The Maple Leafs, Senators and Raptors will be playing in front of no crowds or smaller crowds at home for the foreseeable future.
The Ontario provincial government announced Thursday that it was reducing the number of people allowed in an arena to 1,000 or 50 percent capacity, whichever is less. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the Leafs and Raptors, responded later in the day by announcing that no fans will be admitted to its venues, includng Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, beginning Friday.
MLSE STATEMENT ON UPDATED VENUE CAPACITIES pic.twitter.com/hyfd8VDc02
— MLSE PR (@MLSEPR) December 30, 2021
The Maple Leafs and Raptors play at Scotiabank Arena, which has a capacity of 19,800, while the Senators play at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, which has a capacity of 19,153.
In addition to the NHL and NBA teams, the Toronto Marlies, Belleville Senators, Raptors 905 and 17 OHL teams will also have their arena capacities cut.
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The reductions coincide with two other recent decisions by the province: to reduce the isolation period for fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to five days, and delay the resumption of in-person classes at schools from Monday to Wednesday.
Ontario, much like the rest of North America, has been hit hard by a wave of COVID-19 cases, with Thursday setting a record at 13,807.
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Ontario and several other Canadian provinces had previously limited arena capacity to 50 percent. Ontario's decision to reduce capacity further falls in line with similar decisions by Manitoba and Quebec. Manitoba brought its number down to 250 people or 50 percent capacity, whichever is less, on Monday. Quebec officials told the Canadiens that fans were not permitted for the team's most recent home game, Dec. 16 vs. the Flyers.
Alberta and British Columbia are the only two provinces with NHL teams still at 50 percent capacity.
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Ontario's decision to cut back on attendance will be felt immediately by the three major professional teams. The Raptors will host the Clippers on Friday, the Maple Leafs will host Ottawa on Saturday and the Senators will host the Wild on Monday.
According to ESPN, the Maple Leafs rank second in the NHL in attendance with an average of 18,819 fans and the Senators rank 31st with 11,545. The Raptors are eighth in the NBA with an average attendance of 18,330 per game.
