Indy Eleven drew nearly 5,000 masked fans to Lucas Oil Stadium
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — On Saturday, the Indy Eleven soccer team hit the restart button on its 2020 season inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
For the first time in over 120 days, fans were back inside the downtown venue and live sports officially returned to Indianapolis.
However, to walk through the gates at Lucas Oil Stadium anytime soon, visitors will need to know the protocol have changed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Step one: You’ll need to mask up.
Step two: Be prepared for a temperature check.
Finally, fans will be sat in seats that are socially distanced.
Indy Eleven fan Chris Swales said, “It’s challenging, it’s hard, but, for us, we thought it was important. We’re about to score, oh. For me, I just felt I had to be here. I had to show they were doing their best as safe as they. I think it’s incredibly safe. We’re all behaving well. We’re all keeping our masks on. We’re all separating from each other. So, you can’t ask for any more. It’s as safe as it could possibly be.”
Nearly 5,000 tickets were sold for the Indy Eleven’s home opener. That’s the largest number of people in an indoor venue in Indiana since the COVID-19 outbreak, but, in a stadium that holds 70,000, just a few thousand was easy to manage.
“One of the things about Lucas Oil Stadium – obviously it’s a huge stadium, so people are able to spread out for safety – but another thing is, with the roof, the noise stays in, so it was actually a great atmosphere,” said Eleven head coach Martin Rennie.
There were time-staggered stadium entrance times for fans, assigned seats, and marked lines to maintain social distancing. The list of do’s and don’ts was lengthy, but it made Jordan Green and other fans feel comfortable enough to attend and adapt.
“Usually when we score, everyone is hugging each other, getting real close, so not having that is a little bit different. The point is the team scores, we’re here to support this team, and that’s our number one priority,” Green said.
Patrick Williams, another Indy Eleven fan, said, “I think the energy level has actually been pretty positive. We have a couple guys behind us that have absolutely been screaming their hearts out. People still have heart for the team and absolutely love Indy Eleven.”
Now the Indy Eleven and USL Championship are the first and only professional league to allow hometown fans to attend. This came as the team aimed to start a trend of resuming live sports.
Williams said, “I want to see a victory here. It’s super safe, and they’ve really taken care of the community in putting people back out here. So come out, cheer. If you still feel a little unsafe, watch from home, still cheer them on, still support Indianapolis, support Indy Eleven.”
Green said, “It’s great seeing us and seeing us being one of the first sports back, and seeing how they do, how they handle everything, and hopefully everything goes well and we can get all of our other sports back here, because we are a sports city. That’s where we’re focused on, that’s what we love to see.”
Coach Rennie said, “It’s nice to be starting that process of hopefully starting to get back to normal by having a sporting event with people here, and it’s great for us to be in that position.”
The Eleven won their Saturday match. The team’s next game will be Wednesday, July 29, against Hartford athletic at Lucas Oil Stadium. It will air on MY-INDY 23 and ESPN+.