Clemson Football: What we know about stadium capacity limits for 2020

What we know about Clemson football stadium capacity limits for 2020

There are some major questions as we stand just a little more than a month out from the expected start of the 2020 Clemson football season.

As the Clemson football team prepares for kickoff and has begun going through fall camp, there are plenty of concerns pertaining to the season itself.

The biggest, of course, is if we’ll even have a season. While College Football officials seemingly trudge forward with plans of playing, many others are skeptical when it comes to the play-ability of a season at all due to various factors caused by the pandemic.

Even if there is a season, there are major doubts about the number of fans we’ll see in the stands across the country.

Despite that, Clemson Athletic Director Dan Radakovich has remained hopeful and has said that the Tigers still plan to have fans in the stands this coming fall. That being said, there are numerous signs pointing to an extremely reduced capacity limit for the upcoming Clemson football season.

Could we see a Clemson football game a half- or even less than half- capacity this fall?

While we haven’t heard anything official from Clemson football yet as it relates to fans, we do know one thing: There will be at least limited capacity and many season ticket holders will be left out, according to the letter from IPTAY earlier this week.

Several other collegiate programs have expressed their early plans for the season in respect to attendance and that is something we can at least use as a barometer for where the Tigers are at attendance-wise.

The Texas A&M Athletic Department has said that it plans to have 50 percent capacity at games this fall. That would mean that Kyle Field would have right around 55,000 in attendance. In the same state, just about a week ago, Texas interim president  Jay Hartzell sent out a campus-wide email saying they were currently looking at 25 percent capacity for games.

Up north, Ohio State announced plans to cap attendance at 20 percent, which would allow around 21,000 fans to enter the stadium. Currently, however, Ohio is under a government mandate that wouldn’t allow any fans in the stadium for contact sports.

Just down the road from Clemson, Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity told the Macon Telegraph that the school is planning to have fans at home games, but didn’t mention a number. McGarity also said that a season isn’t certain at this point.

Overall, what this means for attendance at Clemson football games is pretty simple: It’s still up in the air.

Could we see the Tigers shoot for that 50 percent mark? Absolutely. Could we see much more of a reduced crowd- like 20, 15 or even 10 percent? Yes. Could we end up seeing the season started with no fans at all in attendance. Yes, that’s on the table too.

Clemson will have to make decisions soon, as will the rest of College Football in reference to a whole host of issues, and it will be interesting to see exactly what happens this season when it’s all said and done.