What SEC football will look like during the pandemic
Yes, we have football. But it will still look very different. But it isn’t all bad.
By: B&S Staff
Photo: UGA WIRE/USA Today
You can bet it won’t look like this.
Well, despite the best efforts of the BIG10 and COVID-19, the SEC football season is nearly upon us. Fingers crossed the season goes off without a hitch and the SEC, ACC and BIG 12 will pull this off. Of course, this is no normal season though. Without diving into the full schedule changes, we’ll take a quick look at what the SEC football season might look like during the pandemic. Tailgates, fans, bands, the pageantry, and everything else that goes along with our beloved sport will be different.
Of course, all stadiums are limiting capacity. Current numbers show:
Alabama: 20 percent (20,364 fans)
Arkansas: 21 – 23 percent (15,960 – 17,480 fans)
Auburn: 20 percent (17,490 fans)
Florida: 20 percent (17,000 fans)
Georgia: 20 – 25 percent (18,549 – 23,186 fans)
LSU: 25 percent (25,580 fans)
Miss State: 25 percent (15,334 fans)
Ole Miss: 25 percent (16,009 fans)
Mizzou: 25 percent (15,655 fans)
South Carolina: 20 percent (16,050 fans)
Tennessee: 20 percent (20,491 fans)
Texas A&M: 25 percent (25,683 fans)
Vanderbilt: 0%, no fans starting out
Kentucky has yet to announce official stadium capacities for the upcoming season, but assuming they are around 20-25%, that’ll put them around 15,000 fans. And no one goes to Vandy games anyways so little will change in Nashville. Obviously, this drastically changes the game day experience on every other SEC campus. Homefield advantage will be greatly diminished and borderline irrelevant, outside of the travel. No more deafening night games in Death Valley, Kyle Field, The Swamp, Rocky Top, etc. I don’t see 25,000 fans getting into anyone's head or causing miscommunication, but I hope I'm proven wrong. The restrictions for bands are a bit more foggy, but no bands will travel to away games and there will be no on field performances pre-game or at half time. Some schools may still have the bands in the stands to play during the game, but we’ll see. Might be too much spit flying out of the tuba to be safe according to school presidents.
Secondly, with so little fans going - what will the tailgate scene look like? A hallowed tradition on campuses across the South will look wayyy different this year. Can you imagine a socially distanced Grove in Oxford or Quad in Tuscaloosa? It makes me want to puke and cry at the same time. Yet, here we are. Campuses are currently in the process of rolling out tailgate guidelines and rules, but just know it will be nothing like what we are used to. Even if a university has no restrictions (highly unlikely) how many people will make the trip to campus if they don't have a ticket? How many fans will make road trips to see their team battle an SEC foe on the road? Some brave souls might be dedicated to the tailgate enough to go, but obviously it will not be anywhere near the typical amount, especially for road trips. A lot of backyard tailgates are coming your way this fall. Whether that means staying at home or going to your gameday air bnb and staying put until game time (if you are lucky enough to have a ticket), who knows.
We all know this will be a college football season that no one will ever forget. Hell, it almost seems like a miracle we are even playing given how dire things looked a few weeks back. The most important thing is that we will have football this fall, even if it isn't what we are used to. So if you can't go to your team's game this fall don't worry. Fire up the pit, throw on some meat, crack open some ice cold Miller Lites, buckle into your favorite lawn chair or recliner, and soak up SEC football on TV, all while mocking the BIG10 for being a bunch of L7 weenies. Just think-- no gameday traffic? No Ubers? No afternoon kickoff when it's 100 degrees in early September? No more going to your old undergrad watering hole to find it filled with what appear to be a bunch of 18 year old wanna be influencers and douchebags? Maybe this won't be all that bad! Just cold beer from the cooler, meat sweats and Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson’s voices echoing through your home.