Washington, California Cities Ban Mass Gatherings To Combat Spread Of Coronavirus

UPDATE: San Francisco’s Chase Center has announced that tomorrow night’s NBA game against the Brooklyn Nets will proceed without fans in the seats, while all March events through March 21 will be canceled or postponed.

“Guests who purchased tickets to a concert occurring at Chase Center during the impacted dates will be notified through the promoter directly to either receive a refund or exchange for a rescheduled show at Chase Center,” the announcement reads.  Events affected include the March 13’s Tame Impala concert (postponed), March 19’s Post Malone show (to be determined whether canceled or postponed), and March 21’s Bell Biv Devoe & Friends (postponed).

 “We will continue to monitor this evolving situation closely to determine next steps for future games and events. We appreciate the understanding and patience of our fans, guests and partners during this unprecedented time.”

The state has at least 24 COVID-19-related deaths at press time, and the ban would affect the greater metro area including Tacoma, which means the active Tacoma Dome concert venue.  

The ban reportedly would not include the Spokane market, where NCAA basketball tournament games are scheduled to happen next week.

There’s speculation Seattle Mariners games could stay in Arizona where the team is playing in March for Spring Training, and the ban would presumably affect the Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer team, which draws heavily and reportedly still had more than 33,000 fans at a game this week. 

Meanwhile, California’s Santa Clara County has announced a ban of gatherings of more than 1,000 people, which would affect the SAP Center arena, an active concert venue and home to the NHL’s Sharks, who have three games scheduled later this month. The team has said it will comply with the order but it is unclear if that means canceling, playing while empty or moving the games to a different location.  

However, it’s full speed ahead for the Texas Rangers, who are preparing to open their new ballpark, Globe Life Field with their first scheduled ticketed event at the $1.2 billion stadium in Arlington being a sold-out Chris Stapleton/Willie Nelson concert set for Saturday.

Rob Matwick, the team’s executive vice president of baseball operations, told VenuesNow, “We’re certainly paying attention to everything the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is saying.” 

Texas has 30 reported cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to numbers compiled by The New York Times. Six are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to a report in Tuesday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram.