The Penguins have 20 home games remaining this season, including 12 this month. Tickets will be made available for Tuesday's contest on a priority basis to season ticket holders only, with Morehouse thanking them for their continued loyalty to the team during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moving forward, Penguins season ticket holders will be given priority to purchase tickets to upcoming games with exclusive access to a pre-sale. Detailed information will be sent directly to season ticket holders, while remaining tickets will be made available to the general public for purchase.
Morehouse anticipates that demand will be high.
"People have been waiting a long time to be able to come to games," he said. "There have been a limited number of fans for the games we've had, and many of them have come up to me and said that's the first night out they've had in a year."
The Penguins are focused on giving their fans the safest and most efficient experience possible inside of PPG Paints Arena, and Morehouse said they should expect for it to be mostly touchless.
The organization worked closely with their arena management operator ASM Global and their food-and-beverage partner Aramark
to make numerous enhancements
- including mobile ticketing, mobile ordering and touchless self-checkout scanners for food, beverage and merchandise.
Putting all of those changes into place certainly didn't happen overnight, and Morehouse credited everyone in the Penguins front office and beyond who has been working tirelessly towards this goal ever since the NHL first pressed pause last spring.
"This didn't just come together today," he said. "The Penguins staff has been working on this for just under a year."
There is a lot to digest when it comes to all of the new protocols, so the Penguins put together a
'Know Before You Go'
page on the website that they are encouraging fans to visit.
"It's the five things that are really different, and the most important things that you need to know before you leave your house to come to a Penguins game," Penguins chief experience officer James Santilli said.
But through all of the health and safety measures that are being implemented, Morehouse said handwashing and wearing face masks remain the most crucial.
All guests over the age of two years will be required to properly wear a mask at all times while in the arena, and gaiters, bandanas, and face coverings with an exhalation valve or vent are prohibited. In addition, a face shield does not eliminate the requirement to wear a face covering underneath. Masks may only be removed when guests are actively eating/drinking.
"Those are the two most important things to keeping the building safe," Morehouse said.
Overall, it will be a new experience for many, but the fans that have recently attended games have caught on quickly, and the Penguins believe that will apply to everyone else who comes to PPG Paints Arena this season.
"I think what they're mainly interested in is what they're going to see on the ice, which is Pittsburgh Penguins hockey against Philly for the next three games," Morehouse said with a smile. "So we think it's pretty exciting."
It's been a difficult year, to say the least, and the economic impact - on Penguins ownership, employees, arena workers and businesses that depend on the team having fans - has been huge. But Morehouse believes this is the first step back to normality.
"And we hope that as we continue to get more and more people vaccinated, as we prove to the league and to the country that we can open our building to 2,800 fans and keep them safe - I think it'll be a lot quicker that we can open up all those other economic doors," he said.
