The Arizona Diamondbacks will now have even more fans in attendance for their first three homestands to kick off 2021.

The team announced Tuesday it has increased fan capacity at Chase Field to 20,000 fans per game starting April 9. The D-backs were originally allowing 12,000 fans to begin the season.

“As we continue to see the key measurements improve throughout the state and the restrictions lifted on businesses, we feel very comfortable that we can permit additional fans to enjoy D-backs baseball while still providing a safe and comfortable environment,” D-backs president & CEO Derrick Hall said in a press release.

“We will continue to require masks and ask fans to distance appropriately while keeping all other policies in place to start the season.”

The additional seats will go on sale Friday at 9 a.m. The initial capacity sold out in less than two hours last week, the team said.

In order to ensure fan safety, the D-backs unveiled a number of health and safety measures this offseason, including contactless concessions and digital ticketing. Signage has also been placed throughout the ballpark to promote social distancing.

The news of the increased fan capacity comes after Gov. Doug Ducey lifted COVID-19 mitigation requirements last Thursday.

“I think it obviously gives us the capability of bringing more fans in. We’re going to try to balance that first and make sure if we do, then all of the protocols that we laid out … all stays the same. That’s not going to change,” Hall said hours after the governor’s executive order.

“That’s the most important for us. We’ll take a look now at the seating manifest to see if we can get more in there. I can’t see us at this point wanting to 0-100 so fast. It doesn’t make sense just to go without restriction at this point.”

Additional ticket information for games after May 16 will be available at a later date.

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