Bay Area ballparks, theme parks, and other outdoor venues to partially reopen April 1

VALLEJO, Calif. - Outdoor music and sports venues, along with theme parks, will be able to partially reopen starting April 1, announced Friday by the California Department of Health and Human Services.

Outdoor sports and live performances are eligible to reopen at 20 percent capacity for counties in the red tier.

Amusement parks may also open at 15 percent capacity, and greater capacities are allowed as counties progress to orange and yellow tiers.

"To play in front of fans is what it's all about, it brings the energy and excitement, and home-field advantage," Dave Kaval, president of the Oakland A's, told KTVU.

The A's will have their home opener against the Houston Astros on April 1, and if Alameda is in the red tier by then, the Oakland Coliseum will be permitted to host 11,000 fans, while still maintaining the mass vaccination center set up to vaccinate up to 6,000 people per day.

"It should work out fine to have both happening at the same time," Kaval said.

Baseball fans attending an A's game will sit in pods of two or four, socially distanced from others, and can remove their masks while they eat, Kaval said. Concessions can be ordered through an app and delivered to the pods.

Oracle Park is permitted to host 8,200 fans starting at the home opener on April 9, when the San Francisco Giants host the Colorado Rockies.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo has kept its Marine World Experience open since last July, but will soon allow thousands more theme park visitors back on rides and roller coasters. Opening day will be announced on their website in the coming weeks.

California's Great America had announced in January plans for a May 22 opening day. The park said it is waiting on new guidelines to help inform its reopening plans.

"It's great news because it's going to get people back to work and that's going to help our economy," David Andre, an adjunct professor at San Jose State University who has worked in the Bay Area tourism industry for three decades said.

California's leisure and hospitality industry lost $86 billion, according to a report from Visit California.

"When these venues are closed it affects everything else," Andre said. "It affects surrounding businesses, and that's really hurt our economy."