Michigan State University President Samuel Stanley said this week that he could see a scenario in which college football returns this fall with limited fans in attendance amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Stanley appeared on WKAR’s “MSU Today” show on Tuesday to talk about a number of topics, including the return of the school’s biggest money-making sport in the fall. “I think there are ways that this could be done,” he said. “It involves frequent testing of players, coaches and trainers to make sure they’re free of COVID-19 infection.
“It involves physical distancing and making sure anyone who comes on the field doesn’t show any evidence that they’re infected with the virus. If you get there, then I think you can play. Then the next question becomes whether we can have fans in the stands. We would be outside and that reduces risk. And we can spread people six feet apart. Managing the entering and exiting of the stadium is one of the most difficult things to handle. The critical thing will be for all of us to wear masks.”
Spreading fans out to maintain social distancing would of course limit capacity. Numbers ranging from 20 to 30 percent of Spartan Stadium’s 75,005-seat capacity have been bandied about as potential targets, including by athletic director Bill Beekman.
Athletes from football, basketball, and volleyball will be allowed to return to campus for voluntary workouts on June 15. They will undergo two rounds of COVID-19 testing, requiring two negative tests to begin working out.
Stanley also recently announce that students at Michigan State would be returning to campus for the fall semester before turning back to virtual classes after Thanksgiving break on Nov 23.
