Alumni Stadium Attendance Will Be Reduced in 2020, No Fans for Opener
Along with the ACC’s updated weekly schedule release, Boston College Athletics announced that the Eagles’ season opener against Ohio will be held without fans.
Last week, the department published a statement, in which it declared that Alumni Stadium’s capacity (44,500 seats) would be reduced for the 2020 season. That remains true, and if tickets are indeed sold this fall, BC Athletics will first need approval from state and local officials for each individual game. In other words, ticket sale approval will go on a week-by-week basis.
“We continue to work closely with campus leaders, the Atlantic Coast Conference, and local, state, and federal public health authorities, in determining our plans to provide the safest environment possible inside Alumni Stadium for our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans,” new Athletic Director Pat Kraft said on July 29, via BCEagles.com.
“We will continue to engage with all parties as we move closer to the season, as safety is the top priority. We will communicate with our ticket holders and fans as soon as we have updates.”
For the time being, season ticket holders and Flynn Fund donors have a few options. They can request a refund, put their season ticket payments toward the 2021 season, or convert their season ticket payment to a tax-deductible donation to BC’s 31 varsity teams.
Other Power Five programs are taking different approaches. On one hand, Florida State announced Thursday that attendance will be curtailed in accordance with CDC guidelines. The capacity of Doak Campbell Stadium (79,560) will be limited to somewhere between 20-25%. Even at 20% capacity, Doak can seat up to 15,912 people.
To put that in perspective, that’s only 3,205 fewer fans than BC-Maryland pulled for the 2016 Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field. Perhaps a more helpful comparison is that BC’s non-conference games at Alumni Stadium the past few years have generally drawn between 25-35,000 fans (with the Holy Cross and Temple games in 2018 being notable exceptions).
On the other end of the spectrum, you have Penn State. The Nittany Lions have already closed the door on in-game attendance in 2020, unless there’s a change in state orders. Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour cited Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s guidance to limit gatherings to 250 people for outside events, as reported by Centre Daily Times.
The Nittany Lions play in Beaver Stadium, the second-largest college football stadium in the country (seats 106,572). In a letter to season ticket holders, Penn State stated that “our revenue losses will be in the high eight figures, reaching nine figures in the case of no competition,” according to The Athletic’s Audrey Snyder.
BC is slated to play six home games this season. The Eagles will host Ohio (Sept. 12), North Carolina (Oct. 3), Pittsburgh (Oct. 10), Georgia Tech (Oct. 24), Notre Dame (Nov. 14), and Louisville (Nov. 27).
BC Athletics stated on Thursday that more ticket information will be disclosed in the coming days.