"Venue entry changed dramatically after 9/11; a similar shift may be coming"

The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan explores the future of sporting events when fans can return and considers what hurdles there may be to attendance.

For anyone putting on an event, some of the notions are surely daunting and while professional golf may not face some of the seating issues other leagues will be forced to consider. But admittance will likely lead to a new kind of security featuring thermal cameras, digital certification and other measures that will likely require significant investment.

From Kaplan’s item (not behind The Athletic’s normal paywall):

“Whether it’s a digital certificate or a wristband, that typically sounds really bad, but this has actually been done before,” said Mark Miller, CEO of TicketSocket, an event management and ticketing platform that works with sporting events, food and beer festivals, races and obstacle runs. “Certain kinds of events you have had to have had a health check … to provide certain records because otherwise, you were a liability.”

Miller is referring not to fans, but participants in endurance contests, whether for Spartan races or marathons. But the concept of liability is similar. A marathon organizer does not want to let physically unfit competitors into the race. Now, does a team or event want a sick fan who could infect others?

There are of course complicated logistical and privacy issues. How and when do fans buying tickets send over their medical proof? And what if they don’t want to? Surely there are medical and personal privacy laws that come into play, though in a post-pandemic world such laws might come under scrutiny.