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This isn't political. How do you all see the fans at games issue shaking out? Andy Staples had a good article in The Athletic (subscription) detailing how it may be all or nothing.

This is because letting in a few folks might be bad for customer service. I think the masses will descend and party outside stadiums if not allowed inside.

If..and a big if...the NCAA allows football this fall, I just cannot see the big crowds in the stands for a full season. A large part of the crowd that buys season tickets are part of the vulnerable age and compromised systems that are susceptible to the virus. The reason the virus has not stampeded thru the population is that a lot of old folks (like me) have stayed in and limited our exposure to the general public. If local governments and universities allow large crowds to gather outside stadiums, they will open themselves up to a lot of lawsuits.

Do I want to see games? Yes. Do I want a crowd of fans crowded into close quarters screaming and yelling, spreading the virus to all around? No.

I think the only way to limits fans is by lottery pick with no money changing hands. If you pit the rich, well-heeled fan against the poor, it will drive resentment toward the AD and university/college. Better to wait until spring when a treatment may be available.

Attendence has already been dropping for years, partly due to cost but also I think even more due to HDTV tech.  I think this will just exacerbate that.

CFB is pricing itself out of business, in a sense. Despite years of declining attendance, the costs of tickets keep going up...even though every game is now on TV and 65" HDTVs can be afforded on almost any budget. For night games, I purchased myself an HD projector and 12-foot screen so I can sit at my fire pit and watch the game and eat BBQ fresh from the smoker...and the setup cost me less than $500. It's an entry-level setup, sure, but it's still 1080p resolution and a huge screen. A few years ago, a setup like that would've been cost-prohibitive for most Americans.

College sports administrators are in a pickle because college football has become such an arms race ... not just from a facilities standpoint, but from a coaches' salaries standpoint, recruiting budgets, the whole shebang.

I love the atmosphere and pageantry of a college football Saturday. But I haven't bought season tickets in several years and I pick and choose the games I go to a lot more carefully these days. When I do the math, it costs me hundreds of dollars for my family of 4 to go to a single game...not just the ticket costs, but $40 to park, the overpriced concessions that are inevitable (even if it's just water), the gas, etc. It's just not justifiable, especially when you can watch every game from the comforts of home.

I'm with Creek.

There was a time if I didn't make that trek from West Tn to Knoxville I thought it was a wasted weekend even if the game was on TV....Did it for years and as I was coaching HS football. I'd leave home after a Friday night game around midnight and drive to Nashville and spend the night with family....Head to Knoxville with buddies the next morning...if it was a day game most of time we'd drive back to Nashville and I'd leave for West Tn the next morning and be at our coaching film session at 5pm on Sunday. I gave up my season tickets in 1995 when my son played college football for 4 years and I was going to follow him....Thought I'd get back into it when his college days were over but found it too easy to stay home...Been to games just a few times since then and haven't missed it. I had my fun for several years but age  and enjoying sitting in my recliner....beer fridge and bathroom just 30 feet away just made more sense.  :biggrin:

Hey Creek, what'd you do for audio on your outdoor setup?  Just curious.

I hear you folks about the cost of attending a game. Yet the kids that get their asses kicked every week in practice and games do not make anything other than their scholarship value. I have always been against playing college athlete's. Now i am having second thoughts. My biggest issue is how do you pay college athletes fairly? And what about the girls? They will want their piece of the pie too.

My biggest regret was not paying a little more and getting a projector with Bluetooth capability. But I use a Tailgater speaker that I picked up pretty cheap at Walmart.

Your setup sounds pretty good, assuming it doesn't rain.  Might be something I can do.

My Tailgator just died, I can no longer find them at my WM. It was a great product!   :patriot:    :powert: