Arkansas planning for the best, preparing for the worst for 2020 football
Schools and football programs around the nation have begun making plans. Legit plans with concrete dates, rejoice!
The return to campus date for student athletes in the SEC has been announced as June 8 and there are detailed strategies in place to keep them as safe as possible on campus while doing voluntary workouts. What isn't so clear yet, however, is how universities will tackle attendance for games.
Unlike some schools that are acting separately from their conference, like Iowa State which announced they're planning for 50% capacity this season, Arkansas is working with the SEC–and they're taking their time.
Given how rapidly new information is coming out about the coronavirus and how much has changed over the past two months, Yurachek is hoping more time will help solve the attendance question.
"What we have decided to discuss as an SEC leadership group is that we want to get as far into the summer as we can to make decisions about the capacity in our venues at the start of our season and things of that nature," Yurachek said Wednesday to reporters.
"I will tell you that our number one priority right now is, in what we’re preparing for, is to have full capacity in each of our athletic venues this fall. What I will tell you is that we also have plans in the background, preparations in the background that are being made if we have to limit capacity -- whatever that may look like -- in any of our venues."
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium has an official capacity of 76,000 fans but only had an average of 70% capacity at home games last season. That capacity average is also inflated as it was calculated based on paid attendance numbers, not through the gate numbers, which are not provided by the University.
Arkansas's worst attended game last season was against Western Kentucky, Chad Morris's final game. Approximately 43,600 fans bought tickets and even fewer came through the gates.
As of May 27, Arkansas has sold 31,00 season tickets for the 2020 season, which is well below 50% capacity in DWRRS. Because deciding who would and who wouldn't get to attend games is pretty difficult, the Razorbacks are putting a freeze on single-game ticket purchases, for now. The University hopes to make a decision in conjunction with the SEC and local government around mid July.
"We don’t want to sell thousands of single-game tickets to our SEC games and then have to refund that money or decide which of those patrons cannot attend the games," Yurachek said. "And so, that’s probably the only measure we have taken to date until we really determine what that capacity looks like.
"Obviously we’ve got to allow people to make plans so let’s say if we had a limited capacity and it is less than the 31,000 season tickets that we’ve sold, we’re going to have to have some type of system where we allow a certain number of those 31,000 season ticket holders into the venue on Sept. 5. I think you’ve got to give a couple of weeks notice."
While student athletes are allowed back on campus on June 8, regular students are still at home doing their online classes. The plan is to return to on-campus learning in the fall, but if that plan falls through, Yurachek says they haven't ruled out the possibility of playing football even without students on campus.
Students do not begin enrolling to receive student section tickets until August, so there's still quite a while until the program needs to make a decision about their attendance.
"Obviously, if our students are on campus, which they are expected to be this fall, we will make accommodations to have a certain number of students at our athletic venues to support our student athletes," Yurachek said.
Many fans are wondering if they're allowed in the stadium, what type of screening and protective protocols will be in place. Yurachek said he doesn't have a definitive plan yet but they're approaching the problem from all different angles.
"We’re taking a look at from the minute you arrive on campus. We shuttle roughly 10,000 fans per football game from outlying lots to our stadium. And so, what does that look like from a shuttle bus capacity?" Yurachek said.
"And then how do we queue people in line when they arrive at the gate. Do we have, just go to straight electronic ticket where there’s not a paper ticket that you provide. How do we queue you in line for concessions? I think it’s unrealistic to think we can, especially in the hot September, that we can take a temperature of a fan that may have walked a few 100 yards to get to the stadium and that be an adequate reflection of whether or whether or not they may exhibit a symptom, so I think that’s highly unlikely."
Though temperature checks are unlikely, since CDC guidelines recommend masks in any area where it is difficult to maintain six feet of distance, it's probable, unless something changes, that masks will be strongly recommended in any sporting venue for the foreseeable future.
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Yurachek details plan for student-athletes' return to Arkansas