SaskTel Center is welcoming music and sports fans back to their space with public health measures in place due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The executive director of the Saskatoon venue, Scott Ford, said he was impressed with how well the screening of Eric Church’s recent concert on October 23 went.
“The province of Saskatchewan has a public health order in place that requires proof of (double) vaccination or a negative test to attend events supported by photo identification, and there is a mandatory mask policy,” Ford said.
“We’re going to enforce those up to a T. We’re going to make sure the events are safe. I have received many comments from many people, including Eric Church with over 13,000 fans in the building.
“It’s been over 18 months since we had a huge touring show in the building like Eric Church and this concert… basically, it got everyone back to work.
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Ford said the key to future live events is a vaccination test or a negative test.
“If you do an excellent job of evaluating all of those people, certainly ‘do you eliminate the risk entirely?’ Perhaps there is a small percentage of risk that still exists. Very small, ”Ford said.
“There may be someone standing there drinking and singing this song, but I think what I found with this audience is that all the customers who attended this concert (of the Church) were well aware of the policies.
“They knew the public health order very well. They have done their due responsibility and made sure to get vaccinated so they can go back to doing live events and doing things again. All over the country, all over Canada right now, live events are taking place. “
As of Wednesday afternoon, no COVID-19 outbreak had been declared at the SaskTel Center. Additionally, Ford said no one was fined for health code violations at last weekend’s event.
“There were many clients who were denied entry because they did not have proof of vaccination backed up by a photo ID or a combination of both. And we provide a lot of rebates for that, ”Ford said.
“We also had several evictions. I think 10 to 12 evictions were carried out with people who simply did not comply with the mandatory mask policy.
“But definitely (with) the vaccination test, we’re getting better at that… the staff is doing an excellent job of administering that and then admitting clients into the building. And I think it was a learning curve for us, and we’re going to keep improving on those admissions parts for those events. “
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SaskTel Center is scheduled to host the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Canadian Elite Cup Series of Canada on Friday and Saturday with proof of complete vaccination, or a negative test result required within 72 hours of entry.
The 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials are also scheduled for November 20-28 in Saskatoon to decide Canada’s four-player teams for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. All seats at SaskTel Center are available for testing.
“And with the (Western Hockey League) (Saskatoon) Blades … we’ve had four games so far, they’ve gone fantastically and we hope the PBR is like this, as well as when we have the Canadian curling tryouts here in November. “Said Ford.
On Wednesday, American country music singer-songwriter Dierks Bentley announced new dates in the arena behind the winter tour of his “Beers on Me” concert tour, which included the SaskTel Center on January 14, 2022.
According to the provincial government dashboard, Saskatchewan had 271 COVID-19 patients in the hospital and the death toll rose from five to 832 on Wednesday. The province’s seven-day average of daily new infections dropped to 235.
Saskatchewan’s active infections also declined, now numbering 2,440. The Saskatoon area leads the province with 606 cases.
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