For the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Bay Battalion will have zero capacity limits to attend an OHL hockey game.
That became official on March 1 when Ontario lifted many of its COVID-19 restrictions including capacity limits in arenas across the province.
That's good news for Mike Griffin, president of the North Bay Battalion.
He says it has been very challenging working with the fan base from dealing with capacity limits that have gone from no fans in January 2022, to 500, and 1000 since the season began in October of 2021.
"The biggest positive is our season ticket holders now know that they don't have to worry about a phone call saying,'by the way capacity has been reduced so we can't admit you into the building,' and that, for us is pretty important, especially with six or seven weeks left in the regular season," noted Griffin.
"We are very optimistic around here about how far this team could go and get the full opportunity to have people in the building gets us excited even more."
Griffin says he is excited to add the seventh man back into the Battalion arsenal.
"This is a hard building to play in when we have our fan support," admitted Griffin.
"This team has shown when fully healthy there are a lot of reasons for people to come out and cheer."
Turning away fans is something Griffin hopes he never has to do again.
"Let's face it, every team in the league had to deal with it and that means you are not going to have everybody happy," said Griffisn.
"It did not matter how you did it, whether it was a lottery situation or whatever, when you are only allowed 1,000 then you are down to 500, it was really tough and not just here in North Bay. Every market has been through it. We do our best to make our fans happy. We open the gates 30 minutes earlier than normal which costs us more money but we needed to that to try and get people through the QR code before the ticketing and I am relieved the QR code is no longer necessary. It allows us to be much closer to normal like two years ago."
Griffin says the 100 per cent capacity which begins today will allow them to open all their concessions for the first time this season. It will also give them a chance to re-hire many staff members who were laid off due to the lack of work during the arena restrictions.
The only current restriction that will stay in place is masks will need to be worn when not eating or drinking.
"I felt bad for our part time staff, whether they were ticket takers, ushers, concession staff, hostesses; all those opportunities were gone and now we just started to come back and believe it or not it will still be a challenge in the food and beverage side," said Griffin.
"We are not different from the restaurants that a lot of people have left that industry and that puts a lot of stress on us in terms of our cooks and for them to up their game due to the increase in fans."
Griffin also does not want to see another OHL game played without fans.
"In that empty building it was really like the twilight zone trying to create some atmosphere with no one in the building," he said.
The Battalion can celebrate the lifted restrictions this Thursday night when the North Bay Battalion host the Sudbury Wolves.
