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College Football's New Headache: Deciding Who Can Attend Games

5,183 Views | 43 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by TexAgs91
Iraq2xVeteran
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Big programs realize they can't let 100,000 people watch football together. But who has to stay home?

When the coronavirus pandemic shut down American sports in March, college football had the benefit of time. The season doesn't start until about Labor Day, and many schools optimistically forged ahead as if their game days would be business as usual.

But today, the season is just two months away. The virus is surging strongly, especially in places, like the South, where college football is king. University administrators are coming to grips with an unhappy reality: the biggest stadiums in the U.S. are going to look pretty lonely on Saturday afternoons.

That raises a very uncomfortable question for universities: how to decide which fans will make the cut if stadium capacity is limited. The answer is not straightforward, as colleges have to balance alumni relations, corporate partnerships, student well-being and, of course, their bottom lines.

Ole Miss was among the first universities to detail its plans for football games, promising its season-ticket holders in a June 9 memo that "our hope is to have a full Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the entire 2020 season." In reality, the university is less certain it can pull that off, according to chief financial officer Wesley Owen.

Many universities are coming up with creative solutions to milk money from their alumni bases. Texas A&M will give season-ticket holders the opportunity to donate the cost of their seats should capacity restrictions prevent them from attending, a strategy the Aggies also used for the canceled spring baseball season.

I read the print version of this Wall Street Journal article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-footballs-new-headache-deciding-who-can-attend-games-11593522000
Farmer @ Johnsongrass, TX
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Easy fix. Just cancel the season. No worries of injustices or inequalities expressed to alumni by the University selecting who gets to go and who has to stay at home. Someone being left off the invitee list is a potential lawsuit for being discriminated against. You know, no justice, no peace. ........ Of course, what I just wrote I don't subscribe to, accept for cancel the season part. I just wanted to see if I could write like a liberal.
spherical
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I'm rooting for students to get some priority :-/ but I get that that monetarily it won't make sense for the town
spherical
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Farmer @ Johnsongrass, TX said:

Easy fix. Just cancel the season. No worries of injustices or inequalities expressed to alumni by the University selecting who gets to go and who has to stay at home. Someone being left off the invitee list is a potential lawsuit for being discriminated against. You know, no justice, no peace. ........ Of course, what I just wrote I don't subscribe to, accept for cancel the season part. I just wanted to see if I could write like a liberal.


This is a really weird boycott
DustysLineup
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Pointless to worry about a boycott. At this point, it's a giant question if the games are played with fans.

I agree on giving students some priority if the games do happen with fans in attendance.
TexanJeff
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I'm going.

Even if I have to join an organization to work at MacAllisters and then quit during the game every game.
spherical
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Harry Lime said:

Pointless to worry about a boycott.


Oh yeah- I agree
Oscar Diggs
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Iraq2xVeteran said:

Many universities are coming up with creative solutions to milk money from their alumni bases. Texas A&M will give season-ticket holders the opportunity to donate the cost of their seats should capacity restrictions prevent them from attending, a strategy the Aggies also used for the canceled spring baseball season.
Any thoughts on how this is going to play out?
W
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the TMF will need to get moving on this soon.

i.e. coming up with the formula for which donors get to attend which games and in which seats
Iraq2xVeteran
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Back in May, Texas A&M officials have informally listened to guidance from an architectural firm to map out a "socially distanced seating chart" for their famous venue. Concessions and restrooms are among the more mundane gameday functions that are being rethought.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-football-prepares-for-a-tough-matchup-tradition-vs-coronavirus-11589716801
Hawk2007
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I usually try to attend a game or two every season, but not this year at Kovid Field.
UrbanDecay
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All Texags posters are equal but some are more equal than others.
Ginormus Ag
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haybob15 said:

Maybe concessions won't run out of stuff this year.


We know that's not possible. I guarantee somehow it will be worse.
Username checks out.
Nebules
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Going to all the effort to social-distance seating while allowing people to wait in line for concessions seems counter-productive. They should let folks bring in their own food and water.

And bathrooms? I have no idea how they're going to keep this from corrupting the scheme.

And then there are lines get through gates, ramps, elevators, escalators, where everyone is going to naturally going to bunch together (it's a line to get into a football game ~ everyone's excited to some degree).

And imagine the poor souls tasked with managing capacities in all these areas, having to deal with peoples' emotions that are all over the place, particularly the angry or arrogant people that think social distancing is for everyone else, and who can go wherever they please since they're paying customers.

threeanout
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I am not really in the donating mood right now.
amercer
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The easy solution would be to tell the olds to watch on TV and space the students out in the stadium. Lowest risk, easiest to implement.

