From our news partner Channel3000:
The Madison Mallards and Forward Madison FC say they both plan to open the season offering certain sections of their stadiums to vaccinated fans only.
While a vaccination is not necessary for fans to attend the games themselves, fans with a vaccine will be eligible to sit in specific sections which will not require a mask or social distancing.
“The last order allowed for vaccinated gathering, indoors, of up to 350 people. We asked the health department, does that translate to outdoors? What does that look like?” said Madison Mallards President Vern Stenman. “I think that what we’ll end up doing is creating certain parts of our stadium that will prove to us that they are vaccinated, tjhat they can come into those spaces, and while they’re in that space, they would not have to mask or distance from other people that are in those areas.”
The vaccinated sections will be a safe distance away from unvaccinated sections, which will still require fans to socially distance and wear a mask while not eating or drinking.
Stenman says currently, the team is communicating with season ticket members as to what they’d like to see and how much of a demand there’d be for such a section.
“We’re gathering some information right now and trying to understand it,” he said. “We’re really proud to be hopefully the first spot in our community where people are able to get back together in big numbers and kind of do the community type things that they’ve done.”
Fans who wish to sit in the vaccine-only sections will need to show proof of vaccination at both Warner Park and Breese Stevens Field, however the teams are stressing *everyone* is able to attend games, regardless of vaccine status.
“We respect all views, so if you choose to get vaccinated or not, we fully respect that, that’s why we’ll have seating options for everyone,” said Forward Madison FC COO and Owner Conor Coloia. “But we have been saying for quite some time, that the more quickly people get vaccinated, the more people we’ll be able to accommodate, and the quicker we’ll be able to return to events. That ends up being true.”
