The Kelowna Rockets didn’t play a game on Tuesday, but they still ended up with a major victory.
B.C.’s top doctor, Bonnie Henry, announced the lifting of some COVID-19 restrictions across the province, including a return to full-capacity crowds for the Rockets and the WHL’s four other B.C. Division teams.
And while the win won’t help with the team’s record, it should bolster their bottom line.
“We can go 50 per cent to 100 per cent,” said Rockets general manager Bruce Hamilton.
“It’s going to be interesting if the people are going to come back in droves or not.”
It’s a question that hangs over the Rockets’ revenue stream after they had to play the majority of this season’s games to half-capacity crowds.
“Monday will be a good test of that, it’s Family Day, it’s traditionally a sold-out game, so it will be interesting to see what the response is there,” Hamilton said.
“We just want to get something going in the building, a vibe in here that is a lot better than when there is 3,400 in here, is when there is 5,500 in here.”
This is the second time this season that crowd restrictions have been lifted. On Dec. 1, the Interior Health Authority allowed the Prince George Cougars, the Kamloops Blazers and the Rockets to return to full-capacity crowds.
But in order to drill down on Omicron, another restriction on crowd sizes was announced on Dec. 21.
Financially speaking, the ability to return to a full crowd is extremely important for the team.
This week the Rockets added another six games to their schedule to make up for COVID-19-postponed matches, three of which are home games.
This means that Kelowna will now be able to sell 2,100 extra tickets to their 12 remaining home games.
“We’ve been operating on 50 per cent revenue and for us, it’s still 100 per cent cost, and all that adds up,” Hamilton said.
“But now we have a chance to get something going for the last third of the hockey season.”
Hamilton hopes that with the Rockets playing exciting hockey and winning (26-12-1-3), fans will return and support the team.
Kelowna is in Prince George this weekend for games Friday and Saturday night.