After a season of limited attendance at football games, the athletic directors of both the University of Texas and Texas A&M University have said that they expect no such limits in 2021.
Both athletic directors — Chris Del Conte at Texas and Ross Bjork at A&M — used social media to suggest that football attendance will not be subject to capacity limits due to COVID-19 in 2021.
Del Conte’s comment came via Twitter, where user Ryan Sheiner asked whether UT would be allowing 100 percent attendance at games with fall with the assumption that “the majority of the country is vaccinated by the end of Summer.” Del Conte’s reply was brief.
“That’s our plan,” Del Conte tweeted.
That’s our plan https://t.co/0CemSqHt5E
— Chris Del Conte (@_delconte) February 23, 2021
KXAN reports that the tweet wasn’t the first indication that UT would plan for full capacity by fall.
“Texas Athletics is currently planning for attendance at 2021 home games to be at 100% seating capacity,” reads the FAQ section of the school’s athletics website. “We will continue to monitor local COVID-19 health and safety conditions in coordination with NCAA, Big 12, University, state, and local medical partners.”
Meanwhile, Bjork made his comments regarding capacity during football games during a Facebook Live event called the Aggie Town Hall.
“That is the plan as we sit here today. Full stadium, full season ticket allotment. 12th Man section, student section full,” Bjork said. “People are going to be vaccinated at a really, really high level. Those are all the projections right. The whole herd immunity. All those things we should be in a much better place, but if we have to pivot we know we can,” he concluded.
Both programs allowed a limited number of fans to attend games last season amid the pandemic, with 25 percent capacity allowed at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium and Kyle Field.
