Colorado Rockies: How Coors Field may help the Rockies in 2021

On late Thursday night, Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post reported that the Colorado Rockies are “expected” to be cleared for limited attendance at Coors Field in 2021.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment approved a variance “pending a few adjustments” that would allow attendance to Rockies games. If it goes through, the Rockies would be the first professional sports team in the state of Colorado that would be allowed to have fans.

The amount of fans that will be allowed has yet to be determined. However, if other MLB teams are an indication, the amount could be in the 25-35 percent range, at least to start the season.

The Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds will be allowed to have 30 percent capacity as Ohio governor Mike DeWine confirmed that on Thursday. DeWine and his family have a stake in baseball as well as he and his family are the owners of the Asheville Tourists in North Carolina. They were the Rockies Single-A affiliate from 1994 through last season.

The Milwaukee Brewers submitted a proposal to the Milwaukee Health Department for 35 percent capacity and the Arizona Diamondbacks submitted a proposal that would allow 25 percent capacity for their games.

As long as the approved capacity is somewhere at or above that 25 to 35 percent capacity, Coors Field will help the Rockies in at least one way: they will be able to have more fans.

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That’s because the Rockies have the second-largest stadium in the major leagues by seating capacity. Coors Field, the third-oldest stadium in the National League, is only topped by the second-oldest stadium in the NL, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, by seating capacity. And considering that the state of California is still, arguably, shut down more than nearly any other state, the Dodgers may not be able to have any fans to start.

In fact, as of this publication, nearly every California county is in their “purple” range, which is the state’s second-highest rating (the highest is a “stay at home” order, which was recently just removed in most counties). However, nearly all indoor activities are closed (including all schools in the purple counties) and no attendance is allowed at sporting events. Los Angeles would have to go down two levels to “yellow” to have 20 percent capacity unless they also receive a variance.

For the Rockies, the 25 to 35 percent capacity range would mean that the Rockies would be able to have between 12,611 and 17,655 fans in attendance, if approved by the CDPHE.

While some fans will stay away from Coors Field in 2021 in protest of the Rockies front office and ownership and/or for the regulations that would have to be followed, there are still plenty of fans that would be willing to see baseball in person again in LoDo for the first time in the new decade.

Editor’s Note: On Friday, the Rockies released a statement that they were approved to have 12,500, which is just under 25 percent of Coors Field’s capacity.