RALEIGH — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced Wednesday, Feb. 24 that restrictions on crowd limits at high school sporting events will be eased via a new executive order that will allow outdoor venues to operate at 30 percent capacity effective Friday, Feb. 26 at 5 p.m.
Under the new order, the outdoor venue limit of 30 percent capacity trumps the previous limit of 100 people. Additionally, indoor venues can also fill up to 30 percent capacity, but venues with fewer than 5,000 seats are limited to 250 total spectators.
Previously, only 25 people were allowed in for indoor events and 100 were slated to be allowed in for outside events.
The shift comes after recent pressure from parents, coaches, athletes and lawmakers across the state. Earlier this month, Senate Republicans introduced Senate Bill 116 dubbed “Let them play and let us watch” which was sponsored by Republican Sen. Todd Johnson.
Senate Bill 116 would allow up to 40 percent capacity at outdoor events with no mention of indoor events.
House Bill 128 was filed in the State House earlier this week, which would require schools to allow at least 25 percent capacity at all sporting events and give schools an option to increase capacity to as much as 50 percent.
Mike Newsome, head football coach at Kannapolis A.L. Brown High School, went public earlier this month with his frustration over the restrictions in an interview with WECT News 6.
“The only thing that we’ve got that makes money for high school athletics in most school systems is the ticket sales,” Newsome said in the interview. “And we’re limited to just 100 tickets? That won’t even pay for the officials. Every game we have, we go in the red if we can’t sell but 100 tickets.”
Cooper described the signing of the new order as “a show of confidence and trust” but added that work still remains toward ultimately putting COVID-19 in the rearview mirror.
“We’re still far from the end of this pandemic, especially with the vaccine in short supply, millions still to be vaccinated and new variants in the mix,” Cooper said. “Easing these restrictions will only work if we keep protecting ourselves from this deadly virus. The order and our own common sense says that health and safety protocols must remain in place.”