Bucks and Brewers can fill half their seats starting Saturday

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee will pass another COVID recovery milestone Saturday.

The health department is easing health restrictions at major sports venues for the Bucks and Brewers.

Starting Saturday, the two clubs can fill half their seats.

The Bucks are going to take a little bit of time to get staffed up to do that, but the Brewers will be ready to go for their night game against the Atlanta Braves.

"Last March, I think we all thought it was going to be days, maybe a couple weeks to get back to normalcy, and here we are a year and a few months," said Fiserv Forum General Manager Dennis Williams.

He said this is a big step forward.

"I was here when we were doing games in front of nobody, to now have 50-percent or 9,000 people in the building in five months, it's really exciting," said Williams.

The Bucks won't be fully staffed for a half capacity crowd Saturday, but will be ready for the upcoming playoffs.

"We're reactivating our employees, we have to retrain them and get them ready for that larger crowd," said Williams.

The Milwaukee Health Department said both the Bucks and Brewers have done well.

"They're really working hard to make sure people are wearing masks, how they're serving food, how people are seated, we're very comfortable increasing their capacity," said Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson.

"We thank Mayor Barrett and Commissioner Johnson for the vote of confidence in getting us to this stage, and we feel that this is the next step in the journey to full capacity," said Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger.

For both clubs, the change means more fans can watch more games in person.

"It has been a long time and lot of our fans that have been looking to come to games have been shut out from acquiring tickets," said Schlesinger.

Masks are still required for both stadiums.

Both clubs will alert fans to ticket opportunities as well.