Philly Event Capacity Increased, Fans Returning To Sports

Philadelphia PA

02 March, 2021

3:15 PM

Description

PHILADELPHIA — On Monday, Pennsylvania changed its event restrictions to allow more people at indoor and outdoor events. Then on Tuesday, Philadelphia health officials said the city's event limits would match the state's. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley during a news conference Tuesday said that, effective immediately, the city's event limits are the same as the state's Now, indoor venues can have 15 percent of their maximum capacity and outdoor venues can have 20 percent of their maximum capacity. And the increased capacities should be cause for celebration among Philly sports fans. "This affects in particular the very large venues," Farley said,"and in particular the sports stadiums." Farley said the health department is working with Citizens Bank Park and the Wells Fargo Center on their health safety protocols for welcoming fans back to games. Regarding the Wells Fargo Center, fans will be back as of Sunday. "Factoring in state and local regulations, NHL and NBA guidance, and the arena's own strict health and safety protocols, Wells Fargo Center will initially be able to host approximately 3,100 fans for Flyers and 76ers games," according to a Wells Fargo Center news release. "Today's announcement comes after months of close coordination with state and city health officials, extensive, science-backed research into similar arena re-openings, and input from leading medical experts." Details on the arena's health safety measures are available here. As for Citizens Bank park, the new guidelines would allow 8,800 fans in the stadium for the first 19 regular season home games. These include series against the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, and Milwaukee Brewers. However, only season ticket holders will be able to get tickets for these games. Public ticket sales open March 12. Tickets for the remaining regular season home games will go on sale in early April and the amount of tickets sold for these games may increase or decrease as health conditions evolve. Fans will be seated in pods of two, three or four people, with limited pods available for five to six people and masks are required at all times, save for eating and drinking, while in the stadium.