GIO Stadium Canberra will no longer host 6,000 Raiders fans at this weekend’s clash against the Melbourne Storm, after four COVID-19 cases were reported in the Territory over the past two days (8-9 July).
The jump in crowd attendance was part of Stage 3 of the COVID-19 Easing of Restrictions Roadmap, which has now been put on hold.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced the pause in moving to Stage 3 restrictions this afternoon, which were due to come into effect from midday tomorrow (Friday).
“For the footy fans, the number that can attend the Raiders game on the weekend will be 1,500 as it was last weekend,” he said.
The previous Raiders game on Friday 3 July had admitted 1,500 fans, before Mr Barr announced the increase of crowd attendance on Monday this week.
The Raiders had sold about 1,000 tickets in its first release on 7 July but had paused ticket sales of the second release after the first three COVID-19 cases were announced yesterday.
The club released a statement on its website this afternoon, announcing the remainder of tickets would be available to members only from 4pm today.
“Members who have already purchased tickets during the pre-sale will be able to use those tickets for Saturday night, while the remaining tickets will be made available to all Raiders 2020 Members at 4pm today (Thursday 9 July) through Ticketek,” it said.
“Once the allocation reaches 1,500 sales, the tickets will be taken off-sale.”
A Raiders spokesperson confirmed there was only about 100 tickets left until the 1,500-person cap was reached.
The news is disappointing from non-members of the club, as the previous ticketing arrangement would have opened remaining tickets up to the general public.
