The Cowboy’s first home football game kicks off against Hawaii at 7:45 p.m. on October 30 amid increased COVID-19 cases in Albany County. The 2020 season games will have multiple COVID-19 guidelines in place.
“Fans will be provided an information sheet with COVID guidelines on it regarding social distancing guidelines and face coverings prior to entrance to the stadium,” said Tim Harkins, Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations, Public Relations and Broadcasting.
“Fans will be informed they need to wear a facing covering at all times to match the overall University of Wyoming policy regarding face coverings. Students will have to have met the campus testing requirements and can’t be in a quarantine or isolation status to be able to use the game ticket they claimed earlier this month to gain entrance to the stadium. There will not be tailgating allowed at games this season, and the former Pepsi Pregame Zone in the Indoor Practice Facility will not be held on game days this season,” said Harkins.
Harkins said the only time individuals in the stadium will be allowed to remove their masks is when they are eating or drinking.
According to Harkins, gameday security will be monitoring and reminding fans to use face coverings during the game.
“For fans who do not bring a face covering, we will be handing out face coverings at entrances to the stadium,” said Harkins.
The Wyoming Department of Health and UW determined only 7,000 fans would be allowed at the game. According to Harkins, this number includes 1,000 student tickets.
“Fans were only allowed to buy 1, 2 or 4 tickets to match their family or social unit, with the maximum being 4 for any one group. Those seats are social distanced throughout the stadium,” said Harkins.
The stadium capacity is 29,181 people total. Harkins said only 7,000 tickets were for sale including the thousand set aside for students who paid their appropriate student fees to qualify.
“On the visiting sideline, there is a 10-foot concrete pad between the visiting team bench area and the stands that will provide social distancing on the visiting sideline. The first row of seats on the visiting sideline will also be kept vacant and no one will be allowed to stand near the railing behind the visiting team bench to maintain distance between fans and the Hawaii players. There is also an extremely limited number of administrative personnel for each team allowed on the field level this year to help create a bubble around both teams,” said Harkins.
According to Harkins, the Mountain West Conference is requiring student athletes and athletic staff to be tested three times a week.
“In the student section, covers have been installed on alternating rows of seats to provide for social distancing in the student section. The first three rows on the student side will be kept vacant and no one will be allowed to stand on the railing behind the Wyoming team bench to maintain distance between the fans and the Wyoming players,” said Harkins.
According to a poll conducted on social media, 80% of Laramie residents/students do not believe that the game will have safe COVID-19 restrictions.
Seth McGee, a Laramie resident, said, “I respect and understand the desire to have public gatherings such as this, but with the drastic increase in cases, it shows that people can’t on their own choose to be safe about preventing the infection from spreading. It’s also negligent to do so with that uptick in cases as well.”
Nicole Foss, a graduate student in the English department, agreed that people might not follow guidelines.
“I think it is frankly hopeful to the point of being ridiculous to think that people will follow safety precautions at the football game. And even if they do, I’m really not sure it will matter,” said Foss.
“A gathering of that size is dangerous during a pandemic whether or not people are told to be safe. There will be a certain number of people who won’t follow the rules and that will put everyone in danger. Many of the available guidelines caution people against attending large gatherings because they aren’t safe. I certainly won’t be attending the game and I would be very uncomfortable being around anyone who did attend for at least two weeks afterward,” said Foss.
According to Harkins, if an outbreak occurs, the situation will be evaluated at that time.
