Will the SEC have full football stadiums in 2021?
It wasn’t just baseball back this week as Major League Baseball’s spring training began in Florida and Arizona, crowds were back, as well, brightening spirits and bringing hope of things to come.
So will SEC football crowds be back in the fall?
Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne said Monday that his school is planning on having full capacity at Bryant-Denny Stadium for 2021 home games.
“We are moving forward with plans to have a full stadium in the fall and will monitor medical guidelines as we have all along,” said Byrne via Twitter.
Florida AD Scott Stricklin, who worked with Byrne under Mitch Barnhart at UK, tweeted that “My sense is all schools/teams are ‘planning’ for full stadiums . . . question is: ‘will healthcare guidance allow for it?’
“Based on what I’m hearing from epidemiologists and virologists there is optimism!”
Meanwhile, Jeff Nowak of The Advocate in Baton Rouge compiled a breakdown of SEC schools’ football attendance in 2020 and their plans for 2021.
As an example, LSU played host to a maximum of 25,000 fans at Tiger Stadium this past season. The program is optimistic it will return to a packed stadium in 2021.
“I’m very optimistic about that,” AD Scott Woodward told The Advocate last month. “I follow this COVID closely, and I like what I’m seeing from our state, from our local officials, from the federal government — all hands on deck.”
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told the Nashville Sports Council last week that the conference is expecting a more normal football season in 2021.
“We are preparing to play the season as scheduled on Labor Day weekend,” Sankey said. “I think we will be back toward normal. That is different than back to normal.”
The SEC is scheduled to start play the weekend of Sept. 4 with Mississippi State playing Louisville in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta on Sept. 6.
Kentucky is scheduled to open 2021 at home against Louisiana-Monroe. UK allowed 20 percent capacity at Kroger Field this past season.
Here is UK’s 2021 schedule:
- Sept. 4 Louisiana-Monroe
- Sept. 11 Missouri
- Sept. 18 Chattanooga
- Sept. 25 @South Carolina
- Oct. 2 Florida
- Oct. 9 LSU
- Oct. 16 @Georgia
- Oct. 30 @Mississippi State
- Nov. 6 Tennessee
- Nov. 13 @Vanderbilt
- Nov. 20 New Mexico State
- Nov. 27 @Louisville
Kentucky football ticket information
Meanwhile, the SEC announced Tuesday that it will restrict attendance at next week’s SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament to 20 percent capacity of Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. That’s 3,400 fans.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 3:29 PM.
