Gov. Cooper - What's The Point Of 7% Capacity?

 A Letter to NC Public Office Inquiring About the Benefit of 7%

At this point, I believe that most people reading this article are quite familiar with the Coronavirus, aka Covid-19, pandemic. For those avid event goers (sports / concerts), you may have first felt the impacts when the NBA announced it would be cancelling its season, and then it quickly spread to school, restaurant, and concert halls being shut down.  As we have progressed through 2020, various states have opened and shut down, and then opened again.  

For those that don’t know, North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, released a statement that if things continue to improve for the state, he plans to allow outdoor event venues, capable of holding 10,000 patrons or more, to open on October 2, 2020 at 7% capacity. 

7%   ??! 

7%   ??? 

Really?? Why such a random number and how could you think that would help any? I get we all want to get back out there, but let's do some math. At 7%, for 10,000 seats, that would fill the event with 700 patrons. An average ticket for say carolina panthers is roughly $100, which would be $70,000. Now, the Panthers stadium, Bank of America Stadium, can actually hold 75,412, which at $100 per ticket would be $7,541,200 for a packed house. Now if we do 7% of that, we are looking at a capacity of 5279, which would yield a measly $527,900 in comparison. 

The concern that I see initially, to be blunt, is what's the point? Those figures are so measly that after accounting for cost of operations, is it even worth the facility owners time to coordinate an event? I mean, I understand that we all want our entertainment back, but from a business sense, 7% seems silly. Especially if we consider that the cost of operations is likely to be higher per ticket ratio due to the additional restrictions that would need to be enforced as well as signage needed produced.  

Unfortunately the article cited, https://bit.ly/2Ge3sFV,  did very little to support how Cooper’s team arrived at 7%, which may have helped clear up where their heads were at. Short of that information though, it just seems ridiculous and a random knee jerk reaction based off of politics. 

I completely understand the safety issue that would prompt a reduction in numbers, but with the lack of consistency in public policies, it feels a bit like closing the barn doors after the horses get out. If we go to a restaurant in North Carolina, we are required to wear our masks upon entry, but once seated and for the rest of the evening we get to take the masks off. Or how about the gas stations we walk into with very clear signs requiring patrons to wear facial coverings, but then you see the cashiers and other patrons clearly disregarding this requirement. And in 3 months, I have yet to come across any minimum wage employee sanitizing keypads (gas stations, grocery stores, fast food). Not to say it isn’t happening, I just personally have not seen it which could lead 1 to presume it is only happening on a very limited basis. 

If we want to protect the economy, open businesses back up and let us assume the risk as consumers. If you want to protect personal health, shut businesses down, release enforced policies, and be consistent. This half ass 7% solution is only upsetting people and feeding into the frustration already present. I would love to hear from somebody in the know as to the logic behind passing this policy, as maybe I am overlooking some benefit not expressed in the article referenced. For now though, we will continue to move forward with our Back Porch Sessions broadcasting solution to enable live concert streaming, with no capacity restrictions.