GOVERNOR: FANS LIKELY AT OPENING DAY IN STATE

Padres hope to have 20 to 25 percent of capacity at Petco

California’s major league ballparks were closed to fans for every game last season, but Gov. Gavin Newsom indicated Wednesday that they could be open to fans for every game this season.

“We’re working on the final details,” Newsom said Wednesday at an appearance in Long Beach. “We’ve been working very closely with Major League Baseball and others across the spectrum.”

The Padres have indicated they hoped to have 20 to 25 percent capacity at Petco Park, which would be about 10,000 to 12,000 fans. The first game at Petco Park is scheduled for April 1.

Newsom stopped short of a guarantee, since a resurgence of the coronavirus could derail plans. But he noted that the state’s positivity rate has fallen to 2.2 percent and hospitalizations for the virus have dropped 43 percent in the past two weeks.

“We have confidence that when you look forward to April, to opening day,” Newsom said, “and where we are likely to be if we all do our jobs, if we don’t let our guard down and spike the ball — wrong sport — then I have all the confidence in the world that fans will be back safely, in a lot of these outdoor venues.”

What Newsom would essentially approve is a modification of the state guidelines, which for now bans fans at professional sports. The modification would acknowledge that games can be held safely at limited capacity, and with health and safety protocols, including mask wearing and distance between seating groups.

Those protocols currently are in use in

Arizona, where the Padres have joined the other 15 Cactus League teams in playing before a fraction of capacity.

None of the five counties that host California’s major league teams are in the orange tier, which indicates moderate spread of the coronavirus. Under the current state guidance, teams in counties in the orange tier can play to 20 percent of capacity. Teams in counties in the yellow tier, which indicates minimal spread of the virus, can play to 25 percent of capacity.

In the National League West, the two teams not based in California are expected to admit fans.

The Colorado Rockies already have been approved to

play before 25 percent of capacity, or about 12,000 fans. The Arizona Diamondbacks have not received approval for fans, but Phoenix and the seven suburban cities that host Cactus League games all have approved limited capacities for the exhibition games currently underway.

In the American League West, two of the non-California teams play in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday removed all restrictions on capacity. The former president of the other non-California team, the Seattle Mariners, recently told the Bellevue Rotary Club he hoped the team would be able to host close to 10,000 fans.