Dub Nation, the day has finally come.
After being kept out of Chase Center for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, fans were allowed back inside Friday night when the Golden State Warriors host the Denver Nuggets.
"I couldn’t be more excited," Yoyo Chan, vice president of government and community relations for the Warriors, said. "You can feel the energy in the building. I was just in there. It's palpable. We're ready for Dub Nation to come back tonight."
Earlier this week, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and various players said they were energized to have fans back in the seats in San Francisco.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
The team was allowed to open up to 35% capacity – just over 6,000 fans – but it wanted to start small and build.
"You will be seeing about 2,000 fans here tonight," Chan said. "We’re really taking the crawl, walk, run approach. So, we will start a little bit smaller with the lower bowl. We're going to scale up, almost double that to Sunday, and so on."
Fans attending the game had to show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test administered within 48 hours of the game.
Face masks were required.
The team also provided at-home COVID-19 test kits to fans who purchase tickets early.
The team, which is fighting for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference, sits at 29-30 with 13 games to go. Nine of those games will be at Chase Center.
