Chase Center prepping for fans
Warriors’ arena, Clorox team up, plan for safe return of live events
Preparations were already under way to welcome fans back to San Francisco’s Chase Center before Friday, when California issued new guidelines allowing for indoorseated live events, concerts and professional sports to resume April 15.
With that date fast approaching and several concerts already on the venue’s calendar, including a pair of shows by jam band Phish scheduled for late July, the home of the Golden State Warriors is accelerating its plans to reopen for live audiences through a new partnership with Clorox.
On Monday, the arena is scheduled to announce details of the Chase Center Clean Initiative, which incorporates products from the Oakland cleaning supplies manufactur
er into a robust daily sanitation routine — featuring everything from electrostatic sprayers for custodial use to disinfection stations placed throughout the building for fans.
“When COVID happened, we moved quickly to get a structure in place,” Kim Stone, general manager of Chase Center, told The Chronicle. “We were one of the first venues in the country to create a health and hygiene department. The idea was, ‘Let’s just be ready. Let’s have plans in place.’ We’re going to end up scrapping 90% of those plans, but we will be ready with the other 10%.”
According to the state’s latest regulations, venues with a capacity of 1,501 or more, such as Chase Center, could potentially host concerts and games at up to 35% capacity if fans test negative or show proof of full vaccination. That means the enclosed arena, which has a listed capacity of 18,064, could bring back about 6,300 spectators.
Local jurisdictions can impose tighter restrictions, so any immediate impact on the Warriors remains subject to the discretion of San Francisco public health officials.
“We’re ready,” Stone said. “We’ll take that document. We’ll begin the protocols.”
The Clorox partnership — which extends to the franchise’s Santa Cruz Warriors and their home turf at Kaiser Permanente Arena — is one of the many measures the Warriors and Chase Center have taken to enhance pandemicera safety.
The arena has developed a rigorous coronavirus testing program for its employees, vendors and others who require access to the venue, becoming one of the first major sites to receive the Global Biorisk Advisory Council’s Star facility accreditation. Chase Center also features a stateoftheart HVAC system that can run on 100% outside air and includes MERV 15 rated mechanical air filters that exceed the NBA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s minimum recommendation of MERV 13 filters.
“It’s in the Golden State Warriors’ DNA to want to be the best,” Stone said. “COVID had been a setback for the industry. This is an opportunity for us to show what we can do to protect people. We will emerge from this as the cleanest, safest arena in the U.S.”
The arena in Mission Bay, which premiered to great fanfare in September 2019 with a run of joint concerts featuring Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony, was open to live audiences for only about six months before it was forced to close its doors after state and local coronavirus mandates.
In November, the Warriors proposed a detailed plan to host more than 9,000 spectators at games (50% capacity), but the plan, which included coronavirus testing for all fans before entering Chase Center, was quickly rejected by San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.
Still, city health officials have pledged to work with the team to host fans once the pandemic eases, raising the possibility of allowing 25% capacity (about 4,500 people) if San Francisco reaches the state’s yellow tier. That appears to be happening now.
According to Friday’s state guidelines, events held in counties in the yellow tier are limited to 10% capacity or 2,000 people (like the orange tier) — but capacity increases to 50% if all spectators are tested or show proof of full vaccination.
Other requirements include social distancing, designating areas for eating and drinking, and limiting attendance to California residents.
“Today is a milestone day for getting fans back in Chase Center to see Warriors games,” team President Rick Welts told The Chronicle. “The indoor event guidance that was issued by the state is really encouraging. Our job now is to sit down with the county and to make sure we have our arms around everything we need to do (to) make sure we will be able to return fans to Warriors games and back into Chase Center soon.”
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has also said how much he hopes to have fans back at Chase Center before the end of the season, even at reduced capacity.
“What I’ve noticed is that, even if it’s 2,500 fans, the energy is entirely different,” Kerr told The Chronicle in March.
The Warriors have 13 home games left this season, starting Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks. They play nine after the April 15 launch date set by the state — a threegame homestand starting April 23 against the Denver Nuggets and a seasonending, sixgame homestand starting May 6 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In addition to the players and basketball fans, Stone said, reopening the arena is vital to the local economy because it means bringing back stagehands, food workers and thousands of other staff members who keep things running daily.
In addition to the Phish concerts, Chase Center has shows on the books for the summer through fall for previously postponed acts, including Celine Dion, Tame Impala, Michael Bublé, the Eagles and James Taylor.
While arena managers did not address whether it is financially feasible to bring international touring acts into the venue at less than capacity, they are moving forward optimistically.
“I just look forward to the roar of the crowd again,” Stone said. “I’m more focused on getting us open because we can be part of the story of the resiliency of this industry. We can be a symbol of hope and optimism. This disaster happened; now let’s shift. We can play a big role in getting everybody back on their feet, and we can bring back this industry that brings so many people joy.”