STARKVILLE — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has joined the debate regarding college football this fall.
After previously voicing his support for players to return to the gridiron in recent weeks, Reeves announced an executive order on Thursday that will limit football stadium capacities to 25 percent and ban tailgating throughout the state.
“We are in the middle of a pandemic, and we have to make sacrifices that are painful,” he wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread. “We also have to try to provide a safe environment for life as we know it in some capacity. There are many people whose lives are changed because of sports–they’d never get an education otherwise.”
Locally, venues such as Davis Wade Stadium will also be allowed to hold 50 percent capacity in its club levels, which would put total attendance numbers somewhere in the 15,000-fan range on game day.
Other pertinent information from Reeves’ press conference included households must maintain a 6-foot distance from others while masks will be required for entering and exiting one’s seats.
As for field access, only essential personnel will be allowed on the playing surface.
With attendance now officially limited, this stands to have a major financial impact on both Mississippi State and Ole Miss. According to the most recent records available, MSU accrued roughly $14.2 million in ticket revenue during the 2018 football season. Thus, with the stadium now at just 25 percent capacity, the school could face a loss of as much as $10.7 million in revenue.
At Ole Miss, athletic director Keith Carter told The Dispatch earlier this month the school had planned its budget for this year assuming 50 percent capacity, but that he was expecting that number to dip some.
“For us, we had a good number of season tickets sold, and we feel like if none of this had happened we were going to have a pretty full stadium,” Carter said. “So now when you’re trying to adjust down to 25, or up to 50 percent, those are difficult, difficult conversations.”
MSU and Ole Miss are slated to kick off their seasons on Sept. 26 at LSU and against Florida, respectively. MSU’s first home game, against Arkansas, is scheduled for Oct. 3.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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