Cheltz Fest 2021 Behind Closed Doors ?

[Faugheen_Machine]

Yep, the BBC have a link up too now.
Brilliant news, I feel like I've had a yankee up, will be going on a racecourse beano all December, have missed it so much...

Are Liverpool still in tier 3? I'm eyeing up Aintree on 5th December

[ryanh97]

Are Liverpool still in tier 3? I'm eyeing up Aintree on 5th December

Tiers to be announced Thursday FM

[Kevloaf]

I wouldn't plan a beano Ista. It's gonna be members and hospitality first, won't be many tickets left for general public surely?

I think you under estimate that mans gravitas

[Istabraq]

I wouldn't plan a beano Ista. It's gonna be members and hospitality first, won't be many tickets left for general public surely?

Yeah I'd expect members to be given priority which isn't an issue for Cheltenham after my masterstroke decision to sign up in the Summer, places like WIncanton and Plumpton rarely get more than 2000 racegoers so even allowing for a surge in interest I doubt those meetings will attract 4000 ?
That said I doubt Plumpton could host 4000 safely/distanced.

Event chance Aintree FM though it all depends on what tier areas are placed in and of course you won't be allowed to travel from a tier 3 area to a course in another tier...

[ryanh97]

Yeah I'd expect members to be given priority which isn't an issue for Cheltenham after my masterstroke decision to sign up in the Summer, places like WIncanton and Plumpton rarely get more than 2000 racegoers so even allowing for a surge in interest I doubt those meetings will attract 4000 ?
That said I doubt Plumpton could host 4000 safely/distanced.

Event chance Aintree FM though it all depends on what tier areas are placed in and of course you won't be allowed to travel from a tier 3 area to a course in another tier...

True with respect to smaller courses. But I don't see 4000 tickets going very far for Cheltenham. Normally 7k (ish) members - I don't envy the people deciding how to divide up 4000 across the vast majority of 7000 who would like to go. Obviously many of those won't be able to because of tiered restrictions, but nonetheless it wll be a tough decision to make.

[charlie]

True with respect to smaller courses. But I don't see 4000 tickets going very far for Cheltenham. Normally 7k (ish) members - I don't envy the people deciding how to divide up 4000 across the vast majority of 7000 who would like to go. Obviously many of those won't be able to because of tiered restrictions, but nonetheless it wll be a tough decision to make.

I know one of the suggestions to the PL re football was only allowing people with a certain postcode to buy tickets - thus ensuring people weren't travelling between tiered zones and taking/bringing Covid in and out.

I don't think it would be out of the question for racing to consider something similar, especially when you consider The Festival attracts people from all over the world, let alone UK.

[ryanh97]

I know one of the suggestions to the PL re football was only allowing people with a certain postcode to buy tickets - thus ensuring people weren't travelling between tiered zones and taking/bringing Covid in and out.

I don't think it would be out of the question for racing to consider something similar, especially when you consider The Festival attracts people from all over the world, let alone UK.

That could work, what % of the members do we think are from Gloucestershire?

[Istabraq]

True with respect to smaller courses. But I don't see 4000 tickets going very far for Cheltenham. Normally 7k (ish) members - I don't envy the people deciding how to divide up 4000 across the vast majority of 7000 who would like to go. Obviously many of those won't be able to because of tiered restrictions, but nonetheless it wll be a tough decision to make.

I wonder how many members attend every meeting ? Every chance the Friday of the International meeting would only attract 4000/5000 anyway, there's plenty of season ticket holders (football) who happily pay thousands to own one then leave their seat empty for most of the season.
I'd imagine it'll be an admin challenge for some courses but it's a good challenge to have, a couple of hours ago we were still thinking the entire NH season could be behind closed doors only...

[charlie]

That could work, what % of the members do we think are from Gloucestershire?

Absolutely no idea. If I had to guess I'd say maybe 20-30%

[Kevloaf]

True with respect to smaller courses. But I don't see 4000 tickets going very far for Cheltenham. Normally 7k (ish) members - I don't envy the people deciding how to divide up 4000 across the vast majority of 7000 who would like to go. Obviously many of those won't be able to because of tiered restrictions, but nonetheless it wll be a tough decision to make.

Might have to do a ballot?

[charlie]

Might have to do a ballot?

In terms of fairness, this is the only way it could be done

[Istabraq]

Might have to do a ballot?

Just been having this discussion with a sponsor, you'd like to think the government were involving racecourses in discussions so they were able to make plans/arrangements for the announcement rather than pick up the pieces as a total shock annoucnement.
Perhaps Cheltenham have a big box in the office titled 'masterplan' they can literally roll out immediately...

[Lobos]

They expect things to be back to normal by the spring in view of Vaccines so there has to be huge confidence that a decent capacity will be allowed come mid March especially if all spectator sports that have gone ahead by that time have done so successfully with no issues. I am very , very hopeful now of my yearly trip to Cheltenham going ahead.

[ryanh97]

I suppose all this is pretty moot until the tiers are decided on Thursday.

[Dandrew99]

I'm near the Worcestershire/Gloucestershire border, my gut feeling is that there would be quite a lot of members from around the area. There would also be those members who won't be able to go as they are shielding etc, plus I imagine some just wouldn't want to take the risk if they had health issues.