UA gives protocols for game-day fans

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas has set seating capacity at 16,500 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium for at least the early portion of the season, which starts next Saturday against Georgia.

UA athletic department senior staff members Rick Thorpe, Chris Pohl and Kevin Trainor met with the media on Thursday to discuss gameday procedures from parking, fan entry and exit and everything in between, and there are a bundle of changes based on covid-19 protocols.

Thorpe touted the first on-campus event of the fall, the Razorback soccer team hosting LSU on Saturday, before launching into the presentation.

“We’re reaching the culmination of the last five or six months of preparation and planning with all of our partners to get to this point,” Thorpe said. “Everything we’ve done has been about the primary tenets of health and safety. It’s not about revenue generation. It’s not about attendance. It’s health and safety first.”

Thorpe said the UA has worked in cooperation with the Arkansas Department of Health, the SEC, the Centers for Disease Control and campus constituencies to put together a plan from “doorway to doorway” for attending an athletic event.

For starters, fans will be required to wear masks that cover the nose and mouth at all times, unless actively eating or drinking. Children 10 years old or younger are not required to wear masks, but the ADH recommends it.

Social distancing from one “cohort,” a group of between one and 12 people, will be required. Students in attendance will be allowed to sit in groups of two or four, which will be a contrast to the compact student seating allowed at Kansas State last Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium during the Wildcats’ 35-31 loss to Arkansas State.

“If you see six people sitting together, you’re going to assume that’s one season-ticket holder’s grouping or cohort,” Thorpe said. “The largest grouping we have would be 12.”

Thorpe said the UA has experienced an opt-out rate among its roughly 33,000 football season ticket holders of between 37% and 40%, which he termed on the low end of the national average. Thorpe said every season-ticket holder who was interested in buying tickets was able to select a two-game, three-game or five-game ticket package this season, though perhaps for fewer total tickets than they were accustomed to buying.

Pohl said seat-backs have been installed in the available seating areas for the students and there is no general admission seating in the entire stadium.

“What that does is it allows the fans to sit in their assigned seats,” Pohl said. “That’s going to be required, too. Fans need to sit in their assigned seats because there’s been a methodical process through the ticketing office to make sure that we have distanced everybody appropriately. We’re not going to be able to scoot around, perhaps, like we used to.”

Pohl said enforcement of the covid-19 protocols will be done as friendly and courteously as possible.

“I think it starts with the messaging about, ‘We’re all in this together,’ and it’s really important for all of us to continue the football season that everybody complies with what it is we’re required to do to keep the team safe and keep all of us safe,” Pohl said.

“In terms of what we’re going to do visually, our event staff will be walking around with some paddles that will remind people, ‘Don’t forget to wear your mask. Don’t forget to socially distance.’ And also, they will have a manifest where they can tell where people should be sitting.”

The UA has gone to all mobile ticketing this season and has tried to instruct fans with limited experience at using the technology on how to log in and download their tickets. For fans without smartphones or those whose batteries die, there will be a customer service window to locate accounts and ticket information, check identification and produce paper tickets on site.

For fans driving into the stadium area, there will not be any one-way streets this season, and there will be only one shuttle bus pick-up and drop-off spot, at Lot 56 on the corner of Razorback Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Pohl said.

Parking lot usage will go from 60-plus lots down to about 30 on game days due to reduced capacity and virtually everyone in attendance will have a parking pass of some kind, so the normal Baum Stadium lots will not be serviced by shuttle buses, Pohl said.

Fans in attendance will notice signage encouraging mask wearing and social distancing, hand sanitizing stations located throughout the stadium, and the installation of plexiglass windows between merchants and fans at concession stands and merchandising booths.

UA officials said any stadium workers or school employees on site will have passed various levels of health screenings or covid-19 testing before being approved for entry.

Thorpe said if the state advances to Phase 3 of coronavirus protocols during the fall, reducing or eliminating the 6-foot social distancing mandate, capacity at Razorback Stadium could be changed.

“We would go back and re-look, reset the manifest and evaluate how we would sell additional tickets,” Thorpe said. “It is completely dictated by covid and your respective departments of health from state to state. Theoretically it could happen, but it would be based upon that.”

Student ticket capacity will be capped at around 1,600 and visiting teams will receive 500 tickets, which could be distributed among Arkansas fans on game weeks if the visiting team returns any tickets.

As for in-game activities, there will be no band or cheer squads on the field, UA officials said. They will perform from the stands in reduced numbers. There will be no Hog Walk this season and the team will not run through the “A” as is customary.

Pohl recommended fans give themselves extra time for stadium entry.

“I would say, perhaps for the first game, get here a little bit early because there’s going to be a process to get through,” Pohl said.

UA officials stress the following:

Download your tickets onto smartphones or mobile devices prior to leaving for the game.

Pack your masks.

The SEC’s league-wide clear bag policy will still be in force.

Enter the stadium at the suggested gate on your ticket to prevent logjams at entry points.

Exit the stadium from the same gate you enter.

Access the fan game day information page on ArkansasRazorbacks.com for questions.

Thorpe also stressed fans in possession of tickets should use them or re-distribute them.

“Coach [Sam] Pittman and the new coaching staff, they’ve been preparing this entire time, we’re all getting ready and we’re all so excited,” he said. “But again, there’s only going to be 16,500 fans in the stands. So really, we want to ask our fans to be prepared.

“Those who have tickets, use your tickets, this year more than ever, please. If you can’t come for one reason or another, please give them to a friend, because we’re going to need all 16,500 in there yelling and screaming.”