Sports and entertainment venues in Ontario scramble to notify ticket holders amid capacity limit changes

With less than 48 hours until new capacity limits take effect for large sports and entertainment venues in Ontario, operators are scrambling to notify ticket holders.

"There was no advanced warning from the government this was coming down," said Barry Hughson, executive director with The National Ballet of Canada which is staging it's annual Nutcracker production for the first time since the pandemic at Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. "We have four shows this weekend and within 48 hours we have to reach thousands of customers."

Capacity at Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is just over 2,000 and under the new capacity rules that will have to be reduced by 50 per cent.

Every performance until the end of the year is sold out. Officials are now asking ticket holders to log into their National Ballet account and confirm whether they still wish to attend, use their tickets for another year or get a refund.

"Once we get a sense of how many like to keep their tickets we'll have to go unfortunately last in first out," Hughson said.

The Ontario government announced Wednesday that capacity for indoor facilities that can hold more than 1,000 people will be capped at 50 per cent starting on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 12:01 a.m in attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The capacity limits apply to concert venues, theatres, cinemas, racing venues, event and meeting spaces, studio audiences in commercial film and television production, museums, galleries, aquarium, zoos, science centres, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens, casinos, bingo halls, other gaming establishments, fairs, rural exhibitions, and festivals.

The next time the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Maple Leafs play at Scotiabank Arena, capacity will be limited to approximately 10,000 fans.

MLSE announcing Thursday it's prioritizing season ticket holders through mid-January.

"In an effort to prioritize and satisfy season seat member commitments, which makes up a significant majority of the venue capacity for each team, all non-season seat tickets will be refunded, and tickets will be allocated among season seat members for upcoming games based on the new capacity limits," read a statement.

MLSE says that process will begin with Friday's Raptors game, where ticket allocation among members will be determined randomly, and each group of members will receive tickets based on alternate games between now and mid-January.

Single game and group ticket holders will be contacted for refunds.

Cineplex is currently reviewing the new measure and making adjustments to its operations at movie theatres across the province.

"We appreciate our guests’ patience as our team readjusts its operations as quickly as we can to follow these new government protocols and guidelines. For guests with advance tickets, we ask them to keep an eye on their email accounts in the coming days for update and next steps," said Samantha Shecter Manager, communications for Cineplex in a statement to CTV News Toronto.

With no end in sight for capacity limits, organizers of The Canadian International Auto Show have decided to cancelled the event which was scheduled to take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in February.

“It is with great regret that we have to make this announcement, but the health and wellbeing of our community needs to be our first priority,” says Jason Campbell, General Manager of the Canadian International AutoShow in a statement. “What has been clear over the past few months in our discussions with our consumers and our manufacturer partners is how much they all value our in-person live AutoShow event experience, and how hungry they all were for it to return."