The fans return: Limited-capacity crowd cheers on Sporting KC at Children’s Mercy Park
There was an extra buzz of excitement around Children’s Mercy Park Tuesday night even as cloth masks muffled the voices of fans both inside and outside of Sporting Kansas City’s home stadium.
The stands were nowhere near as full as usual, nor was the traffic as heavy. And the parking lots outside the stadium and around Kansas Speedway had plenty of open spaces.
Professional soccer finally returned to Kansas City, and along with it came 2,300 fans for the first time since Major League Soccer shut down in early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team is allowing 14 percent of normal fan capacity at the stadium. Fans saw their team lose 5-2 to Houston, but most just seemed happy to be back in the stands.
“It’s exciting,” fan Chris Borras said outside the stadium. “It’s some semblance of normalcy in what hasn’t really been a normal year.”
Beside Borras stood his brother, Cole, wearing a Sporting KC jersey but a Seattle Sounders mask on his face.
“I’m just a soccer fan because he is,” Cole laughed. “I live with him — he had two tickets so I came with him.”
Chris was one of a couple thousand season-ticket members who managed to grab tickets to Tuesday night’s game against the Houston Dynamo. Season-ticket holders who expressed interest in attending games under COVID-19 safety protocols were randomly selected in a draft format.
Sporting Kansas City implemented an array of safety measures ahead of the club’s first game with fans in attendance since the pandemic began. Some of those protocols include the requirement of face masks, temperature checks upon entry, altered foot traffic flow and seating with open spaces between groups.
Even with all of those measures in place, some fans were still a little cautious about attending the game.
“We had a discussion before buying the tickets that if we got here and it felt unsafe. then we would just go home,” said Summer Borras, who was attending with her husband, Vince.
Season-ticket holders were made aware of the safety protocols by a Sporting KC representative ahead of the game, easing many fans’ concerns about attending.
The first protocol that fans encountered Tuesday was separated parking spots parking in lots, with empty spots between each vehicle. But even then, not all fans were following protocol until they got closer to the stadium.
“People in the parking lot aren’t wearing masks, but once we get kind of close to each other everybody is putting their masks on,” Summer said. “So I’m feeling pretty safe.”
Another safety protocal staggered fans’ entry to the stadium, with ticket-holders alerted ahead of time when to arrive at the venue based on where they were sitting.
“I think they’ll do a good job,” Chris Borras said. “They seemed to have planned it out very well, with everyone sitting apart and having the staggered entries. I think they’ve done a good job with it.”
“It seems like they’re trying to keep it really safe,” agreed fan Stephanie Hass. “It’s probably one of the safest places that we’ve tried to go to.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 7:46 PM with the headline "The fans return: Limited-capacity crowd cheers on Sporting KC at Children’s Mercy Park."