ST. LOUIS — Tens of thousands of basketball fans in town for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament will not be required to wear masks in the Enterprise Center, as of Sunday morning.
The St. Louis Blues made the announcement Friday in coordination with the mask mandate that expires in St. Louis on Sunday. It also applies to future Blues home games.
That will be welcome news to many, though not all, of the tourists arriving in St. Louis this weekend.
The Bradley University pep band and dance team – the pride of Peoria - arrived at a downtown hotel for the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament at the Enterprise Center.
Like Superman, Bradley University supporter Tom Wienke unzipped his jacket to display his allegiance to B.U., which was visible on his shirt.
"So what time is the tip-off, Tom?" asked 5 On Your Side.
“Two-thirty,” he said.
Wienke is no fan, however, of mask mandates.
“Yeah, that’s great news,” he said. “I wasn’t going to come because of the mask mandate and the COVID requirements here. I decided I’d give it one year, and see if it’s in place, next year. If it is, I’m not coming again.”
“We don’t live in Missouri," said two University of Northern Iowa fans. "We’re from the great state of Iowa and we haven’t had a mask mandate for months and months and months.”
Between Arch Madness college basketball at the Enterprise Center and the Home Show at America’s Center, it’s a big weekend for St. Louis.
“It’s a huge weekend,” said Brian Hall, Explore St. Louis' chief marketing officer. “We have some 60,000 people visiting, between the 40,000 at Enterprise Center and up to 25,000 coming over here for the Home Show.”
Hall said the mask requirement will remain in place at the Home Show.
“The Home Show will be masked all the way through,” said Hall. “Since it’s an existing group and it straddles the requirement on one side and the other, they’re going to be requiring masks throughout.”
All these fans will work up an appetite.
Brittany Fields is the manager of a downtown restaurant named BLT’s.
“Our Sunday mornings are bananas,” said Fields. “Every Sunday is crazy. So, with these extra events in town, it just brings a lot more people to see us.”
This will be the first Sunday in a while those customers don’t have to wear a mask.
“Man, that’s awesome,” said Fields. “They’re going to enjoy themselves.”