Robert Gavin is reporting for the Times Union on the legal questions facing concert venues during the pandemic. Large entertainment and sports venues, now closed due to the coronavirus emergency, will risk exposure to lawsuits once they reopen. A venue can make it clear on tickets as well as post signs to let attendees know they are entering the facility at their own risk, or have attendees waive their plans to sue. But those actions do not necessarily shield the venue from legal liability. Attorney Barry Skidelsky, past president of the New York State Bar Association’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section, said the legal risk for businesses is always their exposure to liability for damages to a person or property. “The coronavirus crisis has raised new concerns about how venue facility owners and operators can protect themselves and the public going forward,” he said. Some venues may try to take temperatures of guests before they walk in the door, Skidelsky said. One option could be legislation barring people who tested positive for coronavirus from attending such shows for a period of time. In the Capital Region, the Times Union Center has listed six postponements and cancellations through August 26. Saratoga Performing Arts Center, which canceled events for 30 days, is still planning its summer season. Elizabeth Sobol, SPAC's President and CEO, said in a statement: “We feel it is too early to definitively weigh in on this complex and difficult question...” Philip Morris, the CEO of Proctors’s Theater in Schenectady, said, “We’re going to be listening to civil authorities. We are going to be responding to the realities of the economics of what a restart looks like. We’re going to be implementing whatever measures civil authorities suggest.” Read the full story at DailyFreeman [dot] com.