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It’s Been a Busy Few Days for One ArenaTalya MinsbergReporting from Brooklyn 🏀Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesAfter the turnaround, the N.B.A. playoffs returned to Barclays Center on Tuesday night for Game 2 of the Nets’ first-round series with the Boston Celtics. The Nets won, 130-108, and took a 2-0 lead in the series. More
Since February, the Brooklynettes have performed live at Barclays Center to crowds that are smaller than usual — but huge for dance.I found an immersive performance — really, a spectacle — at a place I never would have expected it: a basketball game.Since February, the Brooklynettes, the Brooklyn Nets dance team, have been a pandemic anomaly: They have been performing live, at games, for nearly 2,000 spectators. It’s not the same as it ever was — it’s better. Barclays Center, at reduced capacity, is more intimate. The ushers treat you like you’re a guest at a dinner party. The players come into sharper focus. And the dancers, whether performing their choreographed routines or reacting to an exciting shot, are vital to the whole.It used to seem that a Brooklynettes number had three characteristics: speed, power and hair. The strokes were broad. Were the dancers skilled and meticulous? Absolutely. But at the games, their hard work was obscured by the noise and the abundance of fans. The reality was that this wasn’t so much a dance team as a group of backup dancers for a basketball team.With the arena at reduced capacity, the Brooklynettes feel more vital to the whole.Kholood Eid for The New York TimesThis season though, while the Brooklynettes’ focus is still hip-hop and street jazz, the look is different, more precise. At a recent rehearsal in the arena, Asha Singh, the Brooklynettes coach and sometime choreographer, put the brakes on the dancers, to clean up a routine. “What angle of left are we going?” she asked them. “Are we going to the corner? Are we stepping side?”Why would a position held for a millisecond during a sprint of a dance matter? When these six bodies move as one, they pull you in — not just to their dancing but into the arena, where their movement creates an invisible line of energy between the players and the fans.Even when they aren’t dancing, that vitality continues as they stand, hands on hips, looking like cutouts of Wonder Woman. It sounds strange, but now for the Brooklynettes, a position held for a millisecond in a sprint of a dance does matter, because whether or not you see the effect, you feel it.The Brooklynettes — along with a galvanizing drum line and Team Hype, a male dance crew that performs on the opposite stage — are no longer a decorative afterthought. In prepandemic days, they would perform right on the court; now two stages have been built to provide the necessary social distancing from fans and players. The dancers — there are six per game now, down from 20 — are present throughout. They stand out in a way that they didn’t before, even when they were front and center performing on-court routines during home games.Asha Singh, coach of the Brooklynettes, rehearsing with the team. Back, from left, Celine, Kia and Ashley.Kholood Eid for The New York TimesAnd while there is reduced capacity at Barclays Center, the numbers are still staggering for dance. How many dancers do you know who are performing indoors for so many people? (The arena has been at 10 percent capacity, about 1,700 spectators, and will go up to 30 percent on May 19.)“It’s invigorating,” said the dancer Liv David, who added that for many months during the pandemic, “I was just dancing in my little apartment trying not to kick my cats in the face and trying to make the most of it. I almost had forgotten that feeling — that adrenaline.”Live indoor dance performances have been hard to come by in New York; when they do happen, audiences are kept small. The Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum started with audiences of 50; as state mandates changed, the number was increased to 75 and now tops out at 90. At the cavernous Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armory, capacity for “Afterwardsness,” a coming production by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, will be 118.The drum line and dancers during a game.Kholood Eid for The New York TimesDuring the 2019-2020 N.B.A. season, when arenas were at full capacity, all 30 teams featured performances with dancing. Now, in addition to the Brooklynettes, there are 10 other dance teams performing live. (The Knicks City Dancers do not; instead, recordings of past performances are played during games.)When fans were allowed back into arenas, Criscia Long, who oversees the Brooklynettes, the Brooklyn Nets Beats Drumline and Team Hype, was charged with figuring out how to bring entertainment back.“We’re in the crowd now — we’re right next to the fans,” Long said. “You get to engage with them; you get to actually feel their energy a little bit more during performances and when the ball is in play. It’s so much more connected now than even having the whole entire crowd there.”An experienced dancer, Long was formerly a captain of the Knicks City Dancers; she also performed with Lil’ Kim, who appeared in a number with the Brooklynettes this season. “She really wanted to be a part of the show,” Long said. “She rehearsed with us, and you know how hard it is with Covid protocols, but she wanted to be in it. It felt like we were on tour with her.”The Brooklynettes backstage in April.Kholood Eid for The New York TimesThat was a special occasion. Even so, Singh said that if you took away the basketball team, what the Brooklynettes present is a version of tour-style concert performances. That is even more apparent now. “Very much tour, minus the artist in front,” she said. “Imagine all that crazy dope dancing that you would see around the artist: That’s kind of the energy that we like to provide the arena.”In the past, the Brooklynettes would sometimes share the court