Spectator increase coming Oct. 9
Whitmer, MHSAA clear theway for spectator increase starting Oct. 9
Fright nights are going to feel a little more normal in the coming weeks.
Following Gov. GretchenWhitmer’s Executive Order 183 last Friday, the Michigan High School Athletic Association announced on Wednesday that crowd sizes will be growing for sporting events starting Oct. 9.
This change will allow for bands and dance teams, along with more overall spectators, to bepresent at football games starting in Week 4 of the season.
“It’s going to remove the one participant gets two spectators (policy), that goes out the window,” MHSAA executive director Mark Uyl said on a radio appearance on ‘TheHuge Show’Wednesday.
“The most significant thing it does for outdoor is it opens up Friday night, at least for the last three regular-season weeks, for schools to include their dance teams, their pom-pon squads, the marching band. It just gives schools so much more flexibility to include those student groups that have been traditionally attached to the games.”
The MHSAA released new guidelines for attendance to its member schools as well.
For indoor sport events, the limit is 20 percent of the fixed seating capacity of the venue,
with a maximum of 500.
Outdoor events will have a limit of 30 percent of the venue’s fixed seating capacity, with amaximumof 1,000 allowed. Outdoor events without fixed seating like cross country and golf will be limited to nomore than 30 spectators per 1,000 square feet of
the facility. Thatwill also cap at 1,000 total attendees.
“No longer does a player have to pick the two people that go on their list,” Uyl said of the changes. “It just opens things up for families that are asplit family, orwheregrandparents are very involved, or aunts and uncles. They’re going tobeable tobe included.”
Ticket sales and distributionwill be up to each school to decide. In the case of presale tickets, schools will be
required for an equal 50-50 split of tickets between the home and visiting teams. The expansion of attendees is good news for high school sports fans, but Uyl was quick to stress the continued use of masks and social distancingwhile at the events.
“We’re going to encourage our schools that we really need to do a good job of setting boundaries and expectations, but now for the first time, we can really let
some students sections back in,” Uyl said. “We’ve got to socially distance, wear the mask, anddoall thosethings. But finally, our student body can become more involved in games.”
When it comes to the athletes on the field or the court, theymust continue to follow Executive Order 180, which requires football, volleyball and soccer players to wear a face covering while competing.