There has not been a bigger conversation since momentum towards a college football season happening than if fans will be allowed in the stands.
Chinese baseball is allowing some sort of fans. NASCAR has not yet since its restart, nor the Korean Baseball League or the Bundesliga soccer league in Europe. However, the college football season is still over three months away.
The most prominent figure in this decision being made for Oklahoma and its conference brethren spoke on this topic on Thursday.
🔊Will we see fans in the stands of college football games in 2020?
The commissioner of the @Big12Conference, @BobBowlsby answered that question to @arisports & @archerqb16.
Listen to the full interview on Big 12 Radio 375 Friday AM at 8:15 ET or anytime on the @SIRIUSXM App. pic.twitter.com/kzAgY4e63n
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) May 21, 2020
“It really depends on how things go between now and then,” said Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “You know, I think it’s fair to ask the question if it’s safe for the kids to be on the field in close contact with one another, why wouldn’t it be safe for fans to be in the stands at social distance? Now, you know you take an 80,000 seat stadium knowing you may end up with 20,000 people there. Going back to the psychology of public assembly, we may find even if a everybody wanted to buy a ticket, that the attendance would actually be soft for the reasons we’ve discussed.
“I think we’ll have fans in the stands, but when you think about how difficult it is to do hospital level disinfecting in a weight room, or a locker room or a training room, think about doing it for an entire stadium. The entry ways. The lines at the restrooms. The lines at the concessions stands. Sitting that far a part in the stands. It’s a very large undertaking. If there is a bright side to all this, some of the people that would have been in the stadium will be added to the TV audience and the radio audience. It can be a good thing for because people are going to follow their favorite university and their favorite team. If there is any glimmering of a bright spot, that’s probably what it is.”
The NCAA will start to allow voluntary workouts on June 1, but not every conference will start those on that day. No official word has been made on the college football season. Nor has any official word come from the Big 12 on players returning to campus for voluntary workouts.
Oklahoma’s Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium seats more than 85,000 people during homes games on college football Saturdays. No word from Oklahoma has been official said other than hypothesizing and thinking out loud about what could happen.
The Sooners are set to start the 2020 season on Sept. 5 against Missouri State at home.
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