🔒Still waiting: DCU Center awaits the return of live events, as it cut employees from 641 to 26

Nearly nine months have passed since the DCU Center in Worcester was forced to cancel all of its events in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, and now with the state emergency field hospital restarting in the arena in December, a full-fledged reopening doesn’t seem any closer.

This is especially true with the Worcester Railers Hockey Club announcing the cancellation of their winter season, when the DCU Center had been looking to reverse course on a pandemic that has taken its toll.

Before the lockdown, the center had a staff of 641 people, with 45 people full-time and the rest part-time and dependent on how many events the venue was doing, said Sandra Dunn, general manager of the DCU Center.

Now, after the coronavirus has left the venue with no events for nearly a whole year, the full-time staff has been reduced to 20, with many employees cutting their hours by as much as 50%. Of the 596 part-time employees, six remain with the DCU Center. All potential hiring has been frozen until further notice.

In order to reopen in the future, new precautions have been put in place. This includes enhanced cleaning and the usage of sanitization stations throughout the venue, social distancing policies, seating every other row and elimination of aisle seats, staff health screening, and reduced seating capacity. 

“Most importantly, the capacities will be significantly reduced to between 25% and 40%,” said Dunn.

Phase Four

As a major indoor entertainment venue, the DCU Center was shuffled to the dreaded Phase Four of Gov. Charlie Baker’s economic reopening planning, and the arena had to sit in line behind offices, restaurants, hotels and museums in order to reopen. Phase Four never came, and with Baker imposing new restrictions on businesses such as restaurants in the face of a spiking number of new coronavirus cases, the reopening of the DCU Center seems far off.

The venue closed on March 13, and the final event held in the convention center was held on March 15. All future events were cancelled until further notice, at that point leaving the doors to the center locked for the foreseeable future.

For now there are no events scheduled that are certain to stay, and many of DCU Center clients are holding on to the hope these things can still take place as the pandemic continues. Others are making difficult decisions with the future uncertain: for example, in October, the Worcester home show producer Expo Management Group, which puts on the Worcester RV & Camping Show, Worcester Home Show and the Worcester Boat Show, announced it was postponing all its shows until 2022.

In October, the Railers and their league, the ECHL, announced the new season would begin on Jan. 15, although Baker’s plans do not currently allow for teams to have fans in the stands. On Wednesday, however, the team announced they would be cancelling their season.

The opening of the Massachusetts field hospital in the DCU Center on Dec. 6 throws another wrench into the plans to get DCU Center back up and running. Before it became official, Dunn said she hoped the field hospital wouldn’t have to come back after it initially opened in the spring and shut down in early summer.

As of right now the DCU center is where many other businesses are: Trying to figure out the future in a still changing world where the rules can change in a second. The center is still planning events though very few things can be set in stone in this rocky time.