The Capacity of New York Fandom
It was recently announced that New York State would be opening up arenas to 10% capacity as of February 23rd, which means that fans will be back watching their favorite teams as of next week. With this announcement comes a mix of emotions for many New York residents, as we all navigate the balance of safety and returning to a sense of normalcy. After allowing fans to attend playoff games in Buffalo, the state government determined that under specific guidelines there could be a successful path for fans to enjoy games in person.
Here is a brief breakdown of how this affects each team. The Nets and Knicks will kick off the arena reopenings on February 23rd at Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden respectively. The Rangers will follow suit on February 26th at MSG. The Islanders have not yet set a date for fans to return to Nassau Coliseum but are balancing this effort with the team’s anticipated UBS stadium to debut next season in Belmont. For the teams based in New York that are not currently playing (Liberty, Mets, Yankees) the expectation will be that if all goes well they would have fans at games when they return, and the teams that are based in New Jersey (Jets, Giants, Devils) are awaiting measures from their state to determine if and when fans will be back in a limited capacity. New York teams who open up their arenas next week will be able to learn from other examples where states have already had fans attend games in order to create the safest environment possible. So far in terms of having fans at games, there has been adoption from 13 teams in the NBA, 8 teams in the NHL, as well as the majority of teams in the NFL (albeit the difference of indoor versus outdoor viewing); we even saw the MLB experiment with having fans at stadiums during the postseason.
This new chapter brings up questions about which fans will be able to attend these games, what the fan experience will be like, and how fans being in the stadiums will impact the players.
With a limited capacity, the demand for these games will likely be high. This brings into question the types of fans that will be able to attend the game in the first place and what that will mean for who actually gets to enjoy seeing their team in person. The NFL had many bumps along the way during the past season, but one beneficial move they made was to give 7,500 vaccinated health care workers free tickets to attend the Super Bowl. While it is understood that the goal of these teams is to recoup lost revenue and maximize the sales from these tickets, prioritizing vaccinated essential workers with free or discounted tickets would be the right thing to do and would contribute to a safer and more genuine fan base. The initial worry with the limited capacity is that tickets will be so expensive that only those with the most money will be able to attend the games until capacity is increased; while this is part of how things work while operating a business, having Courtside Karens representing New York fans isn’t what anyone wants to see.
The entire fan experience will be very different no matter who attends the games. So much of the joy that comes from attending games will understandably not be able to happen for a very long time. Catching a bag of Cracker Jacks from the vendor who tosses them from a section over, screaming and high-fiving a random fan who you don’t know, and many more of the small idiosyncrasies that make going to a sporting event special will be limited. Even the experience of going to the game and seeing fans donning the same team colors, whether it be the B/D/4 to Yankee Stadium or LIRR to Nassau Coliseum, will not be part of the game-day traditions we are accustomed to.
According to a Harris Poll survey in conjunction with Sportico, two-thirds of Americans will not be comfortable in a full-capacity indoor arena (67%) or outdoor stadium (64%) for a sporting event until they’ve had a COVID-19 vaccine, and the majority will still not be comfortable until the country reaches herd immunity.
The skepticism for limited capacity, let alone full-capacity viewing for a sporting event is justified. It will be an interesting litmus test to see how New York, once the epicenter of this virus, fairs with creating an environment for fans to feel safe amid the start of the state’s efforts to bring back elements of a normal life as the distribution of vaccines begin to ramp up.
Big time win!! I can’t wait to have the fans back and have the Garden rocking!!!
— Theo pinson (@tpinsonn) February 16, 2021
The players will surely get a boost out of having even a limited number of fans in the arena. The first teams to experience fans in home arenas, the Nets and the Knicks, have already had players and coaches commenting on how having fans back will change their mindset and positively impact the dynamic for the team.
“[I’m] extremely excited. The game is just not the same without fans. Any time you can have even a little bit, it changes a lot,” Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Harris said. “The first time we played against fans in Memphis and then in Cleveland, those games just feel different than the empty arenas where you sort of have this artificial energy.” For these two teams specifically, there is a lot of excitement around the current season as the Knicks have defied preseason expectations as one of the most fun teams to root for, and the Nets with their addition of James Harden have the most talented big three in the league. In a season where many fans have said or typed out the phrase “imagine what it would be like if fans were there”, we will soon get a glimpse of what that looks like in reality.
Overall, the notion of having fans back even in this limited capacity is conflicting and there shouldn’t be a wrong or right way of how to feel about it. Although there won’t the same fan experience and questions will arise about who gets to actually benefit from being in the seats, if this is done safely it can be a sign of hope for the many that have sports as an outlet to bring joy to their life. As New Yorkers begin to reacclimate to the new way of life in the coming months, we will benefit from being appreciative of moments like attending games again, even if it isn’t the same experience that we hope to get back to at some point in the future.