Miami Heat become the first pro sports team to ask for proof of vaccination


Miami Heat become the first pro sports team to ask for proof of vaccination, offering CDC-verified fans their own entrance and section with relaxed distancing guidelines

  • The Heat will be the first team to require proof of vaccination from some fans
  • Fans who can prove they are vaccinated will be granted access to a separate entrance and will be allowed to sit in sections with relaxed distancing guidelines 
  • There is no electronic verification; only the CDC vaccination card is required
  • Unvaccinated fans will still be allowed entry, provided they allow themselves to be sniffed by a COVID-19 detecting dog or consent to a rapid coronavirus test 
  • Masks will still be required, even for the vaccinated fans, but social distancing rules will be slightly relaxed for the 450 or so fans in the two specified sections 

About 450 vaccinated fans will be given their own entrance and sections at Miami Heat games beginning Thursday, as the NBA franchise becomes the first professional sports team to request proof of the injection prior to entry.

The Heat announced plans in March to open two sections in their lower bowl only for fully vaccinated fans starting with Thursday’s home game against Golden State. They are the first major American professional sports team to reveal such a plan, though other NBA clubs are believed to be working on similar measures.

Unvaccinated fans will still be granted entry, provided they allow themselves to be sniffed by a COVID-19 detecting dog or consent to a rapid coronavirus test. Masks will still be required, even for the vaccinated fans, but social distancing rules will be slightly relaxed for the 450 or so vaccinated fans who show their CDC vaccination card at the gate.

About 450 vaccinated fans will be given their own entrance and sections at Miami Heat games beginning Thursday, as the NBA franchise becomes the first professional sports team require proof of the injection prior to entry

About 450 vaccinated fans will be given their own entrance and sections at Miami Heat games beginning Thursday, as the NBA franchise becomes the first professional sports team require proof of the injection prior to entry

Unvaccinated fans will still be allowed entry, provided they allow themselves to be sniffed by a COVID-19 detecting dog or consent to a rapid coronavirus test. Masks will still be required, even for the vaccinated fans, but social distancing rules will be slightly relaxed for the 450 or so vaccinated fans who show their CDC vaccination card at the gate

Unvaccinated fans will still be allowed entry, provided they allow themselves to be sniffed by a COVID-19 detecting dog or consent to a rapid coronavirus test. Masks will still be required, even for the vaccinated fans, but social distancing rules will be slightly relaxed for the 450 or so vaccinated fans who show their CDC vaccination card at the gate 

The Heat are devoting two sections for the fully vaccinated fans, where pods of groups will be separated by just one seat. Those fans will be admitted through a separate gate and required to show their Centers for Disease Control vaccination card, or proof thereof, along with valid identification. Fans would have to have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days to be eligible to be in those sections.

‘We are a business that has two decades dealing with verifying where people are sitting, if they’re in the right place,’ Matthew Jafarian, executive vice president of business strategy, told The Wall Street Journal. ‘We’ve been dealing with fraudulent tickets, we’ve been checking people’s IDs for alcohol.

‘But nobody’s done this before. And so we’re going to learn a lot.’

The NBA told teams in March that such sections would be allowed, under very specific conditions and in accordance with local and state health and safety guidelines. 

If any of the sections provided by teams include seats within 30 feet of the court, fans in those seats will have to take a PCR test two days prior to the game or an approved antigen test on game day.

‘You’re already getting a sense that things are starting to change and go in a much more positive direction,’ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said on March 23. ‘Just the environment in our building, I remember those first couple games we had at the beginning of the year when there was literally nobody here, that was an eerie experience.’

Miami has allowed a small number of fans to attend games for the past several weeks, plus has had virus-detecting dogs at entrances this season. 

The Heat are also one of four teams – New Orleans, Atlanta and Portland are the others, with Blazers coach Terry Stotts saying Tuesday that 13 players have received the first dose – to publicly acknowledge in recent days that some players and staff members have started the vaccination process.

‘Things are moving,’ Spoelstra said. ‘All of us can’t wait until we get our building full again, and same thing for other arenas.’

By NBA rules for the vaccinated-only sections, children not yet eligible to receive the vaccine would not be permitted even if with parents or guardians who have been vaccinated. Teams are also being encouraged to have dedicated concession and restroom areas for the vaccinated fans, and make efforts to limit any chance for those fans to commingle with others inside the arena.

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