Thursday’s off-ramp of restrictions timeline announcement by Gov. Tim Walz has a major effect on industries hard-hit by the pandemic, including sports and entertainment, which can open to a full house as soon as Friday for outdoor venues and by May 28 for indoor.
Opening Day for the St. Paul Saints usually involves something wacky, which is on par for their brand even now in their first season as the Twins Triple-A affiliate, but as a sign of the times, there will be something else going on on Opening Day Tuesday, says general manager Derek Sharrer.
“Over the years, Sister Roslyn has given the fans massages while they watch baseball,” Sharrer said. “We’ve done haircuts while folks watch baseball games. And I think this is certainly a different level of importance with what’s happening around us, but we’re excited to offer vaccinations at CHS Field.”
And there will be more fans in the stands in downtown St. Paul. The Twins, Saints and Minnesota United, who play in outdoor seated venues, could go to 100% as soon as Friday, but the baseball organizations are taking an “incremental” approach. The Twins had been welcoming up to 10,000 fans. Last year the Saints played in front of about 2,100.
“We anticipate that number going up over the next few days,” Sharrer said. “Somewhere in the range of 50 percent is likely for this first homestand. Maybe a little bit more in the second homestand and then increasing closer to 100% once we get to June.”
Neither team has a timeline for when they will go to 100% capacity. The Twins starting Friday will be selling more tickets for its homestand starting May 14 but the specific numbers are not yet determined.
Matt Hodson, Senior Manager of Business Communications with the Twins, said it’s about logistics and safety.
“We do have some tickets sold and we want to be respectful of those folks and their wishes understanding when they bought at that time was the pod system,” Hodson said. “So you have the human element in place of making where we do this in a way that is not uncomfortable for anybody. Second of all, the staffing involved...bringing those folks back on board from concessions to maintenance to cleaning is not a switch that can be flipped right away to happen overnight. We do need a little bit of time to get here.”
Masks will be required for indoor and outdoor events of more than 500 people including Twins and Saints games. May 28 is when capacity and distance restrictions end.
Now for indoor arenas for the Wolves, the playoff-bound Wild, and the Lynx who kick off the season next Saturday, the capacity is increasing from 15 to 25% capacity. That means upwards of between 5,000 to 5,500 fans in attendance.
More than 2 million Minnesotans have completed the vaccination series and the state is on pace to reach 70% in about a month. That might mean more fans feel comfortable attending games in person.
“We’ve long considered ourselves the toy department,” Sharrer said. “And a place where fans can come to be distracted from what’s happening in their day-to-day lives outside of our gates. We like to think of ourselves as a three hour distraction from the real world and an opportunity to sit down, enjoy some time together, and smile and laugh and watch a ballgame.”
Independent entertainment venues were also ecstatic at the news.
“A lot of us were talking about how we've received more exclamation points in emails and text messages than we have in a very long time,” Ashley Ryan, marketing director at First Avenue, said.
Venues like First Avenue, which also runs 7th Street Entry, the Depot Tavern, Fine Line Music Cafe, Fitzgerald Theater, Turf Club and Palace Theatre, and had to postpone its 2020 in-person 50th anniversary celebration, were among the first to close when the pandemic took effect and have been “hanging on by the skin of our teeth.” Ryan said they were optimistic about a fall reopen and had begun selling tickets.
“It is a mad dash right now,” Ryan said about booking.l “A lot of artists’ teams are really excited to hear things are going to be happening a little bit earlier than we had hoped in Minnesota.”
“This definitely turns the timeline up for us.”
The announcement was news to the local industry and Ryan said events this summer will likely feature a lot of local talent because tours take months of planning and logistics complicated by differing restrictions state-to-state.
First Avenue is most looking forward to bringing back staff and even hiring more.
“We’re a family at First Avenue,” Ryan said.