LB12Diamond
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Just call it a protest. Than the stadium can be full.
JPK89
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Regarding students I think that's easy. Seniors have priority since it's their last season as a student.
who?mikejones
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The higher the risk you are, the lower your priority should be
Snake
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How about just let the people who have tickets decide if they want to go or not. Their life. Their decision based on their perception of risk. Problem solved.
AggieAces06
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Donation better not be the only option for those who don't make the attendance list. No tickets for me means I want my money back.

After the offseason if we get a option to sign up for tickets or a refund, I will be going for the refund.
lotoarmy
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AggieAces06 said:

Donation better not be the only option for those who don't make the attendance list. No tickets for me means I want my money back.

After the offseason if we get a option to sign up for tickets or a refund, I will be going for the refund.
Let Kellen Mond make up the difference.
Last of the Old Army
Ginormus Ag
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How about this, everyone that can play and go to games in the fall does. Everyone that didn't play or go to games can go to those same games rescheduled in the spring of 2021. Two football seasons. You miss one you can go to the next one. Or you can go to both. Double the revenue, double the fun. Some seniors can get super senior years. And, year around football. It is what we need right now.
Username checks out.
fightintxaggie10
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I want Fuego
33
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Why does anyone want to attend a game? Stay home, watch it on TV.
"So long as an opinion is strongly rooted in the feelings, it gains rather than loses in stability by having a preponderating weight of argument against it."

- John Stuart Mill, 1869
Hawk2007
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threeanout said:

I am not really in the donating mood right now.


That's what I'm afraid of.

Even if the stadium were to play every game at 100% capacity, the donating fanbase is more likely to be a part of the high-risk populations. So, some will keep the donation amount and just not go, or just cancel the donation altogether.

Now with Sully.... I'm sure the Soros Foundation or any number of woke millenials will be happy to cover the budget shortfall.
TXAG 05
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AggieAces06 said:

Donation better not be the only option for those who don't make the attendance list. No tickets for me means I want my money back.

After the offseason if we get a option to sign up for tickets or a refund, I will be going for the refund.


I'm sure it will be refund, donation, or push the money to next years seats.
Hawk2007
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33 said:

Why does anyone want to attend a game? Stay home, watch it on TV.


Nothing can replicate a true college gameday atmosphere at home. However, A/C, cold drinks, BBQ, and being able to pull up several live games on iPads, laptops, as well as, my main TV.... again, nothing beats a real Kyle Field gameday... but it's not entirely a waste to stay at home.
Ag4coal
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Figures. Everyone here should have known the world was ending when they saw how great the schedule was for 2020.
bwmammoth
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Make Kyle BYOB this season!

twk
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AggieAces06 said:

Donation better not be the only option for those who don't make the attendance list. No tickets for me means I want my money back.

After the offseason if we get a option to sign up for tickets or a refund, I will be going for the refund.

The writer of the article left off a bit, regarding the baseball policy

Quote:

Many universities are coming up with creative solutions to milk money from their alumni bases. Texas A&M will give season-ticket holders the opportunity to donate the cost of their seats should capacity restrictions prevent them from attending, a strategy the Aggies also used for the canceled spring baseball season.
In fact, baseball season ticket holders were offered: (1) a pro rata cash refund; (2) the option to roll the credit over to next season; or, (3) the option to donate. I took option #2.
West Point Aggie
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In March, April and May I was convinced the season would happen...and that the fear would have subsided. Given that it is an election year and the narrative seems to be "keep even everyone as scared as possible" there isn't a single program out there willing to endure the mass abuse that would be bestowed upon them.

Would not surprise me if after a 1/4 the semester it all goes back to online...
74AnimalA
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Harry Lime said:

Pointless to worry about a boycott. At this point, it's a giant question if the games are played with fans.

I agree on giving students some priority if the games do happen with fans in attendance.
You think they would show up on time, and stay the whole game?

Wonder how long the Regular Season Ticket holders are going to be willing to continue to subsidize their ticket costs. I believe they only pay half price, thanks to the Former Student ticket holders.
JustisWalkert
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https://cbs4indy.com/news/coronavirus/little-evidence-that-protests-spread-covid-19-in-us/

"There is little evidence that the protests that erupted after George Floyd's death caused a significant increase in U.S. coronavirus infections, according to public health experts."

So why should we be concerned about spreading COVID-19 at a football game?
Southlake
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who?mikejones said:

The higher the risk you are, the lower your priority should be
The whole West side will be empty...
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