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, and Real Salt Lake have started playing in front of fans.
The sport that first brought fans back into indoor arenas, Professional Bull Riders (PBR), has been holding ticketed events since mid July – helping write a new live-event playbook by introducing new safety protocols that well become the blueprint for how sports fans can regain some semblance of normalcy.
In late April, PBR was the first major pro sport to return to action during COVID-19 at closed-to-fans, televised events in Logan County, Okla. With a stringent medical testing protocol, functional working groups never crossing paths, social distancing within those groups, and self-isolation procedures like putting all athletes and crew in their own RV on site at the spacious Lazy E Arena, the sport resumed the season without incident. About three weeks later, UFC staged a televised fight and then other sports like NASCAR started to come back with closed events of their own.
Boudreaux Campbell rides Cord McCoy/Graber/Gallagher’s Real Gun for 85.75 during the second round of the Guthrie Bullnanza Unleash the Beast PBR. Photo by Andy Watson
While the arenas were eerily empty, televised events were great for PBR. Cowboys and stock contactors who are not on contract and dependent on the sport for their livelihood were being paid again. And during challenging times, fans received a well-deserved diversion on CBS, CBS Sports Network and RidePass, the PBR’s digital network.
Still, to supplement its broadcast and partnership revenue, a sport like PBR needs ticket money as well as live fan engagement to satisfy those paying sponsors. The organization had to find a way to bring fans through sterilized turnstiles.
Working with arena and stadium operator ASM Global, PBR melded its protocols with ASM Global’s “Venue Shield,” an advanced environmental hygiene protocol developed for more than 325 ASM facilities globally. It became the first sport to host fans safely during the pandemic July 10-12 in Sioux Falls, S.D. Fan-attended elite tour events continued in Bismarck, N.D., Guthrie, Okla., and last weekend Salt Lake City.
One change was readily apparent on TV –partially filled grandstands with pockets of fans spaced throughout the arena. PBR says it’s selling only up to 50% venue capacity. PBR CMO Kosha Irby concedes in reality it’s more like 36-42% due to the configuration of “pod seating.”
While it sounds like something out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the pod seating concept is simple: fans in clusters of 2-8 seats separated so there’s no human interaction or cross over in getting to and from a seat.
As opposed to the closed-to-fan sports like NHL or WNBA, which have picked venue homes and settled into a contained bubble, PBR has events in different cities for the next two months heading to World Finals. Therefore, one of the league’s key protocols is requiring medical testing before anyone leaves their home to travel to a bull riding.
Once in market, everyone tests again and follows a set of guidelines for safe behavior throughout the weekend.
“We don’t want bring Coronavirus into a market, and we don’t want to take it out of the market,” Irby said. “That is our first and foremost concern guiding the protocols for holding safe and responsible events, and the processes are working.”
Indeed, since getting back to action in April, only five PBR athletes have tested positive prior to an event; each was immediately quarantined and sent home before the virus could be transmitted to anyone.
Other PBR protocols, which may vary slightly by arena, include:
- All PBR athletes and crew must wear masks at all times in the arena. (The one exception is during a bull ride, where masks may inhibit a rider’s vision.)
- Fans are strongly encouraged to wear masks; in markets like Ft. Worth, Tulsa and Lincoln, Nebraska, facial covering while in the arena is mandatory for fans, too. PBR follows local ordinances but will always encourage mask wearing.
- Fewer point of sale, box office and merchandise terminals to promote social distancing.
- A focus on digital ticketing and cashless transactions.
- Limiting merchandise sales to top-selling items to speed transaction time.
- “Touchless” fan experiences, including adjusted ingress and security checks, prepackaged food and beverage selections, increased informational signage, and one-way traffic areas.
- Increased sanitization of high-contact areas including bathrooms, concourses, concession stands, elevators, and dining areas.
- Elimination of promotional handouts.
To pull off any live sporting event safely in the foreseeable future, leagues and teams are grappling with how to eliminate congesting and congregation. Open space is good; packed crowds are anathema.
“In the past when promoting our events, we’d do anything in our power to avoid a photo showing empty seats. Today, that’s the money shot you want published,” according to PBR’s head of communications.
The limited crowds coming to watch the world’s best cowboys and rankest bulls are still loud –these folks love their bull riding – but the event feels different.
PBR has put on hold some traditional activations. You won’t see official entertainer Flint Rasmussen heading into the stands to give away a coveted Montana Silversmiths belt buckle for the “Cooper Tires Fan of the Night” promotion. Flint now orchestrates the presentation from the dirt with a staffer “outside the bubble” handing the lucky fan the buckle.
PBR can’t shoot T-shirts into the crowd or drop Ariat boots from the ceiling. The league is primarily using social and digital media to replace this exposure for partners.
During Coronavirus, familiar sights and sounds will go away. The NFL sidelines will look like a ghost town. You won’t see any mascots or cheerleaders or that friend who scored the amazing team social media gig standing on the 50-yard line.
PBR hasn’t said if they will ask venue operators to place an outright ban on the nacho pump, but it’s hard to imagine seeing one at a bull riding event, or for that matter, anywhere else anytime soon.
Of course, fans will survive without swag giveways and gooey condiments.
It’s great to be able to download a mobile ticket, pack your favorite mask, and enjoy the drama and thrills of live sports sitting in the incomparable arena atmosphere.
But, seriously, can a surefire vaccine come soon enough?
