The LA Galaxy sent season ticket members an email that got everyone excited. But is it what it seems? Kind of.
The LA Galaxy sent their Season Ticket Members a big update on Friday afternoon; they’re planning on FULL CAPACITY. And they’re planning it for June 19 when the Galaxy host the Seattle Sounders.
“We are pleased to announce that, subject to applicable state and local county health and safety guidelines and protocols, Dignity Health Sports Park (“DHSP”) is expected to resume operations at full spectator capacity beginning with the LA Galaxy’s June 19, 2021 match against Seattle Sounders FC,” the email read. “We are reaching out to provide you details on what exactly that will mean for our Season Ticket Members.”
The email continues, “With the expectation that state and local guidelines will permit DHSP to operate at full spectator capacity (we expect by mid-June), we write to provide you notice that the parties’ rights and obligations under the Agreement will resume on or after June 15, 2021 (“Resumption Date”). Based on the foregoing, we currently expect that the LA Galaxy will play thirteen (13) regular-season home games at DHSP with full spectator capacity during the remainder of the 2021 MLS Season. “
While this should get Galaxy fans excited that things are inching toward normalcy, it’s probably not the definitive news they’ve really been waiting for. With the state of California predicting that all restrictions would be lifted on June 15 the Galaxy are getting ahead of the expected re-opening by sending a warning to their members that payments are coming back.
They’re satisfying a legal requirement with this notice more than announcing a return to soccer as everyone remembers it.
The last full capacity crowd to attend a match at DHSP was on Saturday, March 7, 2020. That’s when the 10-man Galaxy lost to the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 while still under head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto. 26,382 people were inside the stadium that day as rumors of Covid-19 slowly crept into everyone’s consciousness.
By the following Thursday, the Galaxy were stopped from taking their flight to play Inter Miami, and shortly after MLS put a pause to its 2020 season.
If the Galaxy get the news they expect to get on June 15th, it will be 470 days between full-capacity crowds and will mark the first time since last season that social distancing requirements will have been relaxed. And with the CDC’s announcement that fully vaccinated people can go most places indoors and outdoors without a mask, the June 19 date doesn’t seem that far out of touch from reality.
But one of the expectations was that sporting events, both indoor and outdoor, would still require masks even while social distancing went away.
The Galaxy still have an out if for some reason things don’t open back up. They’ve hinged their entire premise on getting state and local approval for a full capacity game. If they don’t get that approval, they’ll simply slide the dates until they do.
If you’re excited about going back to a stadium full of people to cheer on your team, that time is coming. Will it be June 19? We’ll soon find out!