Fans hoping to watch the Mavericks in American Airlines Center will have to wait.
The team announced Tuesday in an email to season-ticket holders that it will start playing regular-season games without fans in attendance because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Mavericks provided no timetable for returning crowds to the arena but said they will continue to work with Dallas County, AAC and NBA officials to “determine the best possible scenario” for a safe option.
The Mavericks, who in February broke the NBA’s record for most consecutive sellouts, haven’t hosted a crowd since March 11, the night the NBA announced its indefinite suspension due to the pandemic in the middle of their game against the Nuggets.
Six NBA teams plan to allow limited attendance this winter, but local and national health experts said even strict health protocols in arenas won’t be fully pandemic-proof, especially as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise across the U.S.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get to the way where things were, where we feel comfortable and we don’t feel like ‘Hey, there’s a big risk,’ until there’s a very successful vaccine and most people have gotten it,” said Dr. Diana Cervantes, director of the master in public health epidemiology program at the University of North Texas.
“Until then, it’s always going to be a risk.”
Before the Mavericks’ fan-free preseason game in the AAC last week, several players, including Luka Doncic, talked about the oddity and disappointment of playing in empty, cavernous arenas.
As the Mavericks begin a season with high expectations, the lack of home-court advantage will be even more noticeable, starting Dec. 30 with their home opener against the Hornets.
But the chance of rapidly increasing the spread of COVID-19 by allowing thousands of fans to sit, yell, eat and drink in an indoor environment — even if distanced — is too great a risk for health experts to consider viable.
“I would not support any indoor gathering unless those fans had either been A, vaccinated, or B, tested on-site,” said Dr. Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College at Emory University and a sports injury consultant
Experts also warn that fans’ pregame and postgame activities, such as going out to restaurants and bars or socializing with people outside their homes, could be a significant source of spread.
So could the travel of fans in NBA markets without fan attendance to arenas that allow spectators.
In the first half of the season, the Mavericks will play in four of the six NBA cities currently allowing fans: Houston (Jan. 4), vs. Toronto in Tampa Bay (Jan. 18), Utah (Jan. 27 and 29) and Orlando (March 1).
“At an extreme, if you had played the entire season, including the playoffs, with no fans at all,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Monday, “that would be a decrease of roughly 40% in our revenue.”
The Cowboys, whose AT&T Stadium is in Tarrant County, have led the NFL in 2020 attendance by a wide margin, averaging 30,000 fans a game. County officials have said they cannot conclude whether any COVID-19 positive individuals who attended a Cowboys game this season contracted the virus at the stadium.
The Stars, who also play in the AAC, plan to have reduced-capacity crowds of about 5,000 people when the NHL season begins in January.
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