You have to feel bad for the good folks at the Estevan Motor Speedway.
They’ve tried everything to get their season in and to crown track champions. They had a pay per view event in June with no fans in the grandstands. They planned to have a program with fans present in early July, only to have the rug pulled out from under them by a late change in provincial guidelines.
And now that they can race, they’re limited to 150 spectators in their grandstand. Sure, you’ll find fans parked along the south fence, watching from around their vehicles, but that’s not going to swell the crowd size significantly.
For a venue that has 1,500-seat grandstand, 150 people is nothing. It’s one of every 10 seats. If they could get 400 or 500 fans in there, that would be close to a normal race night.
(Also adding to the challenge is the absence of a concession or a beer garden).
The racing at the speedway has been pretty good this year. It reinforces the fact that our track can put on a pretty damn good show with local talent.
If you had 450 people in the grandstand, you’d still be able to maintain social distancing, while controlling the crowd as they exit at the intermission or after the program.
The speedway isn’t alone in grappling with the crowd sizes.
From churches to movie theatres to concert halls, they are hamstrung.
Churches can have one-third capacity, or 150 people in their sanctuary, whichever is the lowest number. For churches in southeast Saskatchewan, which tend to be smaller, it’s more likely to be one-third capacity. But for larger churches, it means adding services, or excluding some who would like to worship with their fellow parishioners.
Movie theatres are also feeling the sting. As much as some people complain about the cost of going to a movie (especially if you add popcorn and other treats into the mix), it’s not like you’re local independent movie theatre – like Estevan’s venerable Orpheum Theatre or the Carnduff Community Theatre – are making money hand over fist.
They can’t make money at 150 people. It’s especially tough when they don’t have any new releases to show.
Here’s hoping that we all suffer from “absence makes the heart grow fond” syndrome when we can go to an indoor movie theatre again.
This brings us to the next conundrum: junior hockey teams like the Estevan Bruins.
The Bruins fall camp is supposed to be only a few weeks away. As of Tuesday morning, the team had yet to announce their schedule. Ditto the rest of the league.
We know the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is confident they’ll have a season. We know the Bruins are confident they’ll have a season; if not, they wouldn’t have started a season ticket blitz. Judging by the number of tickets sold, fans are confident, too. And they should be looking forward to what should be a damn good team.
The where’s and how’s of a schedule and season tickets still have some bugs to be worked out, but if you asked most Bruin fans if they would be comfortable attending a mid-season, midweek game against the Kindersley Klippers or the La Ronge Ice Wolves, when there are 650 fans present, our guess is most would be fine.
Would they have the same level of confidence for the Dec. 30 game against the Weyburn Red Wings, when there could be 1,300 fans present? Maybe not.
Of course, Affinity Place is a spacious arena, with seating for up to 2,662, including hundreds in the lounge and private boxes. It’s the biggest rink in terms of size, and likely the biggest for capacity.
Teams playing in much smaller venues might not be able to seat 650 fans safely.
If the provincial government wants the SJHL to play before 150 fans, the league might as well not have a season. The SJHL is a gate-driven league, with pretty significant expenses. They can’t make ends meet on 150 fans.
And if the government isn’t going to somewhat ease restrictions for these non-profit teams that have a significant spinoff for their communities, then they better have some financial relief.
It’s going to be a tough balancing act. The current rash of COVID cases in Saskatchewan will subside eventually, just like previous ones did. If we find ourselves with a dozen active cases in Saskatchewan in November, but we can’t have 500 fans at a hockey game, people won’t be happy.
And so it’s just another challenge, another balancing act that has to be met while we wait for a vaccine that will allow us to return to some semblance of normal.
