Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the J.League, Japan's professional soccer league, set up a joint liaison council in March to seek advice from experts on measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to players and spectators.
Ahead of other professional sports, the NPB started games without spectators on June 19, about three months later than the original date planned for the beginning of the season. After that, in accordance with government policy, baseball stadiums began accepting a maximum of 5,000 spectators on July 10, with the maximum being raised to 50% of a stadium's capacity on Sept. 19.
NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito expressed the NPB's willingness to cooperate with organizers of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics on measures against the novel coronavirus by saying, "We're going to offer all the experience and know-how we have, and everything we can do to help."
Under the NPB's guidelines for prevention of infection, people with a temperature of 37.5 C or higher at the time of admission, or have symptoms of a fever, will not be allowed to enter a stadium, and the sale of food and drinks is to be restricted to certain locations and times. To avoid congestion, the guidelines also stipulate that spectators must be divided into several groups that take turns to enter and exit a stadium. It also introduces examples of how spectators can cheer and services for fans.
On Sept. 21, NPB and the J.League jointly called on spectators to wear a mask, clap their hands to cheer instead of shouting, refrain from talking, and keep as much distance as possible between one another while eating and drinking.
The joint message also said, "The real support is to not infect anybody at a stadium. The actions of each and every one of you [spectators] will protect the culture of sports."
In an apparent experiment to test safety prior to the Tokyo Games,Yokohama Stadium, the main venue for baseball and softball at the Games, will increase the number of spectators to 80% (about 27,000) of the stadium's capacity of 34,000 at three matches between the Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Hanshin Tigers to be held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1.
High-definition cameras will be used during the experiment to measure the flow of crowds as they enter and exit the venue and the ratio of people wearing masks compared to those who don't. Supercomputer "Fugaku" will also be used to examine the spread of droplets as spectators cheer vocally, and eat and drink. This is likely to be used as a basis for easing restrictions on the number of spectators allowed at various events.
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