The ACT Brumbies and Canberra Raiders are set to welcome crowds back into Canberra Stadium stands next month, but how many will depend on when the ACT moves into stage three of its COVID-19 recovery plans.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday stadiums will be allowed to fill 25 per cent of their stands pending appropriate space and if they're regular capacity is less than 40,000.
It means up to 6250 people could attend games in Canberra when the stadium reopens next month for Brumbies and Raiders games.
But the first weekend of Super Rugby AU action is likely to only have a fraction of that figure, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr saying tickets will be scarce given the July 4 kick-off is before stage three projections.
"The circumstances of each stadium will be very different. What would drive that would be access and egress points of congregation and being able to effectively distribute the crowd in a way that is safe," Barr said.
"What might work for the MCG may not work for Canberra Stadium or Manuka Oval. We need to have a venue-by-venue approach. It will be a very managed process. Tickets to Raiders and Brumbies games will be as rare as hen's teeth for a little while. It will really be the hardcore fans initially. But we want to gradually reintroduce crowds.
"The approach will be consistent ... ticketed, seated and dispersed. People won't be able to lean up against the bar and watch the game. [For the first game] it will be a small crowd, it will be a couple of hundred. Not thousands. Beyond that, we'll have that discussion around what might be possible."
Barr also said it's unlikely alcohol will be available at early matches with crowds to manage physical-distancing measures.
The stadium could opt to allow fans into the eastern grandstand while keeping the western grandstand as a "clean zone" for players and officials.
The Canberra Raiders are at this stage locked into playing "home" games at Campbelltown to adhere to NRL regulations. The Raiders could seek a change to that to move back to the capital as early as July 3.
If the NRL refuses the exemption, the earliest the Raiders could return to Canberra would be July 25.
"For outdoor, organised events, sporting, cultural, we will be moving, as part of step 3, for events in stadia or other venues of that nature with a capacity of 40,000 or less to enable attendance at those events which are ticketed and are seated, and all the social distancing rules apply, for up to 25 per cent of the capacity of those venues to take patrons," Mr Morrison said in a virus update.
"There will be further work done over the next fortnight. This is not something that's happening straightaway. This is something that would be happening as part of step 3, where states and territories choose to move to that, and it will require a bit more work.
"So that's in July. But we have to give venues and others time to prepare for that sort of change. I think that will be welcomed. Issues that have to be then addressed is access to the wet areas of those stadia, of the bars and so on, and I have no doubt there will be some view about restrictions on those because they tend to be the areas where people would congregate and gather, and that obviously presents risk.
"But when we're talking about people who have bought a ticket - so we know who's bought a ticket, we know where they're seated - then that enables those sorts of gatherings to take place in that structured way."
ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman is set to grant the Brumbies early access to Canberra Stadium to play against the Melbourne Rebels next month.
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
The stadium was closed as part of the ACT's non-essential business shutdown, with a reopen date set for July 7 - three days after the Brumbies' scheduled game.
The Raiders could return to Canberra on the same weekend to play St George-Illawarra on July 3 if approval is granted.
The NRL has refused to address concerns from the Raiders and Canberra fans, ignoring requests for clarification about why the Raiders were not allowed to play at home.
The Raiders will travel the most of any team this season pending changes to the restrictions. The NRL allowed home games to be played in Townsville, Brisbane, Melbourne, Gosford and two Sydney venues, but ruled Canberra out of contention.