The Winnipeg Jets have announced that they will allow 500 fully vaccinated healthcare workers in when the team begins its series against the Montreal Canadiens. This is very similar to what the Toronto Maple Leafs did in their Game 7 loss, but with slightly fewer total people allowed. The team announced the news Tuesday evening.
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) June 1, 2021
Some Winnipeg Jets Fans Present For Games 1 & 2
While this is still not a huge number of fans, it is still far more than have watched a game live in Winnipeg since the 2019-20 season ended prematurely. The Jets will surely appreciate any emotional boost they can get from the Manitoba faithful as they square off against a Montreal team that pulled off a huge comeback against the more talented Leafs. We can’t discount any emotions those fans bring to the arena.
This move also continues the trend of honouring healthcare workers who have battled the pandemic since the beginning. Canada remains stricter and less vaccinated than the United States, but the provincial governments are still finding ways to boost morale. It is likely that these first fans are merely the vanguard of more to come either this year or in 2021-22.
What This Means
Again, we must highlight that this is a small, short-term move. 500 fans isn’t nearly what Quebec allowed for home games in Montreal. It also much fewer than what the U.S. is allowing for many of its sporting events. However, every day means more people vaccinated. More people vaccinated gives Canadian governments the opportunity to let more fans into games. While these tickets will be given away for free, eventually teams want to get back to selling tickets. More fans in games means more revenue, which is a thing teams have lacked for over a year now. These symbolic gestures are the first stages in reintroducing normalcy to a sport that has lack such a thing for some time. We should still applaud these moves even if we can’t return to the previous version of hockey fandom just yet.
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