Plan in place for Miami Marlins home spring training games to have fans. The details
Major League Baseball spring training games are scheduled to begin in just more than a month — and the Miami Marlins will most likely have a limited number of fans in attendance.
Jupiter’s Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, the spring training home of the Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, announced Monday it plans to have reduced capacity crowds at spring training this year as it begins its reopening plan in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tickets will be sold in groups of two, four and six. Those seating pods are scattered throughout the stadium. The stadium will also not accept cash at the ballpark.
Tickets for spring training games go on sale first to 2020 Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium Season Ticket Holders on Feb. 1. Cardinals and Marlins season ticket holders will get their first chance to buy Spring Training tickets Feb. 8. Group buyers and those who previously bought mini-plan packages are next in the pecking order, available to buy tickets on Feb. 15. All remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public on Feb. 18. Bleacher seats start at $23.
Tickets can only be purchased online through Marlins.com, Cardinals.com or RogerDeanChevroletStadium.com.
Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to camp Feb. 17. The Marlins and the Cardinals play the first game at the stadium on Feb. 27 to start Grapefruit League action.
(Miami has a split-squad day scheduled for the spring training opener, with half of the team heading to Port St. Lucie that day to face the Mets.)
The stadium’s reopening plan shows that max capacity will be 1,462 fans — about 21 percent of its max crowd of 6,871. Masks will be required and tickets will be electronic. Purchases at the concessions stands and the team store will all be cashless. Suites will be limited to a maximum of 20 people who all consent to sitting together.
The news comes on the same day that the Cactus League Association in Arizona sent a letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred telling him it wishes to delay spring training due to the rising COVID-19 infection rate in Maricopa County, which is home to 15 of the league’s 30 spring training site.
The MLB Players Association wrote in a statement that it is aware of the letter sent to Manfred although it was not contacted directly.
“While we, of course, share the goals of a safe Spring Training and regular season, MLB has repeatedly assured us that it has instructed its teams to be prepared for an on time start to Spring Training and the Regular Season,” the statement reads, “and we continue to devote all our efforts to making sure that that takes place as safely as possible.”
The Marlins have not formally announced if they plan to have fans at Marlins Park for the 2021 season, but CEO Derek Jeter said in December that they are anticipating allowing fans in at some point.
“We are preparing for that,” Jeter said, “but we’re going to make sure that when they do enter the ballpark that they’re very comfortable with health and safety protocols.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 3:33 PM.
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