Scrutable

The government, for reasons best known to themselves, have decided that “elite” sports are to be treated differently from other sports. This means that Donington Park, which is so big that 10,000 spectators would look lost, can’t open this weekend for the BTCC but was fine for Historic GT racing two weeks ago.
https://news.donington-park.co.uk/msv-a ... -park.aspx

I suspect I won’t be able to use my tickets for BSB at Donington the weekend after so I am annoyed more than I might be. Seriously, why Is “elite” a banning criteria?

And most people will arrive there with their own socially-distance transport method wearing full head masks.

Is "elite" (I infer "posh") actually the criterion, or is that just a label and the real criteria are other things like how many people need to be present in the pits area and how will they operate in a socially distanced way, how will X number of people use Y number of toilets, that kind of thing.

I don't know. I'm curious though. I do know that the biggest concerns about getting football started again wasn't putting 22 people on a pitch so much as working out the absolute minimum number of people who needed to be in the stadium, using its facilities, and still get the game broadcast.

Grumble wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:51 am

The government, for reasons best known to themselves, have decided that “elite” sports are to be treated differently from other sports. This means that Donington Park, which is so big that 10,000 spectators would look lost, can’t open this weekend for the BTCC but was fine for Historic GT racing two weeks ago.
https://news.donington-park.co.uk/msv-a ... -park.aspx

I suspect I won’t be able to use my tickets for BSB at Donington the weekend after so I am annoyed more than I might be. Seriously, why Is “elite” a banning criteria?

Something to do with "elite" sports attracting fans from the general public whereas for non-elite sports basically it's just their friends and family showing up?

shpalman wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:51 am

Grumble wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:51 am

The government, for reasons best known to themselves, have decided that “elite” sports are to be treated differently from other sports. This means that Donington Park, which is so big that 10,000 spectators would look lost, can’t open this weekend for the BTCC but was fine for Historic GT racing two weeks ago.
https://news.donington-park.co.uk/msv-a ... -park.aspx

I suspect I won’t be able to use my tickets for BSB at Donington the weekend after so I am annoyed more than I might be. Seriously, why Is “elite” a banning criteria?

Something to do with "elite" sports attracting fans from the general public whereas for non-elite sports basically it's just their friends and family showing up?

There are plenty of enthusiasts who go to historic meetings and the like. But crowds will be smaller for sure. However MSV (the owners of half the major tracks in England) were limiting numbers and not allowing on the day sales. Honestly, in a space the size of a motorsports track, there is ample room for spacing. Just close the grandstands - hardly anyone sits in those anyway.

There's loads of space for a crowd to stand well apart while spectating but the issues are going to be around bottlenecks for access/egress, catering, toilets and the like. Plus I'd guess a historic racer would turn up with one or two pals as pitcrew; rather fewer than a BTCC team.

They've handled the snooker well, so far (don't know about next weeks competition).

Bung all the players, officials etc in the venue for a week or so to check them out. No multi-table layout. Players distancing while playing. And NO audience.

I like it, you can watch the match without all the gobby audience members being a distraction.

I can totally agree with locking the audience out of an indoor game like snooker.

I take Martin’s point about pinch points/bottlenecks but I honestly think the measures in place were good, starting with limiting numbers. Whether a sport is “elite” or not bears little relation to how risky having an audience is.

Could it be to do with minimising economic fallout? The organizations behind "elite" sports are presumably better able to take the hit.

I don't think many of the UK government's rules are about viral transmission. They're about politics and economics.