Stage 3 ‘torpedoes’ Idaho Center events during COVID. Here’s what’s happening.

Before Idaho Gov. Brad Little had finished speaking, Ford Idaho Center general manager Andrew Luther’s mind was whirling with the impact.

Little announced Monday that the state was reverting to a modified Stage 3 of the Idaho Rebounds plan, meant to slow the resurgent spread of COVID-19. The statewide mandate includes limiting indoor gatherings to 50 or fewer people.

That math does not add up to success for an arena.

“The capacity situation definitely torpedoes a lot of events,” Luther said.

Luther, who also manages the smaller Nampa Civic Center, estimates that more than 70 events potentially could be affected at the two venues over the next couple of months.

The good news? Coordinating with Southwest District Health, he is submitting individual plans for exemptions to the 50-person rule.

So far, Luther hasn’t had to cancel or postpone anything because of Southwest District Health’s response. “I have a great working relationship with them,” he said. “We’re all trying to get through this time together and make sure everything is as safe as humanly possible.”

This weekend’s Pickin’ Treasure Valley antique show will occur as scheduled on Friday and Saturday at the Idaho Center.

But there’s no guarantee that every future exemption plan will be approved. And plenty of events, including smaller ones at Nampa Civic Center, will have to be addressed. “To my eye, there’s a lot of events that do not fit within the 50-person limit,” Luther said. “So theoretically, on paper, all of them are in jeopardy.”

The capacity restriction and exemption unknowns also make it difficult to fill the future calendar, he said.

Luther’s updated proposal for Pickin’ Treasure Valley — allowing up to 300 people in the 40,000 square-foot space — got the nod from Southwest District Health shortly after the governor’s press conference, he said.

“We argued that it operates as a retail store, not a mass gathering,” Luther said. “People come in, come and go, there’s flow.”

“There’s not a blanket calculation for this,” he explained. “A wedding is different from a banquet to a trade show to a concert. The way that people flow, the way the event’s organized. The general operations of the event are just different.”

In happier days, the Idaho Center held up to 12,000 people when a stage was in the center of the arena. Under Stage 4 social distancing guidelines — keeping groups of attendees separated by 6 feet — that possible number was closer to 3,500, Luther said.

On Oct. 16 and 17, the Idaho Center sold out two nights of Professional Bull Riders. Based on the setup, maximum crowd capacity was 2,300 each day, Luther said.

The Idaho Center provided hand sanitizer stations, encouraged masks and supplied them upon request. But unlike Ada County, Canyon County has no mask mandate. Luther estimates that about 50 percent of the attendees at PBR wore masks while navigating the arena.

“It depends on the event, though,” he said. “You have events that definitely trend politically one way. So I anticipate to see a lot of masks — the majority of people with masks — at the antique show. I’d encourage everybody to be in a mask, in general.”

Luther said he’s grateful to provide events to the community. He feels like the Idaho Center generally is a safe place to visit during the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

“For a trade show — which we’ll have several over the next couple of months — you have this big, enormous space: 60-foot-high ceilings, 30,000-40,000 square feet being utilized. Hand sanitizer everywhere,” he said.

“It’s very different than being in the mosh pit at a Korn concert. It’s just not that.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 5:27 PM.