Sporting KC to allow fans in stadium. Who thought that was a good idea amid COVID-19?
Two major college athletic conferences canceled their fall seasons Tuesday because of fears that players and coaches would be exposed to COVID-19. That was the right decision.
The Washington Football Team said Wednesday it will play in an empty stadium for the entire season. The Masters golf tournament will be held in November without spectators.
“The potential risks of welcoming patrons and guests to our grounds in November are simply too significant to overcome,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said.
That’s why it’s strange, and unfortunate, that Sporting KC — Kansas City’s professional soccer franchise — wants to invite a limited number of fans to watch home games in person, starting in less than two weeks.
The club, which announced its plan in conjunction with Major League Soccer, will allow fans equal to 14% of the stadium’s capacity into Children’s Mercy Park in Wyandotte County beginning Aug. 25.
“The fan experience at Children’s Mercy Park is an essential element of our club,” Sporting KC spokesman Rob Thomson said in an email to The Star Editorial Board. “Fans are at the heart of everything we do.”
Sporting KC said it consulted with health officials with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, as well as the state of Kansas before deciding to partially open the stadium. Masks will be required. Social distancing will be practiced at the gates and in the stands.
Cash won’t be accepted. Disinfectants will be used before, during and after games.
These precautions and others are essential and may address the concerns of some fans. But they illustrate a basic point: None of these steps would be needed if it were fully safe for spectators to attend a game.
Is it? According to a new digital tool from Georgia Tech University, there’s a 99% chance that at least one person in a Wyandotte County crowd of 100 people will have the coronavirus. An estimated 2,500 people will attend Sporting KC home games.
Wyandotte County has been one of the areas in Kansas most severely impacted by COVID-19. As of Tuesday, roughly 5,000 people had contracted the virus. A hundred people have died. According to the Harvard Global Health Institute, Wyandotte County is one of five Kansas counties in the red zone for the infection, which means stay-at-home orders are needed to contain the disease.
Thomson told us that COVID-19 cases in Wyandotte County are declining, and the area around the stadium has had few cases in the past weeks. But fans will come from the whole region to watch the game, and could potentially spread the virus to other parts of the community.
The state’s own guidelines say mass gatherings of more than 45 people are not recommended unless social distancing is used. This week, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said anyone who attends a mass gathering of 500 or more outside of the state should quarantine for two weeks.
Will fans shout and cheer through their masks? There’s evidence loud voices and singing can spread COVID-19 more efficiently than normal breathing and communication. That’s another cause for concern.
Reopening the stadium to fans sends a horrible signal to others arguing for high school football, or outdoor concerts, or other mass gatherings. It may help push the Royals, the Chiefs and college football teams into unwisely allowing a limited number of fans at their home games this fall when the pandemic is expected to continue.
And there is no clear reason for it. Sporting KC says the additional revenue may be minimal. Why, then, are fans needed? The games can be broadcast. Ratings for live sporting events remain high, even in empty stadiums. The game can be played with or without spectators.
Sporting KC doesn’t deserve all the blame here. The state of Kansas and Wyandotte County appear to have endorsed this decision, which should be reversed. State and local officials did not respond to emails and phone calls on this issue.
Like all Americans, we want the nation to return to normal. We’re just as frustrated with confusing classroom rules and mask regulations as everyone else. We like soccer. We want the coronavirus to go away.
It has not. And it won’t until the nation gets serious about the steps necessary to end this threat. Some endeavors are essential and require humans to be present. Soccer isn’t one of them.