Wimbledon remains cautious on fan capacity in 2021

Boris Johnson’s road map out of lockdown sparked hopes that Wimbledon could have 100 percent of fans in 2021 but the All England Club will consider all options

Wimbledon

Simon Cambers

February 23, 2021

The All England Club says it is remaining cautious and is keeping its options open with regard to how many fans it may be able to have in 2021.

Monday’s announcement by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, that all Covid-19 restrictions could be lifted by June 21 – the week before the Championships are due to begin – gave hope that the tournament could have full capacity.

But though having 100 percent of fans through the gates would be a massive financial boost after Wimbledon was unable to happen in 2020 – the first cancellation since the Second World War – the All England Club is likely to err on the side of caution, despite the success of the roll-out of the vaccine in the UK in the past few months.

As we continue to plan for The Championships in 2021, we welcome @10DowningStreet's announcements.

We look forward to continuing to work with them, @DCMS and the rest of sport with the ambition of welcoming spectators safely to our event this summer.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/EgFYUL2qeg

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) February 22, 2021

“We welcome the government’s announcements today and we look forward to continuing to work with them and the rest of sport with the ambition of welcoming spectators safely to our events this summer,” the All England Club said in a statement on the Wimbledon website.

“We will continue to plan based on our aspiration of staging the best Championships possible with the health and safety of all our guests, staff and competitors remaining our highest priority. We remain focused on developing our plans within the scenarios of full, reduced and no public capacity so that we can remain as agile and flexible as possible to the government and public health situation.

“While the success of the ongoing vaccination programme is very heartening, we recognise the need for a cautious approach at this point in time.”

Last month, Wimbledon said it was focusing the bulk of its planning on having a limited number of fans for 2021.