HogansHero said: "If we assume for sake of discussion that this sort of thing is needed, then the issue would not be "authority" because it would be a valuable service for which every venue would be eager to have someone else administer. You have to understand, also, that venues are very nervous about liability as well as making event-going more appealing to more people, and I suspect it is from that mindset that this notion originated and to which it is directed. Venues, like restaurants, bars, etc etc are worried sick and desperately looking for anything that helps.
Maybe, but does anyone think that this wouldn't cost extra money? The M.O. for Broadway landlords is to use current staff to enforce any additional procedures, so I don't see them wanting to use this (which would likely have its own liability headaches).
Re day of/in person sales, this is one of those things that (in the context of this) that would not be possible. We need to be prepared for the new normal when we have any return to normalcy.
Except this would cause a substantial hit to Broadway shows. Many shows rely on same-day and in-person sales. A show like Wicked or Hamilton wouldn't really be affected. But other shows need same day sales, particularly ones that are struggling.
Re costs of testing, testing has to be ubiquitous (as it is in NY) as a sine qua non of getting past this pandemic, and turnarounds are not really going to be a problem. (Remember that we are talking about something that is not going to happen anytime soon, even if we assume it will ever happen, which I don't.) Likewise, inaccurate results are not a significant factor at this point.
I disagree. Even though testing is more ubiquitous now in NY, turnaround times are still a major problem. It still takes a week to get test results in New York. And by then the test wouldn't be valid for admission. I know that they have developed a 15-minute test, though false positives (and negatives) are probably higher than what would normally be acceptable (same with the other tests). It's also not clear when those would become available. Inaccurate results aren't a factor in that the results are accepted as accurate, but tell that to the person who can't see Hamilton because they unknowingly have a false positive test.
But we agree all of this is academic. Broadway can't afford to re-open until things are relatively normal. The financials don't allow all these social distancing and limited capacity measures. But the new normal you mention likely wouldn't last. Once most of the country has recovered and infections rates become steady (or are eliminated), most businesses will resort back to normal. I think corporate office space may be altered more significantly in the long run, but no doubt things will eventually return to normal.
