Crew, health agency don’t agree on fans

The Crew has accepted the risk of hosting 1,500 fans for Sunday’s game at Mapfre Stadium against the wishes of Columbus Public Health and believes its guidelines will prevent spectators from contracting or spreading coronavirus.

Crew executive vice president and chief business officer Steve Lyons said the health and safety guidelines outlined in the club’s “Responsible Restart Plan” were crafted over four months and are based on advice and collaboration with medical experts at all levels of government.

Despite Columbus Public Health saying it advised the Crew not to have fans until Franklin County posted two consecutive Level 1/yellow advisories for COVID-19 spread on the state advisory map, Lyons said the club is following the advice of medical experts in allowing fans. He cited Gov. Mike Dewine’s order in mid-august that allowed teams to have the lesser of 15% capacity or 1,500 fans.

“We feel like we’re following the orders that have been issued,” Lyons told The Dispatch. “We’ve all along followed the guidance of the state and local health officials, as well as input from (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Major League Soccer. We feel like we are paying attention to and are very sensitive to all of the advice and council of our public officials.”

The Dispatch asked the Columbus health department what was behind the agency’s recommendation for not allowing fans.

Spokesman Myles Bell said the agency chose not to recommend fans at this time because mass gatherings have a greater potential for spreading the virus. He added that the agency has a good relationship with the Crew.

“We would like to see two consecutive Level 1/Yellow declarations for Franklin County because that would indicate a trend in the effectiveness of mitigation efforts locally,” Bell said. “We would like to see events like this return with the lowest possible risk to the community, which would be after two Level 1/Yellow declarations for Franklin County.”

Franklin County received a second straight Level 2 advisory Thursday.

Ohio reported 1,332 new coronavirus cases Friday, which was above the 21-day average of 1,033 new cases.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on why Dewine signed an order to allow fans. This week, Dewine warned of a potential spike after Labor Day weekend due to potential mass gatherings on the holiday.

MLS left the decision on allowing fans up to clubs and local health departments when teams returned to individual markets in August. The Crew is one of a handful of teams to have fans at games in home stadiums, joining FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, Orlando City and Real Salt Lake.

Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, said the risk/reward of having fans at games is “completely off” and that a sports organization should not get preferential treatment for having mass gatherings.

“I’m especially disappointed to hear that they’re doing this against the explicit advice of the Columbus Public Health authorities,” Binney said. “That’s just — I mean, wow. I don’t really have words for the arrogance that that shows.”

Lyons, club president and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko, vice president of soccer administration and operations Jaime Mcmillan and vice president of stadium operations Frank Depizzo hosted a call with season-ticket holders to outline health and safety protocols at Mapfre Stadium on Sunday against FC Cincinnati.

The 1,500 fans are about 7.5% of Mapfre Stadium’s 19,968 capacity.

All fans will be seated on the east side of the stadium and will be spaced at least 6 feet from other individuals or groups of fans. Masks must be worn at all times when not consuming food or beverages, and there will be no tailgating.

Fans will be asked to fill out a health screening questionnaire before entering the stadium and will have their temperatures taken. There will be signage and directional arrows to dictate flow of fans in the stadium while encouraging social distancing.

With some questions remaining whether fans can attend safely, why do it?

Lyons said the Crew is allowing spectators mostly because the fans have asked for it. He acknowledged that the coronavirus has impacted the sports industry financially, but said the club wanted to reconnect with its fans.

“We’ve asked them that if we could return and return safely to play, is that something that they would come and be a part of?” Lyons said. “They unequivocally had said yes we would love to come back and be a part of a Crew SC soccer match.”

Matthew Coy, a Crew season-ticket holder since 1998, said he and his son will be attending the game. He saw Columbus Public Health’s guidance to the Crew, which confused him because there are other social gatherings being permitted in the state.

“I don’t know why the county would be advising against 1,500 people being in that large arena spread out, yet be OK with Ohio State University opening up the dorms and my son going back to that,” Coy said. “The two just don’t align.”

Lyons said the Crew will continue to monitor the state of the virus in the county and the state, and work with health agencies on determining whether they can continue to have fans.

“We’ve designed this plan to be fluid. We’ve designed it in a way that we have to continue to be willing to adjust and react to whatever the circumstances of the day might deliver,” Lyons said. “It’s going to be an ongoing process of review and ensuring how we’ve done it and how we continue to execute it going forward.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers