(Reuters) – The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will explore the possibility of using COVID-19 passports to allow fans to return to stadia for the upcoming domestic season, says governing body county cricket managing director Neil Snowball .
The new County Championship season kicks off on April 8 with games initially played without spectators.
May 17 has been penalized as the date when the largest outdoor seating locations can allow up to 10,000 people or a quarter of capacity, whichever is lower, under the third phase of the government’s “road map” for easing COVID restrictions- 19.
“We’ve gone from no passports to a quick look at COVID certification,” Snowball said. “We will examine anything that enables us to get our members back and our viewers back.”
With the start of the fourth phase of the roadmap set for June 21, Snowball said cricket would have to balance three areas.
“One, if it’s going to be some kind of passport or COVID certification, the second proves, the third is some kind of social distance.
“We have said that we will do whatever we are asked to do to make sure we can get the most people back. The ideal would be some sort of certification with an element of social distance and probably wearing masks. ”
Snowball also said the domestic game predicted losses of more than 100 million pounds ($ 137.22 million) by the end of April due to the impact of the pandemic.
“Clubs with larger and diverse revenue streams have been hit much harder,” he added. “If we finish playing another season behind closed doors that will be extremely challenging for the counties.” ($ 1 = 0.7288 lbs)