New York City’s two major arenas are preparing to reopen next week for sporting events following news that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is allowing arenas and stadiums to reopen across the state for crowds limited to 10% of the building’s overall capacity.

“The truth is, we cannot stay closed until everyone is vaccinated. The economic, psychological, emotional cost would be incredible,” Cuomo said while announcing the rule change last Wednesday.

With no concerts on the books for Barclays Center in Brooklyn or Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, the rule change will first play out for sporting events. Starting Feb. 23, each arena will resume hosting home games for of crowds of 2,000 fans, seated in two-seat, socially distanced pods spread out across the arena. The new state guidelines mandate that ticket holders show proof that they have tested negative on a PCR COVID-19 test taken 72 hours prior to an event, even if they have already been vaccinated.

All guests will be screened via temperature check and must register below 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit for entry. They must also wear face masks at all times except while eating or drinking in their assigned seats. All in-venue purchases, including food and beverage, will be 100% cashless via credit card purchases and mobile payment systems like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

MSG officials are also asking fans to take a health survey via the arena’s smart phone app 12 hours prior to the game, while employees at both facilities will be tested regularly.

“We are thrilled that we can finally start to welcome fans back, beginning with Knicks and Rangers games, and be part of this important step for our city,” says Andrew Lustgarten, president and chief executive officer of MSG Sports and president of MSG in a statement to Billboard. “While we currently have limited capacity, we’re focused on creating the safest and most enjoyable environment, with strict operating protocols developed with state and health officials.”

With only about 2,000 tickets available per game, both MSG and Barclays will give priority to season ticket holders and suite members. The first event at Barclays Center will have the home team Brooklyn Nets take on the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 23, while MSG will host the New York Knicks against the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 23.

At MSG, doors will open 90 minutes prior to the game, with guests assigned to specific entrances based on their seating location inside. Tickets will be sold in two seat pods, starting at $50 apiece, with pods spaced apart and socially distanced from one another.

The news was welcomed by Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino, who tweeted a message of support to Cuomo.

The planned reopening comes as arenas across the world wait to receive the green light to reopen at a reduced capacity after being shut down for nearly one year. Last week, the AEG-managed O2 Arena in London had to reschedule a Feb. 27 reduced capacity concert for new wave rockers Squeeze (the show’s second rescheduling).

Citing “the current lockdown in England,” the band’s Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford said in a statement that the logistics of pulling off the event for the concert promoted by AEG Presents and SJM concerts under lockdown conditions was impossible.

“I think anyone who thinks 2021 is a reality for touring or festivals is out of their mind. They’re fooling themselves,” explained manager Randy Phillips to Billboard earlier this month. “It’s not just about the vaccinations and how slowly that’s rolling out. It’s the economy. Drive around town and there are so many ‘for lease’ signs in stores and so many restaurants that are closed. When are these businesses coming back?  When are these jobs coming back?”

Agent Dennis Arfa agreed, telling Billboard that the economics of moving large scale tours across the country don’t work unless tours can sell at least 85-90% of their tickets.”If there’s touring in January 2022, you need herd immunity by June so that the playing field is okay in October and November at the latest. And that means the NBA and the NHL and the sporting teams are all running at full capacity. That’s the reality,” Arfa said.

The rules apply to all arenas and stadiums in New York state, though major arenas likes the Time Union Center in Albany and the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester don’t have any events on their calendar until May.

Valentine’s Day isn’t over at The Kelly Clarkson Show, where she performed a swoon-worthy cover of Toni Braxton’s “You Mean the World to Me” on Tuesday (Feb. 16).

Clarkson and her band Y’all kept the V-Day romance in the air by kicking her high notes into high gear for the ’90s romantic ballad. “‘Cause you mean the world to me/ You are my everything/ I swear the only thing that matters/ Matters to me/ Oh baby, baby, baby, baby, baby/ ‘Cause you mean so much to me,” she crooned.

“You Mean the World to Me” was featured on Braxton’s self-titled debut album from 1993. The song reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart and No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994, the same year it was certified gold by the RIAA.

The talk show host and her band previously covered Braxton’s “Another Sad Love Song,” which was the lead single from Toni Braxton and earned the R&B singer her first-ever Grammy for best female R&B vocal performance at the 1994 ceremony. (That same year, she also picked up the trophy for best new artist.)

Watch her Kellyoke cover of “You Mean the World to Me” below.

Johnny Pacheco, the legendary bandleader who cofounded Fania Records in the 1960s and became one of the leading architects of the music that would come to be known as salsa, has died. He was 85 years old.

The Dominican-born, New York-raised Pacheco, who lived in New Jersey, died at Holy Name Medical Center, according to published reports. Sources say he had been hospitalized for complications stemming from pneumonia.

Pacheco, a Juilliard-trained multi-instrumentalist who’d found success recording with his band, Pacheco y Su Charanga, sparked a musical revolution when, in 1964, he met Jerry Masucci and together, they founded Fania Records. The two started the label with $5,000, selling albums in Spanish Harlem from the trunks of their cars.

Fania soon became known as the Latin Motown, home to superstars like Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano and Héctor Lavoe, and the breeding ground for seminal artists in the genre of music that would come to be known as “salsa,” a collision of traditional Cuban song and pan-Latin rhythms with American jazz and funk.

Fania’s musical scope was breathtaking. Its roster included Willie Colón, Ruben Blades, Larry Harlow, Hector Lavoe, Ray Barretto and Bobby Valentín among many, many others. The Fania sound would rule the ‘70s in New York City, where the Fania All Stars headlined Yankee Stadium in 1973.

When the label closed production in the early 1980s, it boasted over 1,000 albums, 3,000 compositions (under Fania publishing) and approximately 10,000 master tracks, many written or recorded by Pacheco.

A congenial man known for his sense of humor, his limitless enthusiasm and an abundance of talent, Pacheco was a generous artist who happily endorsed a generation of artists –his more than 10 albums alongside Celia Cruz are legendary—and was fearless in his willingness to experiment with all genres of music.

“Maestro of maestros and my good friend,” wrote Marc Anthony via Instagram following the news of Pacheco’s death. “You were there for me from Day 1, and I am forever grateful for your support, for the opportunity to be in your presence and for your amazing legacy.”

In concert, Pacheco was a dynamo, clad in bell bottoms and tight shirts – often rhinestone-studded – that would be soaked in sweat by the end of night after his tireless movement as bandleader and owner of his stage.

“What I most remember about Pacheco is his enthusiasm, his happiness,” says José Alberto “El Canario,” who collaborated numerous times with Pacheco and Cruz. His last show alongside Pacheco was five years ago in the Dominican Republic, when Pacheco turned 80, and many of Fania’s alumni showed up to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. “He always said that when he died, his tombstone would read: ‘Here lies Johnny Pacheco, against his will,’” El Canario told Billboard.

Born Juan Azarías Pacheco Knipping in the Dominican Republic, Pacheco and his family moved to New York when he was 11 years old. A precocious talent, he studied percussion at Juilliard and was already successful with his group when he met Masucci, a former New York City cop who had fallen in love with Cuban music while stationed at Guantanamo Bay during the Korean War.

When Pacheco’s first marriage fell apart, he turned to Masucci, who had studied business and law, to handle the divorce.  Together, they had an idea: a Latin music label. Each of them invested $2,500 and their album, from Pacheco, included an old Cuban song by Reinaldo Bolanos, “Fanía Funché.”

“Between [Jerry and I] we couldn’t come up with a lot of money,” Pacheco told Billboard in 2014, when Fania turned 50. “So I said, ‘Let’s do the recording and see if we sell it.’ The Fania name came from a Cuban song called “Fanía Funché” on that album. The word Fania was catchy. It sounded good. Fania Records.”

Fania took off. The money made from record sales, Pacheco and Masucci reinvested in the label. Their first signing was a Jewish pianist, Larry Harlow. Acts like flutist Bobby Valentín and a teenager trombonist and arranger named Willie Colón followed.

It was Pacheco who suggested to Colón that he change the singer in his band and hire a young Hector Lavoe. “It was a great combination,” Colón told Billboard. “It was total New York. I barely spoke Spanish. And Hector spoke zero English. Hector had a repertoire of all that [Puerto Rican] stuff. He was also a very funny guy. I would write songs that were almost like parodies, satires. It was really something fresh from what was going on. We were doing what rappers are doing now.”

Everything Fania did seemed to be groundbreaking, and often, historic. In 1968, Pacheco had the idea for a superband of the label’s top talent: the Fania All Stars. Live albums and a concert documentary, Our Latin Thing, followed. In August 23, 1973, Musucci rented Yankee Stadium for $280,00 and the Fania All Stars performed for nearly 50,000 people. More than 40 years would pass before another Latin act, Romeo Santos, would play to that size of a crowd at Yankee Stadium.

The boom years continued with a concert for over 100,000 people in Zaire 1974, helmed by Cuban superstar Celia Cruz, as well as history-making albums by Ruben Blades and Colón.

Masucci passed away at 63 in 1997, and the Fania catalog was sold in 2005 to Emusica Entertainment Group. In 2018, the label was bought by Concord Records.

Pacheco’s legacy, however, was never diminished. In 2004, he received the ASCAP Silver Pen Award and in 2005, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.  Pacheco is survived by his wife, María Elena Pacheco, In addition to this wife, Mr. Pacheco’s survivors include two daughters, Norma and Joanne; and two sons, Elis and Phillip.

With additional previous reporting by Judy Cantor Navas.