NJ To Open Up Sports, Entertainment Venues Amid COVID

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Monday morning that he will allow a limited number of fans back into the audience to watch college and professional sports and to enjoy concerts.

Starting one week from Monday, at 6 a.m. on March 1, any sports or entertainment venue with a capacity of 5,000 or more will be allowed to reopen and allow 10 percent capacity of fans indoors, and 15 percent capacity outdoors.

This applies to New Jersey institutions such as MetLife stadium, the Prudential Center where the NJ Devils play, Seton Hall basketball, minor league and professional baseball stadiums, the Rutgers Athletic Center and any entertainment/sports complex in the state of New Jersey.

"This is the first step of many more to come in the coming months," said a hopeful-sounding Murphy on Monday morning. "I'll be shocked if we're not at a higher level of capacity for Jets, Giants, Rutgers football, you name it, as we get into the summer and fall. God knows we need it ... for those of us who love watching sports, (it's) an outlet. But I'm confident we'll be at higher numbers assuming we don't go back on this pandemic." (referring to going backwards to high case numbers seen at the start of the winter.)

Rutgers college sports and New Jersey professional sporting teams have been playing this season — just with no fans in the audience. Murphy's announcement will now bring fans back into the stands.

So this means somewhere between 1,700 and 1,800 spectators will be allowed in the stands for New Jersey Devils games at the Prudential Center ("the Rock"), said the governor. The Rutgers Athletic Center (the RAC), which seats about 8,000, will be able to seat about 800 fans.

Face coverings will still be required, he said.

"Everybody has to do the right thing when they're at those venues, face coverings, etc." said Murphy.

New Jersey will not do what New York teams like the Knicks and Nets are doing, which is currently requiring a negative COVID PCR test before fans can enter an arena.

Gov. Murphy said New Jersey will not be requiring such a test.

Also, effective immediately, Murphy is extending the ability for parents to watch their children play indoor sports at the college level. Parents have already been allowed to watch their child play indoor sports at the high school level, but that now extends to college sports as well.

Murphy made the announcement on WFAN, the popular New York-area sports talk show at 11:20 a.m. Monday.

The governor said he couldn't point to any one number that made him do the reopening, but he said he looked at hospitalizations, number of cases and the rate of transmission, all of which have been trending downwards.

However, Murphy said the state is still keeping a close eye on the variants that are circulating, such as the UK, Brazil and South African strains of the coronavirus.

Be the first to know what's happening in your town and area. Sign up to get Patch emails and don't miss a minute of local and state news: https://patch.com/subscribe