Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry applied a soft brush generally across society with the new pandemic measures announced Friday.
But there was a harsher brush taken to sports in particular, which will absorb the brunt of the restrictions.
Most notably, venues with 1,000 or more seating will be limited to half capacity. That will affect the sa国际传媒 Hockey League, which has four Island teams, and the Western Hockey League, which has five sa国际传媒 teams including the Victoria Royals.
The measures are in effect from Monday through Jan. 31. If they bleed into the following month, they could affect the Langford-based Canadian national rugby team and attendance for the sa国际传媒 Sevens on Feb. 26-27 at sa国际传媒 Place.
George Fadel, senior director of marketing for GSL Group, which owns the Royals and operates the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, said: “Throughout this pandemic, we have worked closely with the local government and health authorities to ensure we are adhering to the most up-to-date health guidelines. We will continue to do so with these new restrictions.”
Not that it will be too much of an issue capping attendance at 3,503 since the Royals have rarely reached that this season in the 7,006-seat Memorial Centre.
Neither have BCHL rinks been anything near half-capacity this year. People have differing tolerance levels and it is clear there are a portion of previously loyal hockey fans who are wary of being in a crowd.
Attendance for Royals games averaged 4,500 to 5,000 pre-pandemic, but this season the club has not come close to that. It might have something to do with the team’s slow start on the ice, but the Royals have rallied of late, yet fans have not responded in terms of attendance.
The other big sports restriction is the banning of all tournaments from Monday to Jan. 31. That will especially impact high school basketball and the tradition of Christmas hockey tournaments.
“A lot of communities invest a lot into these tournaments and rely on them. We expected the provincial hockey eco-system would blow up Friday night,” said Cam Hope of Victoria, CEO of Saanichton-based sa国际传媒 Hockey.
“It led to volunteers all over the province scrambling, but the news was well received and people understand, and have a perspective on this.
“Nobody was under the impression we were done with this [pandemic].”
Regular-season games in all sports, however, will be allowed to continue.
