Sportsgrounds: Coronavirus

(asked on 13th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of when all seated outdoor stadiums will re-open to sports fans.


Answered by
Nigel Huddleston Portrait
Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 21st May 2021

The government recognises the importance of spectators to competitive sport and remains committed to working towards their full return to stadiums as soon as it is safe to do so.

We have now entered a period of loosening restrictions under Step 3 of the ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’ which permits fans to return to both indoor and outdoor elite sporting events, albeit under capacity caps.

Large seated outdoor stadiums with over 16,000 seated capacity, where crowds can be safely distributed, are eligible to utilise a special provision allowing up to 10,000 people or 25% of total seated capacity (whichever is lower), helping more fans to return safely to some of our iconic venues.

Government further welcomes the return of spectators at selected events as part of the science-led Events Research Programme (ERP). The ERP is currently running its first phase of April and May pilot events to inform decisions around the safe removal of social distancing at Step 4 of the roadmap. The pilots are running across a range of settings, venues, and activities, so that findings support the full reopening of similar settings across multiple sectors.

As stated in the roadmap, we hope to be in a position to remove all legal limits on social contact later this summer, no earlier than 21 June. This will be subject to the outcomes of the 4 government-led reviews, including the ERP.

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