Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced changes to the state's health orders for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic this week, which will have an effect on attendance at sporting venues.
During his press conference Thursday (April 8), Gov. DeWine acknowledged how the elimination of capacity limits would affect attendance at stadiums and arenas, including Progressive Field, which opened at 30% capacity this week for the Cleveland Indians' first home game of the 2021 MLB season, WKYC reports.
DeWine said the change could mean more fans are allowed at games, but he doesn't expect any increase in allowed attendance to be dramatic as the state continues to follow social distancing requirements and limit groups to 10 individuals per seating pod.
"We didn't make a huge deal out of it, it was in the order, was we increased the size of the [seating] pods from six to 10 and at the same time, for outdoor, we took away capacity," DeWine said. "But saying you take away capacity but you still have to have social distancing and you have pods of 10 instead of six -- the Reds, the Indians, the different minor league teams could tell you how that changes it.
"It changes it some. It could allow some more people in, but it's not going to dramatically change it because of the distancing requirements. At least that's how the baseball teams have explained it to me."
Gov. DeWine's full press conference can be viewed in the video above.
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