Leadership / 05.06.20
Sports Arenas Could Require 'Necessary Renovations' for Social Distancing, Architect Firm Says
Access Staff
CNBC (04/26/20) Young, Jabari
Architect firm DLR Group says current social distancing mandates could entail a return to original Major League Baseball stadium designs, which would cut capacity of current arenas by more than half. DLR's Don Barnum said the firm engaged in a "variety of conversations" with team owners, and produced renderings using a minor league baseball stadium to explore seating arrangements. According to the firm, "loge box" seating, with four seats separated by six feet in all directions from others in the seating bowl sections, would meet distancing requirements. Barnum said this model can be managed in the short term by selling tickets to a certain number of people, identifying their seats and imposing distancing. "If this becomes the new norm over two-to-five years, then I think [teams] would start removing those other seats and making that environment a fixed permanent one that creates that separation and distancing," he noted. This model would require staff to meter people as they are admitted, while teams can distribute arrival times to fans to avoid overtaxing security staff with the addition of temperature screening. Barnum said estimations for this model were about 17% to 20% of current stadium capacity. It will be up to owners to decide whether to operate large arenas or eat the loss in revenue.
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Tags: Sports , News , Stadium , Venues , COVID-19 , Coronavirus