As coronavirus fear spreads, Sacramento Kings will not block fans from home games – for now
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NBA suspends season after Jazz player tests positive for coronavirus. Kings game postponed
Original story:
For now, the Sacramento Kings will not bar fans from home games. Following the guidelines of the Sacramento County Health Services Department, Kings games will be played before fans at Golden 1 Center, but with a warning: The county recommends that fans 60 and older or with compromised immune systems should avoid large gatherings.
The Kings announced that fans who would like a refund or a credit for Wednesday’s game can visit kings.com/march 11 for information.
Unlike some Bay Area counties, Sacramento County officials – at least for now – are not recommending that large gatherings be banned entirely. But Phil Serna, chairman of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, who is working closely with county health officials, said Wednesday that older people and those with health conditions and compromised immune systems should avoid Kings games or any other large gatherings.
The announcement is for the time being and subject to change, Serna said,
On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments would be played this month with no fans.
Meanwhile, the NBA’s Board of Governors, made up of team owners, has a conference call scheduled for today to discuss how the league should respond to the coronavirus crisis. It’s conceivable that the NBA or the state of California or the federal government could call for a ban on large gatherings of people in the coming days or even hours.
The City of San Francisco announced on Wednesday that it was banning all gatherings of more than 1,000 people in an attempt to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. For now, the ban will be in place for two weeks.
That means Thursday’s NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets, at Chase Center on the city waterfront, would be played before no spectators.
“Due to escalating concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, and in consultation with the City and County of San Francisco, tomorrow night’s game vs. the Nets at Chase Center will be played without fans,” the Warriors announced in a tweet.
If the two-week ban is not extended beyond March 25, it means two Warriors games would be played in an empty arena, the second being against the Atlanta Hawks on the 25th.
The San Francisco Giants announced that they had canceled an exhibition game at Oracle Park against the Oakland A’s that had been scheduled for March 24.
Before games began to be canceled or scheduled to be played in empty venues, four major sports leagues – Major League Baseball, the NBA, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer – had all moved to close their locker rooms and clubhouses to credential media members.
“After consultation with infectious disease and public health experts, and given the issues that can be associated with close contact in pre- and post-game settings, all team locker rooms and clubhouses will be open only to players and essential employees of teams and team facilities until further notice. Media access will be maintained in designated locations outside of the locker room and clubhouse setting,” the statement said.
This move was decried by sports journalists who said the leagues were not just denying access to journalists, but to the readers and viewers who consume the content produced by the journalists. “Locker-room access is not strictly about us, the reporters,” wrote Ken Rosenthal, national baseball writer for The Athletic.
“It is about you, the readers. We are your extension into the world of professional sports, your conduit for gaining a deeper understanding of the games we enjoy watching so much.”
The sports locker room ban was also criticized by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“I found it quite curious that the four major organizations NHL, soccer, MLB and the NBA put out guidelines to protect their athletes but not their fans,” Newsom said to reporters on Tuesday. “I think they owe you and their fan base an answer as to why is it more important to keep you as reporters away from their players in the locker room than keeping fans in highly contagious parts of the country together.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 1:24 PM.