with Team Hype for combined routines. Now, though, the two groups perform on stages at opposite sides of the arena; during the games, they play off each other while members of the drum line appear with both groups.They’re all more in the moment. At times, the dancers react to a big play: short bursts of choreography that bloom quickly and disappear. Even those dances, unannounced yet galvanizing, draw attention. As David said: “I feel eyes on us. I feel like people are appreciating what we’re doing and performing for them. And that is very rewarding.”The Wonder Woman pose.Kholood Eid for The New York TimesThe drum line has returned with the dancers.Kholood Eid for The New York TimesAt the start of the pandemic, Singh moved into Zoom rehearsals, like most of the dance world, and found that she needed to focus less on fixing details like exact arm placement and timing — that would be attended to once they were onstage — and more on getting the choreography in their bodies. Dancers would record themselves and send her the videos for individual notes.The emphasis of the movement has also changed. “Before, we would do a lot of big arms,” Singh said. “It was like how do I make the steps as big as possible? How do I make my body look like it’s taking up space?”While they still do that, now, she added, “It’s more about the power behind the movement and less of ‘my arm has to be way up here’ for the upper-level fans to be able to see what we’re doing.”As always, Singh wants the Brooklynettes to look like “an elevated professional dance crew based in Brooklyn,” she said. “My approach to anything, all Brooklynettes is you’ve got to do it right. At least try to do it right. The last thing I want anyone to say — and especially in our industry — is, ‘Oh it’s inauthentic. They’re appropriating culture. Or they’re not really Brooklyn.’”Asha Singh, the team’s coach, wants the Brooklynettes to look like “an elevated professional dance crew based in Brooklyn.”Kholood Eid for The New York TimesAs for that Wonder Woman pose? “That’s literally our signature,” Singh said, laughing. “I told the ladies the other night, ‘You have to stand like you’re still performing and stay there.’ If your arms get tired, you can relax, but then always come back so it still looks like your body is energized and you’re present. If you’re not backstage, you’re performing. That’s always been my viewpoint — on any show.”It’s another instance of the Brooklynettes doing something that they never had to do. “Now we’re learning that we have to change — we have to tweak our show, the in-between moments,” Singh said. “It’s kind of exciting though because I’m a fan of a stage. I just love lights. I love haze. I love being elevated.”As for that stage in the stands? “It just looks so much more like a show to me,” she said. “So I’m kind of loving our stage moment. We’re not sure how long it’s going to last, but it’s been really fun so far.” More
Experts say $1.50 pimento cheese sandwiches are not just about hospitality. Instead, they are a low-cost way to cultivate one of the biggest brands in American sports.AUGUSTA, Ga. — José María Olazábal hit a tee shot at Augusta National Golf Club’s 12th hole one day this week, jokingly bowed to the spectators and meandered toward the green of one of the great holes in golf.Much of the gallery swiftly headed toward one of the great bargains in sports: the Amen Corner concession stand, where fans at the Masters can come by a meal — sandwich, soft drink and a cookie — for as little as $5.The famously controlling club has spent decades accepting that it cannot, in fact, control the weather. But economic forces surrounding the tournament are well within reason, and so the price of a pimento cheese sandwich has stood at $1.50 since 2003. Adjusted for inflation, and assuming the sandwich was appropriately priced to begin with, it should be about $2.14.Economists believe the enduring bargain, at odds with an era of sticker-shock prices at many athletic events, is not merely a matter of Southern hospitality. Instead, they see hard-nosed, soft-power genius: a thrifty way to cultivate the mystique that has helped make the Masters brand one of the most valuable in sports.“They want to take you back to the days of Bobby Jones — the good old days, if you will,” said John A. List, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, referring to Augusta National’s co-founder. “They haven’t followed prices, and they’re understanding that their real bottom line is over years. I think they purposefully don’t follow inflation and economics, and that makes the message even stronger.”“Economically,” said List, who attended the Masters in 2019, “I actually thought it was brilliant.”A patron carried her haul of Masters merchandise.Doug Mills/The New York TimesWhile Augusta National may be the most celebrated site of cheap concessions, it also may offer broader lessons for the sports industry. Georgia, with its moderate cost of living and high-wattage sporting events, has emerged as something of a case study. About 145 miles to the west, the Atlanta Falcons cut prices in half a few years ago when they moved into Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The franchise, cognizant that most of the money in the N.F.L. flows from media rights agreements and ticket sales, basked in positive news coverage and, ultimately, more spending by fans.The concept has slowly spread throughout sports. The Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and Charlotte Hornets, among other professional teams, have rolled out their own so-called fan-friendly concession pricing initiatives, which have helped draw spectators into stadiums earlier and encouraged others to attend in the first place.At Augusta National, trimming the cost of a pimento cheese by 50 cents, to $1, would be a throwback to the presidency of George Bush — the first one. The club, which wraps its sandwiches in green packaging that blends in with the course, is unlikely to go in the other direction and sharply raise prices, which would mean abandoning the strategy it has long cloaked in the language of gentility and wholesomeness.