The Iron Fist of Pritzker Strikes Again

Change to spectator limit creates more problems for schools and venues

(Photo Credit: Barrington High School )

Earlier on Monday, the Illinois High School Association announced a change to the spectator limit for fans at sporting events.

The update allows for 20 percent capacity at venues, an increase from the previous hard cap of 50 fans. The adjustment applies to in-season spring outdoor sports like football and soccer, which have already begun practicing.

There are two ways of looking at the change from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and his health valets at the Illinois Department of Public Heath:

Glass half full: 20 percent is better than 50.

Glass half empty: Another arbitrary, data-less decision with zero logic or rationality.

This is Illinois, so let’s proceed with the glass half empty option.

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All due respect to the coronavariantbros out there, who continue to peddle fear porn, but we’re just about through with the virus.

All the metrics used before to rate the severity of the virus are steadily decreasing. The number of people given daily vaccine doses continues to rise.

President Biden, not yet at 100 days in office, said last week everyone that wants to be vaccinated will be able to by the end of May.

But Monday’s announcement about spectator limits makes me wonder of anyone in Illinois government knows this.

My stance on the spectator limit is this—the maximum allowed should, for now, be at least 50 percent. If venues are unable to socially distance at half capacity due to space restrictions, then adjust the capacity accordingly.

By June, when as President Biden said vaccination capacity is 100 percent for all Americans, venue capacity should be 100 percent.

But our politicians in Illinois seem to be stuck on 20 percent. Whether it be the Cubs, the White Sox or other outdoor venues, such as high school stadiums, 20 percent is the group think “commitment to safety” capacity number.

(Photo Credit: Alton Telegraph)

Was it from a fortune cookie or did Pritzker draw the number ‘20’ out of a leaky piñata?

(Don’t you dig all the glad-handing and ego-stroking going on Monday in Illinois between billionaire owners and state officials? All bending the knee to Pritzker and his “unwavering commitment to public health and safety” as White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf was quoted as saying in a statement. Reinsdorf is about as qualified to edify anyone on public health policy as LeBron is on humanitarianism.

Craig Anderson, Executive Director of the Illinois High School Association, said this Monday about the spectator increase:

We have been adamant in our discussions with IDPH that we believe we can safely and responsibly expand spectator guidelines without risking the general public to greater exposure to COVID-19 . This felt like a commonsense change, especially as we evaluated collegiate and pro sport spectator guidelines in the state, and are happy for the student-athletes who will be participating in IHSA outdoor sports this spring and summer, as well as for their families and friends.

As whimsical as the 20 percent number is, that’s fine for professional baseball, as the sport offers reserve seating and operational staffing to enforce the guidelines. With a six-month season (MLB goes from April until October) there is time to adjust the capacity number as we get into the summer months and herd immunity is reached.

But what about youth and high school? I don’t understand how Anderson could make a comparison with pro or college sports.

The 20 percent capacity limit creates more problems for schools than if they banned fans altogether.

At least then, schools could say they are following a binary public heath recommendation.

Zero is zero, after all.

But 20 percent? That could be 100, 500, 1,000 or 2,000 depending on the size of the stadium. There are thousands of such venues in the state (as opposed to two Major League Baseball stadiums).

How do schools determine what fans can make up the lucky 20 percent that can attend games? How can they tell when capacity is reached? By using the eye test?

Almost all high school stadiums have seated grandstands. Administrators have a pretty good idea how many people can fit onto benches. But the ancillary areas around the field—in front of the grandstands, behind the end zone, standing room only zones, how those spaces are filled can only be known by rough estimates.

We are rapidly approach mid-March and there are schools that never figured out (or chose not to) the 50 spectator rule for basketball.

How is 20 percent going to work out?

For some, just fine. For others, they won’t want the hassle.

For the don’t-want-the-hassle types, the random number is akin to a permission slip to continue a trend of spectator suppression, with school officials choosing to low ball the capacity limit rather than manage the ramped up operational logistics that allowing more fans will force.

It’s one thing to quell fan attendance for a 15-game season inside an indoor gym when the temperature outside is below freezing. It’s entirely another thing to do so in an outdoor venue, when temperatures could be in the 50’s and 60’s (if we’re lucky), with thousands of open square feet and when football, a sport that hasn’t been played in cities and towns across Illinois in 16 months, is the attraction.

Parents and fans are not going to put up with it. They shouldn’t.

School administrators have a little less than two weeks to figure this out (week 1 of football is March 19). Anything less than adoption of the full capacity allowed under updated public health protocols demands a data-driven explanation. Anecdotes or ‘estimates’ will not do. Schools must do a better job explaining decisions. Unclear or hazy reasons for keeping fans away this spring will lead to parking lot confrontations.

Campus security are not military police. But they might be forced to act hawkishly at stadium entrances with fans who refuse to accept they are not one of the ‘20 percenters.’

For administrators, who rather than let objective statistical analysis drive decision-making and instead run scared and let personal anxieties influence policy, shame on them.

But most of the shame here is on Pritzker and his public health servants.

Abundance of caution is no longer an acceptable posture. It never was, not in the heavy-handed way Pritzker has interpreted what is ‘safe’ for Illinois since the outset of Covid last March.

By making the spectator limit the same for a 1,000-seat capacity high school stadium as that for a billion-dollar sports franchise with incalculable resources, it’s the latest example of Pritzker’s preference for political sovereignty over benevolent citizenship.

Once again, kids and families in Illinois are casualties of his oafish overreach.