The USC-Alabama game scheduled for AT&T Stadium — a retractable-roof stadium — was canceled, but what about the retractable-roof stadiums still scheduled to host college football games this fall?
We told you over the weekend that the executive director of the Peach Bowl, Gary Stokan, is trying to save the three Atlanta regular-season games the Peach Bowl operates (and is trying to make money on): West Virginia-Florida State on Sept. 5, Georgia-Virginia on Sept. 7 (Labor Day), and North Carolina-Auburn on Sept. 12.
Those three games are all scheduled to be played inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
When the city of Atlanta hosted these early-season nonconference games a decade ago, they were played in the Georgia Dome, which has since been demolished. The Georgia Dome did not have a retractable roof, but Mercedes-Benz Stadium does have a retractable roof.
The question is an obvious one: Shouldn’t these three games have an open stadium, even if the temperatures in Atlanta are hot or there is rain in the forecast?
Let me be clear: I am not criticizing anyone — not directly, and not as an implied criticism, either. We have to get to a point where these games can even be played first. Our attention as sports observers should rightly focus primarily on testing, tracing, keeping athletes properly distanced, and giving athletes hazard pay if we are going to ask them to compete. Those are all top-tier priorities.
However, as we come closer to the possible start of a season (knowing there are no guarantees on that front), it is now worth asking if retractable-roof stadiums should open even if the weather is uncomfortable or inclement.
Remember that the Peach Bowl wants to get some fans in the seats for these Atlanta games; it is part of any attempt to avoid an even worse financial shortfall than what is already guaranteed. Having a 50-percent capacity crowd for these three Atlanta games would — if pulled off safely — represent a remarkable achievement. Heck, even a 20-percent crowd with minimal COVID-19 spread and full safety for athletes would be an incredible feat at this point.
It has to be said, then: If the Peach Bowl gets fans in the seats (let’s say 20 percent capacity in a 71,000-seat stadium), that would mean 14,200 fans. With other personnel in the building (players, coaches, staff, referees, media), that would be close to 15,000 people.
A college football game lasts three and a half hours, generally. Some games could push four hours.
Do you REALLY want to keep a roof closed for nearly four hours, such that air particles would recirculate indoors?
Wouldn’t a lot more people feel comfortable about COVID-19 if the roof was removed for those four hours?
Yes, the weather might be nasty or wet (or both), but if that’s the price for fans attending, and for players being comparatively safer, is it a huge price to pay?
We’re a long way from the conference championship games, but Lucas Oil Stadium (Big Ten) and AT&T Stadium (Big 12) are retractable-roof venues. If those sites remain in place (the option exists to move the conference title games to campus sites), early-December weather could be miserable.
Yet, the idea of playing in domed comfort — this one year, this one season — doesn’t have the value or urgency it would have possessed in normal circumstances.
Raise the roof. It’s not normal when staging made-for-TV college football games, but again: Nothing about this year or this set of circumstances is anything close to normal.