Clemson fans would be ‘comfortable’ at football games. ACC nears decision on season
A majority of Clemson fans said they would be “comfortable” going to football games this fall, according to a survey sent out to season ticket holders.
Eighty-three percent of those who responded to a university survey said they would feel comfortable coming to games this fall with social distancing measures in place, according Clemson Athletics Director Dan Radakovich.
Radakovich reported the results of the survey at Friday’s Clemson board of trustees meeting. He said 8,500 of the targeted 12,000 people responded to the survey that was conducted over the last two weeks. Fans were asked to rate their comfort level attending games in September, October and November, among other questions.
The survey also said 54 percent of fans said they would rather have fall football without any fans than spring football with fans. Twenty-percent of the season ticket holders said they would tailgate without having a ticket to the game.
Radakovich also said the athletic office has been in touch with season ticket holders and IPTAY members about refunds.
It is unclear whether or not there will be fans in the stands or what Clemson’s schedule would look like if football is played in the fall. Radakovich said they are working on a variety of models in place to have fans at Memorial Stadium.
The ACC has said it hopes to decide the fate of the football season by the end of July or early August.
As far as how the schedule might look, Stadium’s Brett McMurphy said the ACC’s top model is for 10 conference games plus one non-conference game. If that happens, the annual Clemson and South Carolina matchup would be played in the upcoming season.
“There will be more conversation moving forward on that in the coming weeks. The Board of Governors of the ACC will be looking no later than August 5 for a decision, but I can tell you given the scope of the pandemic this can be fluid the entire fall,” Radakovich said.
There will be a big financial impact if there is a limit of how many fans can attend games this season.
Clemson athletes arrived back on campus this month and the school has publicly released the results of COVID-19 tests for athletes and staff (without naming names of positive cases).
According to Radakovich, Clemson has completed more than 800 tests of athletes and staff members, and there are no active cases right now. The next scheduled tests for athletes and staff is Aug. 3.
Football players are scheduled to begin preseason practice Aug. 5. The ACC has said there will be no games for any fall sports until at least Sept. 1.
Clemson announced this week that classes will be online to begin the fall semester. Under the new plan, Clemson is delaying in-person instruction until Sept. 21. The semester is still scheduled to begin Aug. 19.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 11:30 AM.
