Husky Stadium Will Be at Full Capacity for Coming Season

The facility seats up to 70,083 and the school again will be able to fill it.

The University of Washington athletic department announced on Tuesday that Husky Stadium will be at 100 percent capacity when the football season opens on September 4 against Montana, the first of seven home games.

The news comes at the same time the Seattle Seahawks said it will welcome its fans back to Lumen Field with no crowd limitations, with the state lifting COVID-19 restrictions by the end of this month.

Husky Stadium, which seats up to 70,083, was an empty facility last fall when the UW hosted four home games during the height of the pandemic. Only the teams, media and essential stadium personnel were permitted inside. That will change in two months.

"Championship fans are essential to a championship program," UW athletic director Jennifer Cohen said. "We have a great home schedule this year, and we can't wait to have our loud, passionate and loyal Dawg fans back in Husky Stadium."

The school began welcoming fans inside during selected spring practices in April and the May 1 spring game, distributing 9,000 tickets for the latter, though the eventual crowd appeared to be much smaller.

UW officials will put single-game football tickets on sale on July 23, but is currently pursuing season-ticket holders, with seat prices starting at $235.

Husky second-year coach Jimmy Lake, who has yet to serve as the head man in front of stadium crowd, likewise was upbeat about the news.


"We can't wait to have our fans back at Husky Stadium," Lake said. "We need this place packed and rocking!"

While fans will be welcome back, the school said it will continue to follow all university, county and state county guidelines regarding the waning pandemic in hosting the games.


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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.