KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This week in March 2020, the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments were canceled, marking one of the first major cancellations around Kansas City as the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Five years later, KSHB 41 News anchor Lindsay Shively went to T-Mobile Center to talk about signs we still see and changes since the pandemic.
"It's hard to believe, five years. Some days it feels like it was just yesterday, and some days it feels like every bit of those five years," said Shani Tate Ross, vice president of sales and marketing for T-Mobile Center.
She said the venue didn’t reopen fully until 2022.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Lindsay Shively
Some of the lingering changes you will still find are hand sanitizer stations and even signs showing how the handrails for the escalators are cleaned inside T-Mobile Center. Just seeing hand sanitizer may feel so common now, but it really wasn’t five years ago.
“But now you will see them everywhere, and that’s something we think we will continue whether its continuing to scan our escalators or seeing the hand sanitizer stations," Tate Ross said. "You'll continue to see those types of accommodations because that's what people know and they expect from a public gathering facility."
She said T-Mobile Center is also now a cashless venue. An ATM is on site to accommodate some merchandise vendors who may accept cash.
Mobile and contactless payment options are widely available. People can even buy some concessions at a contactless "just walk out" market where you scan your card or palm, walk in, grab what you want and walk out without interacting with staff at all.
Among the biggest lessons learned, Tate Ross mentioned the value of being together.
“It’s so important, the role that sports and live entertainment play in our lives. It brings such a vibrancy to our community," she said. "It really is something that you didn’t know that you missed until it was gone, and so now it's something that we value even more so. Really recognizing that the opportunity for people to create memories here is something that is actually priceless."
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