Canberra Raiders have paused ticket sales to their weekend clash against the Melbourne Storm, after three COVID-19 cases were recorded in Canberra for the first time since 7 June.
The cases were announced on Wednesday afternoon (8 July), and have been linked to a Melbourne hotspot.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr had previously announced on Monday (6 July), that GIO Stadium Canberra would be increasing spectator attendance to 25% of its seated capacity.
There were 5,974 ticketed seats available for purchase.
A Raiders spokesperson confirmed about 1,000 tickets were sold in the first release of tickets on 7 July, to Canberra Raiders members who had not attended the 3 July clash against the Dragons.
The second round of tickets had gone on sale at 2pm today (8 July) for all other Raiders members.
By 2.37pm today, the club announced the following statement on its website:
“Due to the current situation in the ACT regarding COVID-19, the Raiders and GIO Stadium have paused ticket sales for Saturday night’s match until they receive further health advice,” the statement said.
“Once the club has further information to communicate to members and fans, we will provide an update.”
Any remaining tickets were set to go on sale to the public from 9am on Thursday morning.
The Territory was set to further ease COVID-19 restrictions from midday this Friday (10 July), however Mr Barr stated today that was unlikely “until we have a better understanding of the Victorian outbreak and the impact of that on the ACT”.
While the next stage of restrictions were flagged as minor; smaller venues were set to have increased capacity and 24-hour gyms would be able to accommodate 25 people when unstaffed.
Saunas and bathhouses would have also been authorised to open, as well as nightclubs, but only to function as bars with no dance floors.
