Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says state's FBS schools should not expect football capacity to be above 50%
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott spent an hour on a Zoom call Friday with the 12 athletics directors of the state's Football Bowl Subdivision schools and told them not to expect capacity at their stadiums to be above 50% this fall, a person with knowledge of the call told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make details of the meeting public.
As Texas re-opened amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Abbott had initially said sports stadiums would be allowed to operate at 25% of capacity. He revised that to 50% just a week later, giving rise to hopes that Texas would have a green light to potentially fill stadiums to capacity this fall.
But Abbott's message to the athletics directors was clear, according to the person with knowledge of the call: It would take either a vaccine or a drastic drop in cases for capacity to increase beyond 50% and that schools should not count on either development by the time the football season starts.
That guidance for the schools will have wide-ranging implications in the coming weeks and months. Texas A&M athletics director Ross Bjork and Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte had both expressed optimism in recent days that their stadiums would be full or close to full.
Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/sports/football/2020/06/14/texas-governor-college-football-capacity-coronavirus/3186338001/
I went to a Division III university, but the only time we exceeded 50% was when we played our first football game in 63 years and we only reached 54% capacity. If it does affect us this year it will be because the administration decided to delay spring commencement to Sunday of Homecoming weekend. With the recent graduates and their parents in town we should have strong attendance.
