Medical Experts Offer Differing Opinions on Whether LSU, College Football Should Have Fans in 2020

LSU will adjust Gameday guidelines based on how early games are handled

LSU will officially welcome fans to Death Valley for the 2020 season as the athletic department announced on Wednesday that Tiger Stadium will open at 25% capacity. It's a decision that has taken months of planning, even when it looked like the college football season was in a dire position about a month ago. 

Tiger Stadium can hold at full capacity 103,321 and at 25%, it means 25,580 fans will be allowed for the week one matchup against Mississippi State. Everyone from governor John Bel Edwards to athletic director Scott Woodward are on board with the detailed plan released this week. 

Some of the major gameday changes include required face masks, no tailgating of any sort, the band will be limited to the stands, no alcohol sales will be permitted and all concessions will consist of only pre-packaged foods to go. 

“By reducing the capacity and taking a year off from tailgating, which puts LSU in line with other SEC schools, the plan allows for fans to be socially distanced in Death Valley," Edwards said in a statement. "I encourage the Tiger faithful to adhere to these guidelines and to act responsibly, as there is still a lot of COVID in Louisiana. We will continue to monitor our case counts, test positivity rate and hospitalizations and make adjustments as necessary."

But there are some in the medical field who are hesitant on allowing over 25,000 fans into a stadium. In a recent story from Sports Illustrated, some medical experts are worried that football games could become "super spreaders" of COVID-19. 

“It’s really dangerous,” Thomas Huard, chief clinical laboratory advisor at the Texas-based Campus Health Project told SI. “It’s going to create spread. People don’t social distance even though the seats are spread apart. You go to the bathroom, hot dog stand, beer stand. I think it’s a disaster.”

The average capacity allowed across stadiums in the SEC is 22.8%, or 19,400 fans so LSU's allowed capacity is a little above the conference average. The guidelines implemented by the SEC and LSU should rectify some of the concerns medical experts like Huard have. But will it totally eradicate them?

Other medical experts, like Sankar Swaminathan, chief of the infectious diseases department at the Utah School of Medicine, believe outdoor stadiums where fans can wear masks limits the exposure. Swaminathan serves on the Pac-12 medical advisory board--one of the two Power 5 conferences not playing this fall--and said while it can be done, it also takes great discipline from fans.

“If you have an outdoor stadium and fans wear face coverings and are six feet apart and are careful about common areas and restrooms, the risk could be mitigated significantly,” Swaminathan told SI. “I think given the right circumstances, that would be managed, but it would require a great deal of discipline and enforcement.”

In order to keep long lines from forming outside of the stadium in pregame, LSU is working on entry procedures that will allow the allotted six-foot social distancing between fans. 

One concern school officials have in addition to ensuring the health and safety of the fans is the potential loss in revenue. Many Power 5 programs generate a good portion of revenue from ticket and concession sales as well as donations. 

Some athletic departments have had to make cuts with their sports programs because of the financial instability but Woodward said while LSU expects to lose money this fall, he doesn't foresee having to cut any sports.

"I’m an optimistic guy. I’m glass half-full kind of guy and I’m just amazed that we could get to this point with a lot of hard work and a lot of stipulations in place to make sure we can do it safely, that we can do it in a healthy fashion,” Woodward said on Hangin' with Hester and Hanny.

It's clear that each fan who is allowed to attend the games will need to follow the rules with an abundance of caution for the plan to work. Like Bel Edwards alluded to, these guidelines can change for the better or the worse as the season progresses.