ST. LOUIS, Mo. – St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson held a coronavirus briefing on Facebook this afternoon. She addressed the upcoming baseball season after Major League Baseball announced that games will be played at Busch Stadium starting in late July.
The mayor addressed FOX 2 reporter Andy Banker’s question about the return of Cardinals baseball. He asked if fans go to Busch Stadium when baseball returns. She said that it seems unlikely that fans would be allowed to attend games.
The Cardinals’ ticket director is still hopeful for socially distanced fans in the stands, perhaps up to 25 percent capacity.
The city has reviewed the Cardinal’s extensive plans to play at Busch Stadium without fans. They have their own guidelines to keep players safe and disinfect the stadium.
Fox 2 has learned the fan ban is not written in stone. Ballpark Village has had $260 million in development in the Phase 2 expansion over the past year. You may not recognize a lot of it now.
There’s also hope Ballpark Village will be able to use a portion of its close to 340 rooftop seats for people to watch the games in the stadium across the street. Meanwhile, PBR St. Louis reopens Friday at Ballpark Village. The rest of the attractions will reopen in phases over the next two to three weeks.
Major League Baseball issued a 60-game schedule Tuesday night that will start July 23 or 24 in empty ballparks as the sport tries to push ahead.
Players will start reporting for the resumption of training on July 1. Each team will play 10 games against each of its four division rivals and four games vs. each of the five clubs in the corresponding division in the other league, according to details obtained by The Associated Press.
Mayor Krewson also addressed several other topics during the Facebook live session. She said that she went to Jefferson City this morning to testify before the gaming commission in support of Lumiere Casino’s license this morning. The committee voted to renew the license.
The city is not currently reporting new COVID-19 numbers. They received some confusing data and are working to sort it out. As of Monday, there are 2,319 coronavirus cases and 154 deaths in the city.
Playgrounds at parks in the city may reopen in a few weeks. They are still consulting the health department on how they should proceed with a plan.
