Erdmann: Hancock Whitney Stadium Capacity Could Be Limited to About 25 Percent; Grambling Opener Off
South Alabama AD Joel Erdmann said Hancock Whitney Stadium capacity could be held near 25 percent this fall, and the SWAC's move to spring wipes out the Sept. 12 opener with Grambling State.
MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama Director of Athletics Joel Erdmann said this week that attendance at Hancock Whitney Stadium would be held to roughly a quarter of the new venue’s capacity if the 2020 football season were to begin under current COVID-19 social distancing guidelines.
Erdmann made the remarks Tuesday during appearances on local sports talk radio programs, where he also addressed the hole in the Jaguars’ schedule created by the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s decision to push its football season to the spring of 2021.
Grambling State Game Affected
South Alabama had been scheduled to host Grambling State, a SWAC member, on Sept. 12 in Mobile. That game was set to serve as the grand opening of Hancock Whitney Stadium, the Jaguars’ new on-campus football stadium.
With the SWAC moving its season to the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic, South Alabama is working to find another opponent to fill the open date. If no replacement is found, the first game at the new stadium would be against UAB on Sept. 26, provided the rest of the Jaguars’ non-conference schedule is not affected by the pandemic.
Capacity Under Distancing Rules
Erdmann said that if the season started today, capacity at Hancock Whitney Stadium would be limited to about 25 percent of its 25,000 seats, or roughly 6,250 spectators. That estimate is based on occupying one of every four seats, and Erdmann noted that strict 1-in-4 spacing may not be possible in every section of the stadium, meaning the actual number could be lower.
For comparison, South Alabama’s smallest crowd of the 2019 season came against Memphis, when official attendance was 12,373. The Jaguars played their home games from 2009 through 2019 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium before the move to the on-campus facility.
Ticket Priority
For season ticket holders, the athletics department plans to use its Priority Points System to determine access if seating is limited. The same system was used recently when season ticket holders selected their seat locations at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Other questions about allocation, including seating for students, who pay an athletics fee that covers admission to home football games, and for families of student-athletes, coaches and staff, have yet to be detailed publicly.
Other Events at the Stadium
The Reese’s Senior Bowl has committed to playing its game at Hancock Whitney Stadium. It is not yet known whether the 2021 game will be played.
South Alabama competes in the Sun Belt Conference.
Update
The Southwestern Athletic Conference became the fifth of the 13 Football Championship Subdivision conferences to call off its fall 2020 schedule because of COVID-19, a decision that removed Grambling State from South Alabama’s Sept. 12 date. South Alabama athletics staff have been working to line up a replacement opponent for that date.
The disruption extends beyond the FCS. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have announced conference-only football schedules, and the Pac-12 decision canceled Alabama’s planned season opener against Southern California.
