DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Nuggets announced Thursday morning that Ball Arena has been approved for 18,300 fans if the team advances to the next round in the NBA playoffs.

According to the announcement, the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment granted Ball Arena approval to move forward at 100% capacity, however, the arena will not be at full capacity because of current NBA and NHL rules.

The most current capacity guidelines set forth by the NBA and NHL will allow Ball Arena to accommodate 18,300 fans per Nuggets game, which is 90.7% of usual venue basketball capacity and 17,400 fans per Avalanche game, which is 95.0% of usual hockey capacity.  The previously approved venue capacity was 10,500, which was 57.3% of the overall capacity. 

“We are thrilled to bring Ball Arena back to near full capacity for future Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche playoff series,” said Matt Bell, KSE’s Vice President of Venue Booking.  “We couldn’t be more grateful for the partnership developed between KSE and the State of Colorado and City of Denver throughout the pandemic.   Our partnership over the past 15 months extended beyond the basketball court and the hockey rink as we worked together on providing COVID-19 testing in our parking lots last year and now providing COVID-19 vaccinations that are still ongoing in our parking lots.  We want to thank Governor Jared Polis and Mayor Michael Hancock and their teams along with CDPHE, DDPHE, NHL and NBA for all of their tireless efforts to keep our community safe and for all of their assistance to help us ensure that the health, safety and wellness of our fans, frontline workers, staff and athletes was always the top priority with every decision that was made every step of the way.”

The Nuggets will take on the Blazers in Game 6 on Thursday night at 6 p.m. The Nuggets lead the series 3-2.