Crowds return for home games
Increased capacity at Allentown’s PPL Center for Phantoms games
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are planning to play nearly all of their home games in front of 1,500 fans, now that state regulations are being relaxed. On Wednesday, however, they allowed only 500 fans because the team didn’t have time to get a ticket distribution plan together since the announcement. For more on this story,
The state’s regulations on attendance at sporting events has been relaxed in time for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to play nearly all of their home games in front of 1,500 fans.
The way their schedule was put together, the Phantoms played just their third home game Wednesday night at Allentown’s PPL Center. They have already played five on the road.
Wednesday’s game was played under the original plan that called for a maximum of 500 fans because the team didn’t have time to get a ticket distribution plan together since the announcement.
But by the Phantoms’ next home game on March 13 against the Binghamton Devils, that will have changed.
“We’re excited about it,” executive vice president Chris Porreca said. “We know that people who have come to the games since we’ve started are excited about it and they know that it’s safe and they’re willing to come back. We have a lot of people who already bought tickets for the games when we were at our last limit, so as we move up to this next level, we’ll have more tickets available.
“We’re excited about that to see the people in the community and have them come out and enjoy a safe environment here at the PPL Center.”
The Phantoms will allow their premium season-ticket holders (club seats, suites) access to the limited tickets first and so on down the line. Any tickets that go unclaimed will be made available to the public in an online sale starting at 11 a.m. on March 9.
“We have a pod system set up,” Porreca said. “... You can buy them in two-, three-, four- or five-seat-sized pods, and they will be six feet socially distanced at this point.”
Although printouts of tickets are still accepted to gain entry, the team is
strongly encouraging fans to use their smartphones for tickets for contactless entry and for concessions purchases.
“We’ve got a state-of-the-art HVAC system,” Porreca said. “We have a MERV 14 rating, and that’s basically what hospitals use. So we’re able to remove 90% of the air particles, including bacteria and virus carriers, through that system.
“And then there’s the spraying and the cleaning and all the stuff that we continue to do and we’ve done since we’ve had people back in the building. So yeah, we’re ready. We’re excited to welcome fans back and give them the opportunity to do what they like to do, and that’s come out and be at events.
“We’re going to start here [at PPL Center] with hockey and then go from there.”