Even in a worst-case scenario, Ascot believes at least 4,000 people will be attending. It is understood that priority would be given to owners, hospitality box holders, and Royal Ascot Racing Club members. If any capacity is left, the remainder would be offered to the general public.
If Government Coronavirus targets are met, England will see a further easing of restrictions on May 17, allowing spectators to many courses for the first time this year.
Step three allows for: some larger performances and sporting events in indoor venues will be allowed with 1,000 people, and in outdoor venues with a capacity of 4,000. In the largest outdoor seated venues, where crowds can be spread out, up to 10,000 people can attend.
The number of spectators allowed to attend hasn’t yet been announced due to the complexity of the process. Each venue’s capacity is determined by a government-mandated formula and must gain approval from local safety advisory groups and public health authorities. As the two main regulatory bodies, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Sports Ground Safety Authority, detail the calculations used, it’s impossible to estimate this figure yet.
Ascot’s director of racing Nick Smith said: ” We’re at 4,000 at this moment in time, we’d like it to be more and we’re trying to make approaches with 10,000 in mind if we can get there, working with the BHA and RCA to see whether that can happen.”
“We’re really playing a waiting game and until we know what our capacities are, we can’t do the simple logistical things that we want to get on with, like telling customers we have tickets for sale or don’t have tickets for sale.”
Explaining the complex process Ascot needs to go through, Smith said: “It’s worked through the central bodies of the RCA and the BHA, who are having regular conversations with DCMS and making approaches. All sports are doing the same and all sorts of venues are being allowed to do a little bit more, it’s just a question of whether we fit into their scheduling and programming.
“We’re very realistic about it – we’d hope to get there but if we don’t, we don’t.”
Nick acknowledged that 4,000 capacity would mean only a small number of tickets would be available for general sale. But, referencing recent football cup finals, in which 8,000 fans could attend, he believes spectators will make a difference, especially when last year’s event was held behind closed doors.
Saying: “Once you take owners out and once you take rollovers out, and obviously, box holders have their guaranteed access, as does the Royal Ascot Racing Club, at 4,000, there isn’t a huge amount left,” he said. “I guess we’d run some sort of a system to make it fair [who attends]. We want as many as we can get, but any crowd will make a big difference, and we appear to be at least there with 4,000. We can’t put a timescale on it, but we’ll wait as long as we practically can [to try to increase capacity].”
Due to the success of the coronavirus vaccines in England, there are hopes that even more fans could attend sporting events next month.
An England cricket Test match between New Zealand, beginning on 10 June at Edgbaston, is set to have more than 15,000 fans.
