The college football season is just a little over three months away and the COVID-19 situation seems to be changing by the day. Previously Texas Governor Greg Abbott made the ruling that stadiums could operate at 25 percent capacity. That happened a little over a week ago, now the Governor has upped the limit.
Abbott’s order for “Phase 3” of the state’s reopening covers professional, collegiate, and other similar sporting events, effective immediately.
“Stadiums, whether it be where the Mavericks play or the Texas Rangers play or the Dallas Cowboys play, will be able to seat [at] 50% capacity,” Abbott told KDFW-TV in Dallas late Wednesday.’ – per Dallas Morning News
The maximum capacity of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium is just over 100,000. With the new phase of the reopening of Texas, DKR could host 50,000 rather than the 25,000 of the previous ruling by the Governor. While COVID-19 hasn’t gone away, it feels like with the current trend that 100% capacity could be possible by the time the Longhorns kick off their season against the South Florida Bulls on September 5th.
The Longhorns have already started to put a plan in place for a return for their student athletes in preparation for the upcoming football season. Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte stated that the students would return in two waves.
- First wave: upperclassmen who live off campus will arrive on June 8th and workouts start on June 15th.
- Second wave: underclassmen living on campus arrive June 15th and workouts start June 22nd.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – the health and safety of our student-athletes is absolutely our top priority. All of the workouts will be held outside at Denius Fields, three days a week and in small groups. No other athletics facilities will be used at this time. Everything will be closely monitored by our Sports Medicine and Strength & Conditioning staffs and follow a stringent set of health and safety guidelines. It’s another positive step toward the 2020 Football season, and we’re extremely excited about that. – Texas AD Chris Del Conte via Forty Acres Insider