How Ariz. HS football stadiums will look this fall
They’ll be spread out. They’ll be in masks. They’ll cheer.
It won’t be a normal Friday night under the lights this Arizona high school fall football season.
But if it’s go time in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, expects fans.
“We can do it safely,” Florence district superintendent Chris Knutsen said.
Last May, the Florence district held high school in-person graduation ceremonies, and, in June, a big track and field meet with fans. Knutsen said, to his knowledge, nobody came down with COVID-19.
To have fans or not for high school football games during the regular season will be up to the schools.
“Fans during the regular season will be a local decision,” David Hines, executive director of the Arizona Interscholastic
Association, texted.
Some schools have yet to get that far, taking a wait-and-see approach on how to let fans in, how many.
The AIA this week sent out guidelines for media to follow, putting media members on the sideline near the end zone and not cross into the line of players who will be spread out from the 10-yard lines on the 100-yard fields.
If football is still on, starting Oct. 2 with games, the Agua Fria Unified School District said it will allow 200 fans spaced out six feet apart.
The Tucson Unified School District is basing everything it does on the Pima County health officials’ advice when it comes to when to play and allowing fans to games. Those schools will follow what the health officials recommend.
Mesa Public Schools Athletic Director Steve Hogen said it’s still too soon to know what his schools will do regarding crowds at games.
Flagstaff Coconino AD Eric Freas said the district is meeting on this, but “we will most likely not be allowing any spectators at fall events and will be streaming everything.” He said that has not been finalized.
“Sidelines will be limited to players, coaches and athletic training staff only,” Freas added.
Knutsen, whose schools include Poston Butte and Florence, said that if Gov. Doug Ducey lifts the 50-person limit on gatherings, “we will allow four tickets per athlete, cheerleader and band member.”
“We will do everything we can to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” Knutsen said. “We will set up all families to be six feet apart and everyone will wear face masks. We will sit people on the track and in the stands with safe social distancing. We will also live stream the games for those who cannot attend.
“We will get a list of people from the visitor team and check ID’s upon entry.”
Smaller schools have smaller stands. But many have loyal fan bases, making it tough to say who can come in and who can’t.
“I hope that the AIA and county or state allows us to have fans in attendance,” Phoenix Arizona Lutheran Academy Athletic Director and football coach David Peter said. “The rule of thumb everywhere is to practice physical distancing and wear a mask when that’s not possible.
“If I can go to Walmart or Lowes and follow that rule, then high schools should be able to implement the same. One of the advantages of being a smaller school is that our crowd sizes are easier to handle. At this point, I don’t believe we would have a percentage on how many fans may attend. Our fans would be asked to wear a mask when distancing isn’t possible. If they don’t want to wear a mask, then they’d be able to sit or stand in certain areas around our track where more distancing may be possible.”
This isn’t an easy task for Phoenix Valley Lutheran, a 1A school that has to rent a field to play its games.
“Assuming that we will be playing at the beginning of October, the concept of having fans at games is complicated to say the least,” Phoenix Lutheran AD Bob Parsons said. “I can’t speak for other schools and athletic directors, but I would think that there are a number of us that were hopeful that the AIA would just make a decision for fan attendance at all fall sports. Apparently, that is not happening.”
Parsons said Valley Lutheran has various variable to consider. Will the schools it rents from be willing to rent to an outside party? Will they have their own guidelines on fan attendance?
“If there are no fans allowed, hosting a home football game is a losing proposition for our school and while it is sad to say, we’re better off financially playing most or all road games,” Parsons said. “I spoke with a fellow AD yesterday, and his thinking is that as of today we’re still in a phase where gatherings of no more than 50 are allowed or advisable.
“If that is the case, who decides or how do you decide which 50 people can attend? Even if that guideline goes up to 100 in the next phase, the same problem exists. I can see many schools having their own interpretation as to what is acceptable, which at least to me has the potential for a lot of chaos at games.
“The games themselves are going to be a challenge enough this season. It would just seem to make a lot of sense for the AIA to make the call so that all member schools are not making potentially hundreds of different policies for fan attendance.”