“We want the experience to not only be the best but to be affordable,” Billy Payne, who spent 11 years as the club’s chairman, said in 2007. “We take certain things very, very seriously — like the cost of a pimento cheese sandwich is just as important as how high the second cut is going to be.”Fred S. Ridley, Payne’s successor, similarly said that Augusta National’s goal is to provide food “at a reasonable price.”Patrons took a lunch break near the 11th hole.Doug Mills/The New York TimesRidley said the low cost “just sort of adds to the feeling” for the sandwiches, though he declined to identify which one he prefers. (“I like them all but try to stay away.”)People, of course, would still eat. But the prospect of higher profit margins, List suggested, is almost certainly beside the point in the minds of Augusta National’s green-jacketed members, who are often titans of business or politics. Whatever quarters are left on the table represent an investment of sorts, experts said, while also aligning well with the ethos of the club and the state.“They want to shock and awe you on the low side, and they could double, triple or quadruple the prices,” List said as he headed to a Chicago White Sox game this week. “I would have noticed and thought that’s kind of normal. And I don’t think the Masters wants to do anything common.”Exactly how much money runs through Augusta National is unclear, a multimillion-dollar mystery that satisfies a tradition of privacy at a club that has long faced accusations of racism and sexism.Augusta National does not say how many tickets it sells for $75 for practice rounds or $115 for competition days, or how much it makes from the decidedly-not-low-cost merchandise fans buy and lug around in clear plastic bags. Its television deal with CBS has long been a series of one-year contracts that are not believed to be hugely lucrative for either the network or the club. It accepts only a handful of blue-chip sponsors, and Ridley said this week that the club would donate its proceeds from a new video game partnership with EA Sports to a foundation that promotes golf.And Augusta National is unafraid to capitalize on its food when it is bound for places beyond its gates. This year, fans could have Masters fare delivered to their doorsteps, including pounds of pimento cheese, pork and chocolate chip cookies. For good measure, the $150 packages included 25 of the dishwasher-safe plastic cups that are the tournament’s premier souvenirs.A sandwich, drink and a cookie costs around $5.Doug Mills/The New York TimesBut whatever Augusta’s financials look like, they are almost assuredly helped by the simplicity of the club’s menu. Along with the pimento cheese, which is served between two pieces of white bread, there is an egg salad sandwich for $1.50. This year brought the introduction of a new sandwich, chicken salad on a brioche bun, for $3. The most expensive selections on the menu are the beers, served in green plastic cups for the princely sum of $5.Pimento cheese, a staple of Southern events from backyard gatherings to black-tie weddings, has been on Augusta National’s menu since the early days, and is the most famous of the club’s culinary offerings.Nathalie Dupree, the cookbook author and pre-eminent Southern chef, said the acid in the mayonnaise acts as a preservative, clearing the way for golf fans to carry a couple of the sandwiches in a pocket or purse for a few hours and nibble at them under Georgia’s warm spring sun.“It is sort of Southern genius that they are going to figure out a sandwich for the heat,” Dupree said. “You are always working around the heat, before air-conditioning, particularly.”The sandwich was appearing prominently in newspaper accounts of the tournament by the 1970s, which was also when the Junior League of Augusta published its recipe book, “Tea-Time at the Masters.” The club’s pimento cheese recipe was not included, though a step-by-step guide for a concoction christened cheese paste, made from Cheddar, cream cheese and pimento cheese — at room temperature — did.The woman who submitted it? “Mrs. Arnold Palmer,” Winifred Palmer, whose husband had already won his four Masters titles by then.“My mother in particular was very fond of the pimento cheese sandwiches at Augusta,” said Amy Palmer Saunders, who chairs the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation. “She would’ve enjoyed experimenting with anything like that in the kitchen.”Augusta National keeps the concession menu simple and affordable.Doug Mills/The New York TimesThe players also revere the food, simple as it is.Bubba Watson, who won in 2012 and 2014, said he favors the barbecue and pimento cheese sandwiches, asking club staff to hold the egg salad and slip in more pork when he orders a trio known as the Taste of the Masters. And before he won last year’s tournament, Dustin Johnson declared simply, “My favorite thing about the Masters is the sandwiches.”To walk the course this week is a chance to hear, no matter the time, someone mulling what they want to eat. The cashiers, accepting only credit or debit cards because of the coronavirus pandemic, are waiting.“They fulfill kind of the dream that you have,” said List, who described Augusta’s approach as “Adam Smith in his glory.”“When you see it on TV, you think it’s a wonderland,” he said of the course. “And Disney looks like a wonderland until they stick it to your wallet.” More
