Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith gave an interview to multiple reporters on Wednesday in which he said his school had social distancing models which suggested they could fit upwards of 20,000 people into Ohio Stadium for games this fall, with 40 or even 50,000 fans possible if “guidelines are relaxed.”
Ohio Stadium’s capacity is usually a bit over 100,000.
“We’re fortunate, with 100,000 seats in the stadium,” he said. “So could we implement the current CDC guidelines, state guidelines around physical distancing, mask requirements and all those types of things in an outdoor environment and have obviously significantly less fans than we are used to? I think it’s possible.”
By the letter of the law, Smith is right. In practice, however, what he’s saying is absolutely ridiculous.
Let me be beyond clear at the top here: I have no idea how many people can safely fit together in a stadium in the time of coronavirus. As weather warms up, perhaps the virus’ impact could be deadened. As it’s outside and well ventilated, it’s entirely possible that there is a way to do this in a way that won’t cause a massive outbreak.
But that’s the thing: We don’t know! We have no idea. I’ve read as much as anyone and no one has any consensus on this stuff.
The Ohio State model appears to take social distance guidelines of people being six feet apart and then figures out how to cram as many people as possible in the stadium with it still being possible for them to remain six feet apart.
That is ludicrous. If you put 20,000 people in that stadium, they will not all magically move around six feet apart from one another, unless you put them all in those inner tube contractions they have at that one outside bar in Ocean City. I … do not think they’ll be doing that at an Ohio State game.
What happens in line for food? What happens in bathrooms? Will you only admit a couple people into a bathroom at a time? You’re going to do that in a stadium with tens of thousands of people?
Again, I have no idea if it’s safe or not to put a bunch of people in stadiums. But citing these “models” and suggesting that it would be safe to fit 20,000 people in a stadium because they’d all adhere to socially distant guidelines is at best naive and at worst misleading. This isn’t how people act. We don’t exist in magical bubbles, and Ohio State should know that.
