Edmonton Elks to require proof of vaccination or negative test to attend home games

Edmonton -

The Edmonton Elks will require proof of full vaccination or negative COVID-19 test result to attend home games. 

The policy mirrors that of the Edmonton Oilers and comes into effect with the club's game on Oct. 15.

"We didn't want to have a knee-jerk reaction and make everyone have to accommodate what we've put out in a very short period of time," said team president and CEO Chris Presson. 

"We felt that was a little unfair to our fans." 

Presson said the team has about 1,600 gameday employees that will now also have to get vaccinated if they aren't already. 

"We are operating a very large vessel here and trying to turn this large vessel around ... takes some time." 

Presson said the team consulted with the city, mayor, city manager and deputy city manager in arriving at the new policy.

"We've done this on our own," he said. "We've been following public health guidelines since the outset and there's still no guidelines in place that have told us that we need to make these changes."

Barring further adjustments, the Elks are next scheduled to play on Labour Day in Calgary against the Stampeders. 

The team is scheduled to play two more home games before the new policy takes effect: Sept. 11 against Calgary and Sept. 18 against Winnipeg.

The Elks have been dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that has seen more than a dozen players test positive and forced the postponement of one game. 

"Certainly the outbreak with our team was a big push to make that stand to create a safer environment for our fans, our vendors and employees at large."

Presson said the team returned all negative tests for a fourth straight day on Monday.

The team says the vaccination mandate also extends to the team's business staff, including coaches.

Players remain governed by the league's collective bargaining agreement. 

Last week, the Elks announced its vaccination rate among players and staff was 83.5 per cent.

The league is working to reschedule the game against the Toronto Argonauts that was planned for Aug. 26. 

The Saskatchewan Roughriders also announced a similar policy for home games effective Sept. 17. 

The Calgary Stampeders have announced that fans will be need to be fully vaccinated to attend home games.