It’s An NHL Rarity: Only Three of 31 Arenas Allowing Fans At Games During COVID-19 Pandemic
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Only three of 31 NHL arenas are allowing fans to watch games in person and Vegas Golden Knights fan Stacey Nutini visited one of these venues this weekend — Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona in metro Phoenix.
“We came because we were confident in the safety measures they were taking for Gila River with their limited capacity and arrangement of putting everyone in separate 4-6 person suites. We figured these really may end up being the only games we are able to attend live this year so it was worth it to book some $49 direct SW flights and make a weekend of it,” Nutini said after the Knights lost, 5-2, to the Coyotes Friday evening.
“We are staying at Renaissance which is also where the team is staying. We are obviously not allowed to approach them but they did set up a blocked off area where we have been allowed to watch them come and go and have been able to audibly cheer at players, who seem extremely happy to see fans again,” Nutini told LVSportsBiz.com. “We got a lot of waves and smiles from Stone, Patches, Marchy, and DeBoer stopped to say, ‘Thank you for being here, Vegas!’ ”
Nutuni said the VGK loss was a disappointment, but the set-up was not.
“The ‘suite life’ as we called it, was, in fact, sweet. We got what is normally an 18-person suite, except for only six of us. It was $155 per person and Included an in suite food package and non-alcoholic beverages,” she said. “A suite attendant helped us all night with whatever we needed. They were VERY strict regarding not being permitted to mingle in hallway/concourse or entry areas whatsoever and could not be maskless ‘when actively eating or drinking’ and they came around to remind everyone a lot of times about it.”
“Our suite was on the blue line on the end we shoot twice so the location couldn’t have been more perfect,” she said.
Nutini mentioned, “It was so great to be in an arena watching live sports again. Seeing warm ups and the anthem and hearing our fans shout, ‘Knight,’ made everything feel like home a slight bit, even if we had to come here to get that feeling. Worth it . . . We will be attending (today’s) game, suite again, should be a great time. Hoping for a different result and to see Fleury once again.”
The Knights will get to know Gila River Arena. VGK games against the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3 will now take place at Gila River Arena because of the ban on contact sports in Santa Clara County in California. It ‘s undermined whether the Sharks will have fans in the Coyotes’ arena when they play the Knights on those dates.
The Knights and Coyotes drew a sellout of 2,712 fans in the building Friday night.
“That was really nice to see,” VGK forward Nic Roy said of VGK fans in Gila River Arena. “It was fun to have people in the building.”
The Golden Knights are back in action this afternoon, playing the Coyotes Sunday at 1 p.m. Las Vegas time.
