The Syracuse football home opener is about four weeks away, and whether fans can cheer on the Orange inside the Carrier Dome remains unclear.
Syracuse football will commence its 2020 campaign in fewer than two weeks when the Orange heads to North Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 12, and no fans will get to attend.
Two weeks after that, the ‘Cuse is slated to hold its first football contest of the fall season inside the Carrier Dome, and whether fans will get to watch in-person is still a question mark.
Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, a 2020 term transpiring at all for Syracuse football is no guarantee, and fans in the stands, from my perspective, is pretty unlikely.
Then again, Orange administrators have yet to announce what the attendance plan is on the Hill, although they have acknowledged in the past that reduced capacity is expected.
The SU athletics department has, thankfully, banned tailgating and also moved to an individual game ticket model, assuming that fans ultimately are allowed to attend.
To date, the ‘Cuse isn’t the only Atlantic Coast Conference squad that has yet to reveal its attendance plans, however, numerous of the league’s 15 members have done so. The results are a mixed bag at this juncture, according to announcements put out by various teams.
UNC is not allowing fans through September and will revisit the possibility of in-person attendance in October. Pittsburgh is also not letting fans attend football games in September, and the Panthers host the Orange on Saturday, Sept. 19.
On Saturday, Oct. 24, Syracuse football will make a trip to Clemson, which is the pre-season No. 1 squad across the country in both major polls. Capacity at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium is getting reduced to about 19,000 fans.
The Orange goes to Louisville on Friday, Nov. 20. Louisville is anticipating capacity of 18,000 fans per game at Cardinal Stadium, although UofL officials say that figure could change.
For Georgia Tech, attendance at Bobby Dodd Stadium is limited to 20 percent of the stadium’s full capacity, which translates to roughly 11,000 fans per affair.
Duke has announced that it will begin its fall-sport seasons, including football, without fans.
Boston College has said that capacity at Alumni Stadium will get reduced this season, and its home opener versus Texas State will not include fans.
Miami recently said that up to 13,000 fans could attend its home opener, although a separate announcement notes that students are not permitted to attend the first two home games at Hard Rock Stadium.
N.C. State has said that its Carter-Finley Stadium will operate at reduced capacity in 2020 but has yet to provide further details. Finally, Florida State is capping capacity within its Doak Campbell Stadium at 20 percent to 25 percent, putting the maximum amount of attendance at 16,000 to 20,000 fans.
It will prove interesting to see where Syracuse football ends up landing on attendance given this range of plans from other ACC schools. In-person capacity at the Dome of anything more than 20 percent to 25 percent is highly unlikely, if fans are allowed to attend at all.