The Wisconsin Badgers will kick off their 2020 football season on October 24 against the Illinois Fighting Illini with at least some fans in attendance.
The fans, though, won’t be the student section we’re used to and 80,000 people packed into the bleachers. As reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, the program will only allow family members of players and staff members at the games, amounting to approximately 1,000 people watching live.
You can look at SEC and Big 12 schools and their 15,000-plus fans watching the games and notice a significant difference in the product. This decision, though, wasn’t up to the Big Ten schools and states in which they play, but instead was made by the conference after it reinstated the season in mid-September.
Campus planning director Gary Brown mentioned that neighboring parking lots will be closed and city spokesperson Shiva Bidar noted that city bars will be able to open their outside areas but with strict restrictions.
Bidar also mentioned house parties as an issue to monitor when the season begins.
There will be no jumping around at Camp Randall this season or an a cappella rendition of Build Me Up Buttercup. The Badgers are playing football, though, after an entire month of it seeming impossible.
23 days until football is back in Madison, Wisconsin