This spring, big-league games are luring fans to stadiums and arenas. Expect varying levels of mask-wearing, social distancing and pregame testing.From strict testing, masking and physical-distancing protocols in New York and California, to a full 40,000-seat stadium with almost no coronavirus restrictions outside Dallas.These are the widely varying conditions sports fans can expect as large-scale spectatorship returns to big-league stadiums and arenas this spring. Americans are still getting infected with the coronavirus each day, and hospitalizations and deaths continue to add to the virus’s ghastly toll — but even the most Covid-weary cannot deny the life-affirming joy of root-root-rooting for the home team.The question is, should you be rooting in person?“The devil’s always in the details,” said Dr. Thomas A. Russo, chief of infectious medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. But when masking and distance standards are closely enforced, “the risk is going to be low,” he said.Fans were present on a very limited basis for some games at the end of last baseball season and in the N.F.L. season that concluded last month, and more recently for some N.B.A. and N.H.L. games. As of Friday, there have been no reports of community spread, but an argument can be made for waiting a bit before applying the face paint and heading out.“We’re still going to have a moderate community burden of disease for another six to eight weeks,” Dr. Russo said. “After that, as we’re working on the vaccinations, I expect it to lighten. So baseball in July may be very comfortable,” he continued, “whereas Opening Day may be less so.”This spring, the spectator policies of big-league baseball, soccer, hockey and basketball teams in the United States are governed primarily by the Covid-19 regulations of the 27 states where they are located, and the District of Columbia. The N.H.L. has extensive protocols for players, fans and buildings, and “none are independent of local, state, provincial or federal guidelines,” said John Dellapina, the league’s senior vice president of communications.But that leads to wide variations in how many are able to watch a game at the stadium or arena — and the lengths to which they must go to get in. The best thing for prospective spectators to do is check on their favorite team’s website and see what they need to do for a ticket.In New York, regulations currently allow 10 percent capacity at indoor sports venues — that translates to roughly 2,000 fans at Madison Square Garden for Knicks and Rangers games, 1,300 Islanders fans at Nassau Coliseum and 1,800 Nets fans at the Barclays Center — and 20 percent at outdoor venues.Those fans must present evidence of a negative virus test taken within 72 hours of the game (at a cost of $60 or more); have that test result linked to their ID via an app, like the tech company Clear’s digital health pass or New York State’s Excelsior Pass; complete a health survey before entry; submit to a temperature check; and, once inside, wear a mask except when eating or drinking.Outdoors, the same entry procedures will be in place, but with 20 percent capacity, when fans return to Yankee Stadium on Opening Day, April 1, and to Citi Field for the Mets home opener on April 8. (Both teams also say they will accept proof of full vaccination.) Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the doubling of capacity for outdoor stadiums on Thursday, which means the Yankees can host almost 11,000 fans and the Mets about 8,400.That will also hold true for the Toronto Blue Jays, who are likely to play home games in Buffalo’s intimate Sahlen Field starting in May or June if the U.S.-Canada border remains closed. At Sahlen, 20 percent capacity translates to about 3,300 fans.Limited tickets and lots of social distancingOf course, all of this is dependent on scoring a ticket. Season-ticket holders get first crack at seats, so resale sites are the best bet for the casual fan.For some teams those secondary prices will be steep, given the limited supply, like the $260 nosebleed seat listed on Thursday for Islanders-Rangers at the Coliseum April 11. The cheapest resale price for a Red Sox-Orioles Opening Day ticket at Fenway Park (12 percent capacity) was put at $344. Currently, resale sites don’t even list tickets for Yankee Stadium or Citi Field until June.Baseball fans kept their distance from each other during the game between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., on March 13.Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesNew Jersey is allowing 10 percent capacity at Devils games indoors in Newark (about 1,800 fans), and 15 percent capacity for Red Bulls games outdoors in Harrison (about 3,750) when the Major League Soccer season starts on April 17. But unlike New York, no negative Covid-19 test is required. “If you buy tickets together, you can sit together, but otherwise, we have to spread apart,” said Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey.Sports and health officials use algorithms to determine what percentage of capacity allows for six feet of spacing. For most arenas, that figure is 20 to 25 percent, so the Devils are well below that threshold.In California, a color-coded system determined by local infection rates determines restrictions. Until recently, Los Angeles County was in the strictest purple tier, which would have restricted attendance to 100 fans at LA Galaxy and LAFC soccer games and Dodgers baseball games.But the county has since moved to the red tier, which allows 20 percent capacity at sports venues. So when the Dodgers play their home opener on April 9, as many as 11,200 fans will be on hand at Dodger Stadium. Orange County also moved to red, which will enable 9,000 fans to turn out at Angel Stadium. So did San Diego County, giving the OK for 10,000 Padres fans at Petco Park.And so it goes in a checkerboard manner across the country. The Colorado Rockies can fill their ballpark to just over 42 percent of capacity, or 21,000 fans who must wear proper masks. In Missouri, the St. Louis Cardinals can fill up to 32 percent of their stadium, and in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates can fill 20 percent. But in Michigan, current regulations mandate that the Detroit Tigers admit only 1,000 fans, though the team says that figure could be increased.In Oregon, state officials have not yet cleared the Portland Timbers men’s and Portland Thorns women’s soccer teams to allow fans into Providence