The Miami Heat on Tuesday announced plans to designate two sections in the lower bowl of their home arena exclusively for fans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Heat will begin offering the exclusive tickets beginning with their home game against Golden State on April 1.
In a statement, the Heat said it would begin reserving sections 117 and 118 in American Airlines Arena — two sections located roughly at mid-court — to fans who are at least two weeks removed from their final vaccine shot.
Fans sitting in that section will enter the arena through a separate entrance from other fans and will need to present a CDC-issued vaccination ID and a government-issued ID. The Heat’s website notes that fans can present photographs of their vaccination ID.
The team is currently only accepting CDC certificates of vaccination, meaning anyone vaccinated in another country would not be eligible.
While pods of fans in the rest of the arena are spaced at least six feet apart, fans in the vaccinated section will be placed in pods of two or four, and be placed just one seat apart from each other. All fans in each pod must be fully vaccinated.
Masks are currently required in the arena for all fans over the age of 2.
The Heat have been hosting about 2,000 fans a game since January. The team has employed the use of COVID-sniffing dogs as part of the pre-game screening process.
