New Jersey Governor Murphy last week opened up high school athletic venues to two parents/guardians per student-athlete, with three weeks left in Season 2, which includes high school basketball.
Now, he’s extending that allowance to college sports – like Rutgers – as long as capacity limits aren’t exceeded, effective immediately.
He made the announcement around 11:30 this morning on the Moose and Maggie show on WFAN 660 AM in New York.
In addition, Murphy is allowing all sports – professional and college – and entertainment venues with a capacity of 5,000 or more o open to ten percent capacity effective Monday, March 1 at 6 am. Outdoor venues can open to 15 percent. The opening also affects entertainment venues such as concert halls and amphitheaters.
That means for the Prudential Center in Newark, which has a hockey capacity of 16,500, as many as 1,650 fans could potentially be allowed.
Parents and guardians will be able to attend the last men’s basketball home game of the year – Wednesday against Indiana – and the last women’s home game of the year, which is slated for March 4th or 5th against Ohio State.
But while the Governor said on the ‘FAN that opening all indoor venues to ten percent capacity could allow the general public to go to games at the RAC, it’s too little to late, and a moot point at the same time.
Wednesday’s last home game for the Rutgers men falls before the new regulations go into effect. The women’s team’s last game comes after the new rules take effect, but the Big Ten has not been allowing fans all season, in order to keep a level playing field among teams in states with varying degrees of regulation.
CLICK HERE to listen to Murphy’s full interview with Moose and Maggie on WFAN.
New York recently announced it would open sports venues to limited capacity as well, with the first to be the Barclays Center for a Brooklyn Nets game Tuesday But while fans there will be required to show negative PCR tests, Murphy said such a requirement will not be in effect in New Jersey.