Park. That’s also true for 13 N.B.A. basketball teams, though that number could shrink in the coming days.Indeed, the N.B.A. has perhaps the most uniform leaguewide policy regarding Covid protocols. In the 17 arenas that currently admit fans, none are allowed to sit courtside and must be at least 15 feet behind team benches. Fans with seats within 30 feet of the court must present a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours of game time or pass a rapid test on-site, and they are prohibited from eating.The N.H.L. has also made rink-side adjustments after a few early-season outbreaks among players and officials in closed-door games. The plexiglass panels were removed from behind the team benches and the penalty boxes to promote air circulation. And at 18 of the 24 U.S. rinks that now or will soon allow attendance, fans are prohibited from sitting behind the benches and penalty boxes or along the glass.And then there’s Texas…Then there’s the Lone Star state, where Gov. Greg Abbott recently removed all Covid-19 restrictions.The Texas Rangers took that as their cue to allow full capacity, all 40,518 seats, for the first three games at their new retractable-roof baseball stadium in Arlington — the first team in North America to do so. There will be no protocols beyond a mask-wearing rule at those two exhibition games on March 29 and 30 and the season opener on April 5. Subsequent games will be at less-than-full but still undetermined capacity.Dr. Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston, said she would not recommend attending those first three games in Arlington.“Will people keep their masks on, will they be drinking alcohol, will they be shouting, will the roof be open or closed?” she said. “There are so many risk factors. Even if you’re fully immunized, I’d advise against going.”However, another Dallas team is showing more restraint. The N.B.A. Mavericks will continue to cap their attendance at about 25 percent capacity and require fans to complete a health questionnaire. “Nothing will change,” the Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, said.Golf fans, buoyed by the principle that outdoors is better when it comes to the coronavirus, are returning to PGA Tour events. Some 10,000 were expected for this weekend’s Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That’s 20 percent of maximum capacity.But if it still seems like a lot of people on a golf course, don’t worry. The PGA Tour website reminds all spectators to make sure their temperature is under 100.4 degrees before they arrive and to maintain six-foot distancing.And, as a final reassurance for those who simply must get out and watch a tournament in person, the PGA warns that “no autographs, fist bumps or selfies are permitted with players.”Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. 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Neither the men’s nor women’s N.C.A.A. basketball tournaments will allow bands this year — and canned music just can’t compare.INDIANAPOLIS — In a normal year, when a player sinks a buzzer-beating shot in a N.C.A.A. tournament game, tens of thousands of fans erupt in celebration.This year will prove to be a bit quieter, even if the venue is larger.The men’s Final Four tournament will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium, a 70,000-seat arena home to the N.F.L.’s Indianapolis Colts. The crowd will be capped at 25 percent of capacity, with fans masked and seated in socially distanced pods of two, four or six. And the area reserved for each 29-member band will be empty.“I understand the N.C.A.A.’s decision,” Jake Tedeschi, 22, a senior tenor saxophone player in the No. 1 seed University of Illinois’s basketball pep band, said in an interview on Thursday. “But man, I wish I could be there. I’m hoping they’ll reconsider for the Final Four.”But now, that dream is dashed, too.After previously excluding bands only through the Elite Eight, an N.C.A.A. associate director of communications, Christopher Radford, said in an email on Friday that no bands would be allowed at any of the games in either the men’s or women’s N.C.A.A. basketball tournaments this year.The decision, he said, was based on health and safety protocols developed with local health authorities, which “led to reductions in the size of official travel parties and limits on overall capacity in venues.”The six Indiana venues that will host this year’s games, he said, will still play school fight songs and anthems. They will screen cheer video performances, and other band music will be in rotation.But the honking tubas and energy-building improvisation of pep bands are what attracts many fans to the college game — they are the antithesis of the N.B.A.’s reliance on canned noise to punctuate big blocks and thunderous dunks. And bands have an even more crucial role in the N.C.A.A. tournament, Barry L. Houser, the director of the University of Illinois’s marching and athletic bands for the past 10 years, said.“There’s nothing like live music to bring a stadium or arena alive,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “The playing of a fight song after a great play or going into a hot timeout after an amazing play for the team can really get the crowd riled up.”Tedeschi, the University of Illinois band member, believes a band can “absolutely” change a game.“We scream a lot,” he said. “And, especially late in the game, we do our best to distract the other team’s players.”There will be no band for players to interact with at this year’s tournaments.Richard Shiro/Associated PressBut pep band players aren’t just passionate about school fight songs or “Sweet Caroline” — they’re some of the biggest basketball fans in the arena and the spark that ignites most student sections.