The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) has announced that the start of the 2020/21 regular season will have attendance capped at 150 spectators. The league made the announcement in a tweet at 11:10pm on Sunday, November 1st.
The Estevan Bruins released the following statement upon learning the news:
To our Season Ticket Holders, Corporate Sponsors, and Fans:
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) has announced the start of the 2020/21 regular season will be capped at a maximum of 150 spectators. The current attendance cap was mandated by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (“SHA”) and Ministry of Health which advised the SJHL that the cap will be reviewed again prior to the start of week two of the season.
We are disappointed that the SJHL’s proposal to begin the season at a higher cap, subject to observing social distancing and other health and safety protocols, was not approved. That would have enabled us to accommodate all of our season ticket holders, which stand at about 600. This had been the communication to our teams until November 1st, and now each team will be adjusting to the new attendance cap.
With this drastic drop in attendance, 150 spectators are equal to about 6% of capacity at Affinity Place, we will now have to completely re-evaluate our plan for season ticket holders this season. We ask for your patience while we figure this out. Please understand that our goal is to make sure you get what you paid for.
To our current Corporate Sponsors, thank you for putting your financial support behind us as it has sustained our operations for the last two months and will allow us to begin the regular season. We ask that you continue to trust our business office with your sponsorship as we will do whatever we can to make sure your company is getting the value you deserve for supporting our club through these ever-changing times. For any businesses not currently involved as sponsors, we still have marketing opportunities available and will be relying on more support from our corporate community to keep our organization viable for this season and beyond.
We ask for your continued patience with us as we navigate through the changes. For now, join us in cheering on our players and coaches as they get ready to play meaningful games that they’ve been preparing for since early September.
We will provide an update for everyone in the coming days. #GoBruinsGo
