Gov. Walz paves way for thousands to attend sporting events

Mar. 12—The Twins can have upwards of 10,000 fans in the stands for their home opener, and the Saints and Minnesota United will be allowed substantial attendance increases under COVID-19 restriction rollbacks that go into effect April 1.

That will include the Twins' home opener against the Seattle Mariners on April 8, the Saints' home opener at CHS Field on May 11, and the Loons' home opener April 24 against Real Salt Lake.

"Wonderwall will be there," Walz said, referring to Minnesota United supporters. "A little bit social-distanced, but fans are back in the stadiums."

Under loosened COVID-19 restrictions announced Friday, seated, outdoor entertainment venues will be allowed to host 25 percent of capacity over 500 with a maximum of 10,000 starting April 1. That means up to 10,000 at Target Field, which has an official capacity of just under 40,000; about 5,500 at 19,400-seat Allianz Field; and 2,100 at CHS Field.

"It would be great to see fans back in Allianz because we certainly missed them last year," United manager Adrian Heath said Thursday.

The changes will come in time for the high school hockey and basketball tournament semifinals and finals at Xcel Energy Center and Target Center, respectively.

"As plans are adjusted and new protocols created, the priority will be to increase access for those spectators closest to the participants and schools participating in the tournament," the Minnesota State High School League said in a statement.

Since college and professional sports resumed playing after shutting their seasons down a year ago, Minnesota teams have played in empty stadiums and arenas, cardboard cutouts filling in for fans, taped crowd noise filling in for the noise they make.

"It's exciting," Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said Friday. "It gets old playing in front of no fans. And then when you know how good your fans are and how much they can help you, to be able to have some in a couple weeks is pretty exciting for us."

Under the new guidelines, indoor seated venues will be allowed up to 15 percent of capacity over 500 with a maximum of 3,000 starting April 1. The Timberwolves are planning to welcome as many as 3,000 to their April 5 game against Sacramento at Target Center, The Wild's first game at Xcel Energy Center under those guidelines would be April 5 against Colorado.

Currently, indoor events at the Xcel Energy Center, Target Center and the University of Minnesota's arenas are allowed to host up to 150 friends, family and staff. It's unclear whether Big Ten Conference guidelines will preclude the U from expanding attendance.

"It's going to be even more exciting to have our fans come," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Yeah, we're jacked about it. I think the entire league, the entire world for that matter, is jacked about it."

Wild season-ticket members will be given priority to purchase tickets to games and will be contacted directly in the coming days, the team said. Timberwolves season-ticket holders will receive a pair of complimentary tickets to an April game, then have priority access to tickets for the team's final 12 home games. Twins season-ticket holders will have priority access to tickets, but there will be access to some tickets by the general public, team president Dave St. Peter said Friday.

"We are optimistic we'll have upwards of 10,000 fans for April 8," he added.

A limited number of single-game Saints tickets will go on sale March 17, the team said, and vice president Derek Sharrer said the team will hold a Facebook Live event on Monday to share information and answer questions. The Saints were host to as many as 1,500 fans a game for the final month of the 2020 season and were able to "accommodate all season-ticket holders who wanted to attend and still had room for individual-game buyers," Sharrer said.

Minnesota United said it "will have further details on the protocols and ticketing procedures for fans returning to Allianz Field in the near future."

The Vikings aren't scheduled to open access to fans until training camp starts at their Eagan practice facility in late July. They will play host to Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle and Dallas in 2021, but no dates have been set.

"The Vikings' top priority in 2021 is to safely welcome fans back to U.S. Bank Stadium, and today's news is a significant step toward our goal of hosting a full stadium this fall," the Vikings said in a statement. "We recognize, however, that in order to return to all the things we enjoy doing ... we must see continued success with vaccinations. We encourage all Minnesotans to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible."

Dane Mizutani and Andy Greder contributed to this report.