“The chance to travel with the team and be their number-one supporter is a big reason I do athletic bands,” Tedeschi said. “It takes time away from my other coursework, especially when we’re traveling more, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. It’s near and dear to my heart.”But seniors like Tedeschi will never get the chance to play at an N.C.A.A. tournament game — a big part of why he joined the pep band his freshman year, he said. (The Illini did not make the men’s or women’s N.C.A.A. tournament his first two years, and the pandemic derailed last year’s games.)He understands the N.C.A.A.’s decision to prohibit bands in the first two rounds, but thinks they could have been allowed for games later in the tournament. “The bracket is smaller, and fewer teams’ bands would show up,” he said. “It would mean less other fans, but for seniors, it’s the only chance we have. Mid-major teams don’t make it every year.”Michael Martin, a 21-year-old senior at Ohio State who plays snare and bass drum in the pep band, has never been to any of the N.C.A.A. tournaments. And he’s now missed his chance.“I prepared myself for it,” he said. “But I’m still really disappointed. I was looking forward to playing ‘Buckeye Swag’ for everyone.”Houser, the University of Illinois band director, feels terrible for his seniors — especially in a year that the men’s team is a No. 1 seed.“The teams went through a lot of challenges, and now they’re doing so well,” he said. “I just wish our students had the opportunity to cheer them on in this situation.”But having steeled themselves to the reality of a tournament without live music, band directors are looking forward to the coming year with optimism.Christopher Hoch, who is in his fourth year as director of the Ohio State University marching and athletic bands, has been persevering with his athletic bands class, even absent opportunities to play at games.“I felt it was important for students to continue to have the opportunity to play, even though they weren’t necessarily performing at events,” he said.Now, Hoch is preparing his students for the halftime show they typically do at the spring football game. “We love being there to support the team and university,” he said. “And I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get back to doing that soon.” More
#masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadThe fans allowed into Barclays Center in Brooklyn were scattered about to ensure social distancing.Credit…Brad Penner/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFans Return in New York, Thrilled to Cheer (and Jeer) AgainThe Nets and the Knicks were the first teams to take advantage of New York’s relaxed rules on attendance at sporting events. It was … different, but also a welcome bit of normalcy.The fans allowed into Barclays Center in Brooklyn were scattered about to ensure social distancing.Credit…Brad Penner/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSupported byContinue reading the main storyFeb. 24, 2021Updated 9:24 a.m. ETThe lights went dark before the game at the Barclays Arena on Tuesday night. A glossily produced video blared from the video screens, filling the 19,000-seat venue with sound and clips of Nets dunking or shooting through colored wisps of smoke, along with the words “Brooklyn Together.” Then the team’s starting lineup sprinted onto the court, one by one, as they were introduced by the public address announcer. And with each name, the crowd roared.Well, it was a fake crowd mostly — piped in through the speaker system — that provided the roars as the Nets got set to play the Sacramento Kings. The actual crowd in attendance — about 300 or so — mostly sat quietly in their seats, lightly clapping as if they were watching a Dvorak symphony or a middle school graduation.Tuesday night was the first time that the Nets allowed fans to watch a game in person since March 8 of last year, when more than 15,000 people attended. Two weeks ago, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that venues with 10,000 or more seats would be allowed to host fans at 10 percent of the venue’s capacity.James Harden had a triple double in a win over the Kings.Credit…Kathy Willens/Associated PressStephen Curry said it felt good to be heckled again.Credit…Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBarclays could have hosted thousands more fans, but opted to start small. To attend, patrons had to take two coronavirus tests — one within 72 hours of the game and another, rapid version on site.Across New York’s East River, similar scenes were playing out when the Knicks hosted the Golden State Warriors at Madison Square Garden. The crowd was a bit bigger in Manhattan — about 2,000 fans — but it was enough that Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau called the night “a first step back toward normalcy.”The Knicks boasted the game had been a “sellout,” and before it began the fans chanted “M-V-P! M-V-P!” and nearly drowned out the remarks of Julius Randle, who addressed the crowd after being named the Knicks’ first All-Star Game since 2018. By the second half, even the visitors got a sense nature was healing. The Warriors won, 114-106.“There were some fans heckling,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry told reporters after the game, “which was awesome.”Credit…Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe former Giant Justin Tuck and the actor Tracy Morgan were courtside at the Garden.Credit…Pool photo by Wendell CruzIn Brooklyn, the return of fans meant the return of the Nets’ dance team, too.Credit…Brad Penner/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Nets and the Knicks are two of 14 N.B.A. teams allowing patrons to attend games in some way.