CLOSE

Phoenix Rising FC home games during the month of July will be played without fans in attendance, General Manager Bobby Dulle confirmed to The Arizona Republic on Tuesday.

The announcement came one day after Gov. Doug Ducey’s new statewide restrictions on public gatherings of more than 50 people through July 27, following a weeks-long increase in daily cases and hospitalizations from COVID-19.

United Soccer League Championship, the league Rising FC plays in, is scheduled to provisionally return from pandemic-induced suspension July 11 with matches contested in home markets. All July matches will be shown live either online or on television, with a broadcast schedule for the restart to be announced later this week.

“For any home matches that we have for the month of July, we won’t have any fans,” Dulle said. “We know that all of our fans that are watching will be there in spirit supporting us. It’s an opportunity for us to let everyone know to continue to be safe, continue to wear facial coverings, to continue to social distance, and hopefully those measures that are put in place will allow us to have fans in some capacity in the near future.”

Phoenix Rising FC previously was evaluating scenarios both with and without fans for the restart. Before Ducey’s ruling the club looked to have been favoring holding home matches with a limited amount of capacity, according to conversations with club supporters’ groups.

The new order now effectively shutters those plans for at least the next month. USL clubs (based on the league’s updated health and safety guidelines agreed upon earlier this month) are permitted to hold matches with fans as long as various safety guidelines are obeyed, but only if such gatherings are also allowed under state regulations.

Dulle said the club will explore several new ways to involve fans in matches without having them in attendance, such as contests for various signage across Casino Arizona Field on and around matchdays.

“We want to give our fans the ability, the creative flexibility to create signage that we can hang around the facility,” Dulle said. “Whether that’s in the tunnel as the guys walk out, inside their locker room or when they’re out on the field and display that even around the facility.

“We’ll come up probably with some fan-driven contest and do something creative, and I’m sure our supporters will have some ideas. The fans, they’re right there with us.”