[jwplayer jF5wU66N-sNi3MVSU]
Colorado State Has Multiple Plans For Football Attendance
Rams AD is optimistic for the year.
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
How big will the crowds be?
College football and athletics programs are slowing getting back on campus for voluntary workouts. That is the first phase of allowing sports on college campuses but one of the next phases has to do with the general public and the crowd size at games.
It will all come down to the health officials in each state, for example, Texas is saying that 50 percent capacity is allowed for any arena, indoor or outdoor. It just varies across the country.
Colorado State athletics director Joe Parker is setting up three options for getting fans in the stands. Obviously, the and best plan for the Rams financial viability is to have as many people as possible.
“For the financial piece and the near-term well-being of the department, the ability to open that game with near-capacity or capacity crowd would be very helpful to us,” athletic director Joe Parker said via the Coloradoan.
A sell-out crowd is considered 36,500 with the option to go up to 41,000 for the maximum capacity. This first option seems the least likely of them all as cases are rising in parts of the country with Colorado having fewer positive tests for COVD-19, after initially having large numbers and also deaths.
The next plans are pretty obvious with 50 percent and then 25 percent capacity to fill up Canvas Stadium.
There are currently 12,000 season ticket holders for the football program so if we look at 36,500 as a sell-out crowd, 50 percent would allow for 24,500 for students and the general public, but going down to 25 percent is just over 12,000 and if all of the season ticket holders are comfortable going that would max out the stadium.
While capacity details are important, there are no currently available guidelines about protocols such as wearing a mask, temperature checks, when to enter o exit, or seating options depending on the crowd size. All of that will likely come at a later date when plans are finalized.
It is still fairly early to know how many people can go to sporting events live. There will be a lot learned from what the NBA is doing in Orlando and the NHL in their hub cities, but more importantly on-campus activities.
There have been a multiple programs having players test positive in the very early stages of workouts. LSU had over 30, Clemson 23, University of Houston had six total student-athletes and they shut things down.
Colorado State had 35 football players returned to campus on June 8 and so far there is no word on players testing positive for COVID -19, which is good news. Time will tell once the full team and staff get together plus the actual physicality of football which requires up-close contact with many people.
In addition to the general public needing to be safe for whatever attendance numbers are used, there will be no football if the players can not stay healthy and be on the field.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1369]
[protected-iframe id=”f7652191f99ba13728097498e8a79cd8-137729785-123448869″ info=”https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/show/48681pqFq0kB9dhrtPPoNd” width=”100%” height=”232″ frameborder=”0″]