“It’s a nice change,” Nets Coach Steve Nash said. “We obviously have been playing in empty stadiums for the most part, at least at home. And so to have some fans and a little bit of life and energy, and hopefully we can safely incorporate more fans as we go here.”Barclays Center was a microcosm of the disruption that the world has gone through over the last year. At times, it felt like an uneasy blend between a haunted house and a private Beyoncé concert. Thousands of seats remained unavailable, many still covered by tarps. Almost all of the arena’s restaurants were closed.There was no line for bathrooms, and inside them some sinks had tape over them to encourage social distancing. A sign outside the arena, where scalpers used to roam, offered free testing for the coronavirus, the specter of which was never far away: After walking inside for the game, patrons were greeted with a warning sign that included the line, “Traveling to and from, visiting, and/or providing services in and around the arena may lead to a risk of exposure to COVID-19.”Dozens of ushers stood idly by — back to work for the first time all season — holding placards shaped like stop signs that read, “Please wear your masks.” One remarked that while it was good to be back, she was befuddled by the lack of hallway traffic. “So why am I here?” she said. “There’s no guests!”While the Barclays Center crowd was limited to a few hundred by the Nets, Madison Square Garden welcomed about 2,000 fans. “Even just having a couple thousand fans makes a difference,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “It just feels more normal, more real.”Credit…Pool photo by Wendell CruzBut as the Knicks’ Thibodeau noted across the river, Tuesday night also represented the first tentative steps back to normalcy in New York sports. Along with the ushers came the return of the Brooklynettes, the Nets’ dance team, and the team’s drum line. Before tipoff, a woman with a headset approached the rehearsing dancers, who were on an elevated podium far from the court, and pleaded: “We have to be really on it with our masks. Please.”One drummer yelled across the arena — possibly to a team of breakdancers — “You all look wack over there.” In previous years, his voice would not have carried so far.Shortly before tipoff, the Nets debuted a video of players speaking the lyrics to the Bill Withers classic, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” dedicated to absent fans. Then Kyrie Irving waved to the crowd on both sides of the court; in an arena with hundreds instead of thousands of people, fans might have been forgiven for thinking Irving was waving to them individually.“It felt like you were sitting in your living room,” said Dylan Schultz, 27. “I’m sitting just with my friend. Not too many people around me. But there’s still this environment of the game is right directly in front of you. You could hear them talking to each other. Sick.”Some in the building tried to keep up traditions, like trying to interrupt opponent’s free-throw shooting. On Tuesday, that effort — normally taken up by thousands of fans screaming and waving objects — fell to four drummers behind the basket, joined occasionally by the five dancers. (Statistically speaking, they could claim success: The Kings shot 13 of 19 from the line, slightly below their season average.)As far as the game itself, the Nets led most of it and won their seventh straight, 127-118. Bruce Brown, the starting guard, got a rare turn in the spotlight, scoring 29 points, as did James Harden, who had a triple-double: 29 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists.For the most part, the crowd — scattered throughout courtside seats, luxury suites and some in the lower level — stayed subdued, in spite of having the most hyped Nets team in years to watch in person.“It feels like you’re watching a practice session,” said Rich Schaefer, 42, a season-ticket holder. “You’re at a high school gym, and there’s no one there. But you’re watching the best players in the world. It’s not the same energy you get during sold-out games. But there is something incredible, as a basketball fan, of watching and hearing everybody talking and not being distracted by what’s happening around you.”But for the players, the sight of friendly jerseys was a welcome one.“Just having somebody in there to cheer you on is better than nothing,” Nets guard Joe Harris said. “It was definitely nice, even though 300 is not a lot in the big arena. But it’s still a better feel than the empty ones.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More
#masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Australian OpenWhat to Watch TodayHow to WatchThe Players to KnowTesting Australians’ VIrus AnxietiesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGoodbye to Fans at the Australian OpenA new coronavirus lockdown for the state of Victoria means five days of no fans at the Grand Slam tournament.Spectators exited Rod Laver Arena mid-match to meet a lockdown deadline on Friday night in Melbourne, Australia.Credit…Dave Hunt/EPA, via ShutterstockFeb. 12, 2021Updated 5:17 p.m. ETMELBOURNE, Australia — The reigning men’s champion Novak Djokovic was on the ropes on Friday when Melburnians were made to leave Rod Laver Arena. It was 30 minutes before the clock struck midnight, a Cinderella-like moment when their freedom turned to confinement and their lives reverted to what they experienced during a 111-day lockdown last year.As the Australian Open spilled into Saturday, it ended at 1:20 a.m. with Djokovic, the world No. 1, eking out a 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 third-round victory over Taylor Fritz, an American ranked 31st. The stadium lights remained on overnight, but the electricity left the building as the state of Victoria entered a five-day quarantine at 11:59 p.m. that spared the tournament but not the spectators.The retreat of the fans did not sit well with Fritz. “I understand the fact that Victoria is going back into lockdown and people have to go,” he said. “If that’s the case, then we shouldn’t have played tonight if we weren’t going to finish the match on time.”A surreal fifth day of play provided a tableau of the times, with the best-laid plans redirected midstream by a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that was first found in Britain. By Friday, it had infected 13 people linked to a quarantine hotel near the Melbourne airport that was being used to sequester returning travelers.In the early afternoon, as Serena