Dewine allows more fans for Crew, Jackets
Professional, college and high school sports are officially legally allowed to have up to 25% capacity for indoor sports and 30% capacity at outdoor events.
Effective at 12:01 p.m. Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dewine signed an addendum to his order on capacity restrictions on sporting events from August on Tuesday afternoon, clearing the way for more fans to enjoy sports in person when the new MLB and Major League Soccer seasons begin in April.
Before fans are allowed into the stadium, teams must submit plans to be reviewed by the Ohio Department of Health and their local health department.
The Crew and Blue Jackets must work with Columbus Public Health on their plans to host fans. But CPH cannot prevent teams from holding fans with the Dewine's new edict in place.
Ohio State cannot have fans until the Big Ten Conference allows its members to host spectators beyond a select number of friends and family.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association was granted a variance to host
more fans than was allotted before Dewine signed the new order.
The Blue Jackets will welcome fans to Nationwide Arena on Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings for the first time since the pandemic shuttered the NHL
for five months. With approval of a variance by the Ohio Department of Health and Columbus Public Health, the Jackets were cleared for 1,953 fans (10%).
At a jersey reveal ceremony at the new Crew Stadium on Tuesday, Crew coowner Dr. Pete Edwards said he was hopeful they could sell out the new Downtown stadium — scheduled to open in July — by the fall.
"Obviously we would love to have the stadium full from day one, but we're really about doing what's safe for our community, what's safe for our players and safe for our staff,” Edwards said. “Concentrating on that, we'll work with the governor, we'll work with the Columbus department of health to figure out what that looks like, but we're confident that the pandemic is in the rearview, that the vaccines are going to be enough that we feel like we can get people safely in.
“By the time the stadium's open, hopefully we'll have a meaningful fan group, and maybe even by the fall we'll be able to sell this place out like we're all dreaming about."
Under the new guidelines, the Crew can host up to 5,990 fans at old Crew Stadium. The Blue Jackets could have roughly 4,880 fans. In a statement last week, the Jackets indicated they were looking at plans to increase attendance beyond the 10% on Tuesday. jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers