There was a little bit different look inside The Arena at Post Falls on Tuesday night.

There were more than just a few stray spectators.

Not just JV kids left over from their game, cheering on the varsity.

Not someone offering to film the game, mostly so they could watch their kid play in person.

Not just a couple folks who were let into the gym somehow.

Idaho high schools can now allow limited spectators for its basketball games and wrestling matches, according to a new order on the state's coronavirus website.

Varsity, junior varsity and freshman team basketball players, as well as cheerleaders and wrestlers, for both the home and visiting teams, may have up to two spectators each in the gym for contests.

At the start of the winter sports season, no fans were allowed at games. Then last month, some schools allowed up to 10 fans per game.

"The rules we have to follow under these new guidelines can seem restrictive, but I see them as a good compromise for parents and guardians to see their sons and daughters play," Lakeside athletic director Jerel Hight said. "Ultimately, if a change was needing to be made, this is a good step for it. The health and safety of our students and athletes is number one, but the safety of our communities is just as important. I hope we can use this as a way forward in high school sports and dealing with COVID."

ALL NON-participating athletes, essential personnel, administrators and table help are required to wear masks while in the gym. Freshman and JV teams may remain in the gym following their games to watch the varsity.

Since Gov. Brad Little reverted Idaho to the more-restrictive Stage 2 in his Idaho Rebounds plan, spectators have not been allowed at high school games, other than JV players sticking around for the varsity game. In December, a few North Idaho schools allowed one spectator per varsity player on the home team to attend, up to a total of 10 spectators, on a trial basis.

Schools must sign up through the State Board of Education by Jan. 15 to be allowed to follow the more relaxed protocols. Schools that don't sign up by then will have to continue to adhere to the most recent guidelines, which allow for 10 or fewer people per event.

In basketball, varsity, JV and freshman teams will not exceed 13 players each, and the total number will not exceed 40.

There was some question among administrators if, say, a JV team had 14 players instead of 13, if not all players would get two fans in each.

When schools started experimenting with 10 fans allowed per varsity game, one coach noted he had 11 players on his varsity. So they had a rotation where one kid each game did not get to have a fan at the game watching them.

(Hopefully that wasn't the game the kid had a career night, or hit a buzzer-beater, or for a seldom-used player, a game where they saw lots of playing time.)

Cheerleaders will be limited to six for varsity and six for JV.

Wrestlers will be limited to 15 JV and 15 varsity competitors (there are 15 weight classes in Idaho).

Spectators will still not be allowed at wrestling tournaments, even under the new order.

Masks are highly recommended for spectators, and physical distancing must be practiced in any place in the facility, according to the new order. For purposes of this plan, physical distancing is 12 feet from non-household members.

Home spectators and away spectators will enter through separate entrances and leave through those same entrances.

The gym will be cleared after each event (freshman and JV), cleaned, and sanitized prior to the next event taking place.

Spectators will have to leave the facility after a JV event, the facility will have to be cleaned, and then the spectators for the varsity event may enter.

At Post Falls the other night, a group of parents sat in the gym watching the girls varsity game, while another group waited out in the school foyer. When the girls game ended, those parents exited through a door at the other end of the gym. A worker then sprayed down the bleachers where the parents sat, then that group of parents in the foyer were allowed into the gym to watch the boys varsity game.

It wasn't the same thing as the usual crowd of several hundred, or even a thousand that might show up for a Coeur d'Alene-Post Falls boys/girls doubleheader. But as the boys game went down to the wire, the few fans there made lots of noise, and it sounded more like a normal game, and less like some November games that had the atmosphere of a summer league game.

As of Tuesday, pretty much every school in the area said they were going to allow those extra fans into the gym — and the few that hadn't yet were still going through the paperwork to make it happen.

(One school that won't be participating is Kootenai High. Earlier this fall, the Kootenai School Board pushed back the start of the Warriors' winter sports seasons to January due to concerns over COVID-19. But last month, the school board voted to cancel basketball and wrestling at Kootenai for this winter season.

MEANWHILE, THE casual fan is still out of luck, as far as seeing a high school game in person.

Fortunately, most schools are webcasting their games on the internet. Some schools are using the Pixellot cameras in their gyms to show their games on the NFHS Network, which charges a fee to watch. Some games are on IdahoSports.com, some are on teams' YouTube channels, some are shown of schools' Facebook pages.

Sure, it's not the same as being there, but in most cases (other than NFHS Network) is free to watch and at least better than nothing.

And, for students filming the games on YouTube and Facebook, it's good training if they want to go into that business someday. Some schools have figured out ways to insert the scoreboard onto the screen, so fans don't have to wait for the "camera" operator to pan up to the scoreboard in the gym to show viewers the status of the game.

So as far as letting additional spectators into the gym starting this week, whether this is a first step toward eventually allowing even more fans into games later in the season remains to be seen.

But one thing's for sure — schools must adhere to the relaxed policies by social distancing, wearing masks, etc. — or else.

"Widespread non-compliance with this plan will lead to this exemption being revoked," the new order states.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.