Williams, a seven-time champion, stepped onto Rod Laver Arena’s court for her third-round match, Premier Daniel Andrews of Victoria stepped to a microphone a few miles away to announce a “circuit-breaker” five-day lockdown aimed at preventing a third wave of infection from inundating the state.Victorians, he announced, would be allowed to leave home only for essential shopping, work, caregiving and exercise. Sports and entertainment venues were shutting down, but professional athletes like tennis players were considered in the category of “essential workers” and would be permitted to continue their matches, albeit behind closed doors.It was bittersweet news for the players, who for the first time since last year’s Australian Open were contesting a Grand Slam in front of crowds, with the number of fans allowed on the Melbourne Park grounds each day capped at 30,000.The players had arrived in the country early and completed a 14-day quarantine aimed at protecting Australians from them, so eager were they to play in front of crowds in what promised to be a significant step toward their old normal. Instead, the players found themselves in the new normal established when they traveled last year to New York for the United States Open and to Paris for the French Open: sequestered to protect them from their hosts.“It’s going to be a rough few days for I think everyone,” Williams said after her 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory against the 19-year-old Russian Anastasia Potapova.Serena Williams after beating Anastasia Potapova in the third round.Credit…Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesAll morning, rumors swirled around the tournament grounds, whipped into a tempest by spectators half-watching matches while they scrolled through their news feeds and studied texts from friends and family members.After Andrews confirmed the worst of the rumors, a bottleneck formed in the aisles, with spectators exiting the stadium to call airlines to rebook flights hurrying past those still filing inside. Two fans, Lauren Grundeman and Belinda Brown, waited until after Williams closed out her match to call Qantas Airways. Anticipating that flight schedules would be slashed in the coming days because of the lockdown, they wanted to move up their return travel to Sydney and leave in a few hours’ time.“We were too late,” Grundeman said. “All the flights today sold out a half-hour ago.”Grundeman and Brown considered themselves fortunate to secure seats for a Saturday afternoon return. They weren’t sorry that they came. It was worth the inconvenience, they said, to see Williams inch closer to a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title.“Definitely,” Brown said. “Serena is amazing.”Williams is a charismatic headliner, but the atmosphere was lacking its usual fizz, said Grundeman, who regularly attends the Australian Open. The lines to get inside, which are usually long, were nonexistent on Friday. There were no Swedes with national colors painted on their faces. No Dutch decked head to toe in orange. Grundeman described the energy as “flat.”Friday’s announced attendance, on a day tailor-made for soaking up the sun and world-class groundstrokes, was 22,299. Many Melburnians had said in interviews and letters to newspapers that they were forgoing this year’s event out of an abundance of caution. Brown said she couldn’t blame them.“If I was local, I’d be a bit like, we don’t need people coming and bring extra cases,” she said.Julie Dunlop rose before the sun and phoned her daughter. They held tickets to the day session Friday but Dunlop was discomfited by television reports that a lockdown — or “the dreaded L-word,” as she called it — was imminent. Should they soak up the sunshine before holing up in their houses? Or was the prudent play to stay away?“I was ready to pull the plug on it, but my daughter was keen to come,” said Dunlop, who warmed to the outing as she sat in the stands on an intimate outside court and watched the Australian doubles team of James Duckworth and Marc Polmans defeat Ricardas Berankis and Mikhail Kukushkin.Roughly 100 fans, most of them cheering enthusiastically for Duckworth and Polmans, filled the air with the sounds of solidarity. The Victorian premier hadn’t spoken yet, but Dunlop had a pretty good idea what he was going to say. “We’re lucky in one way to be here before it’s too late,” she said.Spectators cheered during the last match of the day on Court 3.Credit…Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesIn the stands, fans were checking their phones constantly. But on Court 13, Polmans tuned out everything but his harmony with Duckworth. Afterward, his coach filled him in on the lockdown rumors.“My first question to my coach was, ‘Do you think they’re going to cancel the tournament?’” Polmans said.Craig Tiley, the Tennis Australia chief executive, stood outside Rod Laver Arena on Friday afternoon and wearily assured everybody that the show would go on. “The players will compete in a bubble,” he said, adding that their movements would be restricted to traveling from wherever they were staying to Melbourne Park and back. He told the athletes to be alert, not alarmed.Tiley kept this year’s tournament slogan, “No Place for Impossible,” in his jacket pocket. It was part of a speech best saved for another day. Friday’s news made a line uttered before the tournament by Williams’s sister, Venus, a better motto for the moment: “Stay positive and test negative.”The tournament bubble could burst any day, and then what?“It’s definitely a worry,” Polmans said, adding, “If one of the players tests positive, then I think the tournament’s going to be done.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More
What It’s Like in Raymond James StadiumBenjamin Hoffman/The New York TimesMy first Super Bowl was at Raymond James Stadium in 2009 and I’ve attended 11 of the 12 Super Bowls since. This year’s is obviously quite a bit different.Here’s a look at the scene inside the stadium → More
