Momentum building for Royals to play in front of fans to start the 2021 season
The days of artificial crowd noise piped in through the public address system at ballparks might be a memory by the time the Kansas City Royals throw their first pitch of the Major League Baseball regular season.
While the COVID-19 coronavirus global pandemic continues to surge regionally as well as nationally, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has instructed clubs that fans may be allowed to attend games as early as next month when spring training contests begin, according to a USA Today report.
Fans were not allowed to attend games last season at Kauffman Stadium nor any of the other 29 MLB ballparks during the 2020 regular season.
However, fans were allowed to attend National League Championship Series and World Series games at the Texas Rangers’ new Globe Life Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. MLB capped World Series attendance at 25 percent of the ballpark’s capacity.
Memos sent to MLB clubs this week left open the possibility that small “pods” of tickets may be sold for spring training games assuming they’re separated by at least six feet, USA Today reported citing a memo it had obtained.
Fans will not be allowed to attend spring-training workouts, and regular-season tickets could be sold in similar “pods” as well as for reduced capacity suites, according to the report.
“We’re very hopeful and expect fans to be at Kauffman Stadium certainly at some point,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said last week. “(CEO and chairman) John (Sherman) is working on that with our city leaders and health officials just to make sure that we’re doing all that’s necessary to keep people healthy, keep people safe, give them confidence in attending a baseball game.
“So we’re just going to work through that together. There are a lot of smart people that understand what we need to do. I do believe that we’ll have fans at some point in time.”
Speculation in recent weeks has created doubt about whether spring training camps will start on time, but Moore expressed optimism that camp would proceed as scheduled. He pointed out that several players have already started training in Arizona and adhering to health and safety protocols.
The first spring training workout for Royals pitchers and catchers is scheduled for Wednesday, February 17, at the club’s facility in Surprise, Arizona.
“The message to our players is be ready to go at the regular time,” Moore said.
The Kansas City Chiefs, who will host an AFC Divisional Round playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium this Sunday, have played in front of fans since the start of the NFL season.
The Chiefs and local officials capped attendance at about 20 percent of Arrowhead Stadium’s 76,000 capacity or just less than 16,000.
Speaking to The Star recently about the decision to allow fans to attend Chiefs games, Kansas City health director Rex Archer said, “There’s actually no question that it’s been successful. We’ve not actually had any cases traced to exposure at the games. I’m particularly pleased with how this has gone.”
