Sharks, other teams can head back home
In a matter of hours Monday, sports teams from the San Jose Sharks to those in Bay Area high schools got the news they have been waiting to hear: games and practices are on as long as they follow strict conditions.
With Gov. Gavin Newsom rescinding the state’s stay-at-home order on Monday, county officials quickly moved to adjust their guidelines that have been in place to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
The easing of restrictions saw adjustments that permit the reopening of some sports, an action that could have an immediate impact on the Sharks.
They are the only currently ac
tive U.S.-based professional team that has not been permitted to play inside their stadium or arena. The NHL team opened training camp in December in the Phoenix area to avoid Santa Clara County’s ban on con- tact sports that had been in place since the end of November.
The ban also forced the San Francisco 49ers to spend the last five weeks of their season in Arizona, and Stanford and San Jose State football teams to stay out of the county for much of their seasons.
“It’s a little bit of a buzz around our team right now,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Monday af- ternoon. “We don’t know what that means for us, of course, but first and foremost, it’s just nice to hear that things are going the right way.”
What it means according to Santa Clara County counsel James R. Williams is the Sharks can hold their first two home games Feb. 1 and Feb. 3 at SAP Center — “if they’re adhering to the new directive.”
The action comes as case rates and hospitalization rates across the Golden State have been declining since late last week after record highs attributed to a post-holiday surge.
The development also means basketball teams from Stanford, San Jose State and Santa Clara University can begin practicing and holding competitions in their campus arenas. Stanford and Santa Clara teams have been playing in Santa Cruz whereas San Jose State’s men are in Arizona. The Spartans women’s team canceled the rest of its season because of COVID-19 concerns, the school announced 1 ½ weeks ago.
The new guidelines also brought relief to the San Jose Earthquakes who learned Monday the 2021 Major League Soccer season is scheduled to begin the weekend of April 3-4.
The Quakes and the other 26 teams can open training camps on Feb. 22, according to an MLS announcement.
Santa Clara County public health officials updated the travel directive to allow professional and college sports teams to go beyond the 150-mile radius without having to quarantine for 10 days.
Williams told the Bay Area News Group that officials were comfortable easing restrictions because the teams have been undergoing rigorous testing for coronavirus and limiting exposure to people outside their groups.
Athletes can come into the county to play or return there “but they have to stay at home or at the arena,” Williams said. “They cannot be out and about in the community.”
Although the Sharks, Quakes and college teams are not in a tight “bubble” environment they have restricted their movements in order to play.
The mandatory directives include having no spectators at games or practices at any time and facecovering requirements for anyone who is not actively engaged in athletic activity.
The high schools also welcomed the news although football and basketball remain on hold because the California Department of Public Health has placed those sports in the orange and yellow tiers in the state’s four-color reopening system.
Much of the state, including the Bay Area’s counties, are in the purple tier that is the most restrictive.
Santa Clara County’s Williams said officials remain concerned about youth contact sports being a source of transmission.
“We’ve had some significant outbreaks associated with sporting events,” he said, referencing a rogue AAU basketball tournament in Rocklin that led to more than 100 cases, including 77 people from Santa Clara County.
Now executives at the California Interscholastic Federation and the member sections must figure out the logistics after their sports have been on hold since last spring when the pandemic began.
“I don’t think anyone expected” the stay-at-home order “to drop this week,” said Dave Grissom, Central Coast Section commissioner that represents schools from King City to South San Francisco. “I think people were looking out to maybe mid-February before they thought they could maybe start competition. So it ramps things up pretty quickly.”
Section and league officials must decide on whether to have playoffs and when to start and end seasons for a variety of sports.
The Central Coast Section has allowed teams in all sports to begin practicing — with restrictions — but it has opted to keep its season schedule aligned with the state governing body, meaning only crosscountry meets could start in the coming weeks.
The North Coast Section has canceled all its playoffs but has moved more aggressively to start the sports allowed in the purple tier — cross-country, golf, swimming, tennis and track and field.
The NCS board of managers has scheduled to hold their winter meeting Friday with the return-toplay revisions among the items to be considered. Board approval would be the first step to start official practice next week.
“Maybe we’re practicing some sports next Monday,” commissioner Pat Cruickshank said. “That’d be kind of cool, wouldn’t it?”