GREENSBORO, N.C. — A limited number of tickets will go on sale to allow fans to attend the 2021 ACC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The decision comes following Governor Roy Cooper’s recent announcement to increase capacity at indoor venues.
“We are pleased to be able to welcome a limited number of fans to this year’s ACC basketball tournaments,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. “We appreciate the decision by Governor Cooper and the collaboration with our institutions. Our conference has terrific partners in the Greensboro Coliseum who have worked to ensure we are able to safely include fans in the arena while maintaining our top priority, which is the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and support staff.”
The ACC said it’s currently planning for tickets to be available to the public. They have not released how many tickets or how many fans will be allowed to attend the tournament. They also haven’t released when the tickets will go on sale. However, they did recommend to keep checking with the ACC.
Despite the actual number of fans still up in the air, business owners are ecstatic that any number of fans will be allowed in.
"We were just excited to have any event at the Coliseum and I think obviously having some fans there is even more exciting," said General Manager of Stamey's Barbecue Craver Stamey, "To have people back in Greensboro at the Coliseum and be able to serve them some Stamey's Barbeque is really really exciting. We're looking forward to it."
Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau President Henri Fourrier said it's an exciting development.
"We are so excited that folks will be able to come to the games at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex," said Fourrier, "I think people have been quarantined going on almost a year now and its an indication that the community is opening back up and becoming a little bit more ready to accept people and we’re just tickled."
Fourrier said he's part of the North Carolina Travel and Tourism Coalition, a group that sent a letter to the governor asking for some changes, so the eased restrictions didn't necessarily come as a surprise.
"All of the numbers have been going down, hospitalizations have been going down," Fourrier said, "We anticipated optimistically that he was going to make some changes in our favor and luckily he did and so I’m anxious to see what the capacity will allow."
The Greensboro Coliseum Complex has a Patron Health Initiative program that’s dedicated to keeping guests, staff, and performers safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. Face coverings will be mandatory for every person in the facility and must be worn at all times, except for when eating or drinking at your seat.
The women’s basketball tournament is scheduled for March 3-7 and the men’s tournament is March 9-13.