Beekman says Spartan Stadium could play host to fans in 2020
A number of Midwestern athletic directors are becoming increasingly optimistic about college football being played this fall, and Michigan State’s Bill Beekman is among them.
Big Ten athletic directors, such as Iowa’s Gary Barta and Ohio State’s Gene Smith, have cited home attendance figures they hope to attain during the 2020 college football season, amid continued caution in the face of COVID-19. Beekman did not quote numbers during a recent email exchange with SpartanMag.com, but shares in their optimism.
“At this point we don’t have a specific number of people we think we’ll be able to accommodate in the stands,” Beekman told SpartanMag.com during the brief question-and-answer exchange, “so any specifics I might give would be unduly speculative.”
Beekman’s comments came at the end of a week in which Barta stated that full-capacity crowds at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium remain the goal. Smith told ESPN on Wednesday that Ohio State is considering models that would welcome 20,000 to 22,000 fans at Ohio Stadium under current social distancing guidelines, and up to 50,000 if guidelines are loosened.
Beekman indicated that a range of plans have been discussed at Michigan State.
“We are working on models that would accommodate spectators with required physical distancing,” Beekman said. “We’re also working on other measures to ensure the health and safety of spectators, assuming we are able to have them.”
Beekman stopped short of stating any hopes or plans for a full Spartan Stadium in 2020. If attendance is restricted and social distancing orders continue to be loosened in the state, demand for tickets could become strong. Beekman and his staff are investigating those scenarios and models as well.
“Appreciating that we are likely to have limited seating capacity, we will certainly need to prioritize,” Beekman said. “We will be working hard to accommodate as many people as possible, prioritizing our students, season ticket holders and major donors.”
Elsewhere in the Midwest, Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard said on Wednesday that his school is planning to have 50 percent of its stadium filled when the Cyclones kick off their season.
Conditions and heath guidelines differ in Iowa and Michigan, leading to differing outlooks on football in the fall, for now.
“We’re learning more every day,” Barta said during a teleconference on Thursday. “We have 100 more days (until football season) and my guess is we’re going to learn an awful lot between now and then. With all of that uncertainty, my staff and I are planning for several different scenarios. The scenarios might change by the hour, day or week, but as of today, we are still planning to open up Kinnick and have as many fans join us who want to join us. We haven’t closed that scenario down yet.”
(Jim Comparoni contributed to this report.)
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