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Go Dawgs, Sick ‘Em?
WHAT FOOTBALL IN 2020 MEANS FOR ATHENS
By Tyler Wilkins news@flagpole.com
a lifelong Georgia Bulldogs fan,
Madison Weathersbee chose to
study at the University of Georgia, hoping
to experience the camaraderie and fanfare
found in the packed student section in
Sanford Stadium. But like many people
in 2020, her plans changed in light of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
UGA Athletics announced guidelines for
the upcoming football season—assuming
there is one—on Aug. 19. Sanford
Stadium will be limited to no more i
than 25 percent capacity, which w,
would mean only about 23,000 fans g
would fill the stadium’s 92,746 seats. S
In addition to spaced-out seating ig
in blocks of four, anyone entering
the stadium must be masked for
Georgia’s four home games.
“I don’t think the experience will
be the same at all, and I don’t think
it’s worth it,” said Weathersbee, a
criminal justice major from Augusta.
“I always wanted to have game days,
but I would rather be able to stay on
campus and keep my parents and
grandparents safe when I go visit
them than have football or the same
freshman year experience I wanted.”
While normally 16,000 tickets go
to students, only 3,000 will receive
tickets this season, Georgia Athletic
Director Greg McGarity said on a
video call with reporters. Between
the seating arrangements, masks
and limited capacity, the stadium will look
starkly different from home football games
in the past.
While restrictions may be in place for
limiting exposure inside Sanford Stadium,
it’s still expected that fans will cheer
Georgia on by crowding into bars and tail-
gating across town. McGarity said Georgia
won’t make a decision whether or not to
allow tailgating until closer to the first
home game against Auburn on Oct. 3. In
regard to limiting exposure around Athens
on potentially busy game days, the Athens-
Clarke County Commission has little local
jurisdiction for enforcing anything beyond
the current statewide order issued in
June. Gov. Brian Kemp’s emergency order
requires restaurants to space seated parties
six feet apart from one another, and it lim
its capacity in bars to 50 people or 35 per
cent of total capacity, whichever is greater.
“If the current statewide order remains
in place, they can’t be as packed as they
have been in the past,” Mayor Kelly Girtz
said. “But as one public health faculty
member [at UGA] told me a couple of weeks
ago, expecting a group of drunk and largely
young people to space out in a bar environ
ment would be [like] expecting that from
3-year-olds.”
The ACC Commission moved to change
last call in bars from 2 a.m. to 10 p.m. in
late July to prevent large gatherings of
drunken students and visitors, but bar
owners brought a lawsuit against the city.
The commission reached a settlement with
the bar owners on Aug. 14, whereby last
call was set at 11:30 p.m. instead. In addi
tion, under Kemp’s order, bars and other
businesses are allowed to opt out of ACC’s
ordinance requiring masks in public indoor
places. Masks are still required outdoors
when social distancing is not possible. The
commission is also starting a “parklet” pilot
program, allowing downtown restaurants to
set up outdoor seating areas in parking lots
in the open air where the transmission risk
for COVID-19 is lower.
“If you think about the governor saying,
‘Well, all counties aren’t the same,’ I get
that. That’s why he’s not doing some state-
level changes, but people who want a party
atmosphere are coming to Athens because
we have that,” said Commissioner Allison
Wright. “We should be able to do what’s
needed for the health and safety of our
community, because we are a destination.”
Something that hasn’t changed since
the pandemic is local businesses’ reliance
on UGA football. After a slow summer and
spring with students away and many full
time residents sheltering in place, football
games may help many businesses regain
their financial footing, Wright said. The
boost in sales from game days would espe
cially be advantageous for businesses this
year, since public health measures put in
place to lower the transmission of COVID-
19 have limited their opportunities to bring
in money.
To help bars survive the lean times, the
commission lowered alcohol license fees
and waived penalties for late excise tax
payments. Wright also said she’s interested
in helping all types of businesses—as well
as struggling tenants, landlords and home-
owners—by delaying the October property
tax deadline until December, if the
county can afford it.
As much as Wright said she would
love to see it, she’d be surprised if
Georgia does have a football season,
citing the decision to postpone the
2020 Tokyo Olympics in March,
when the level of COVID-19 cases
was much lower. As there’s still
another month before the first home
football game, there’s always a chance
that plans will change, whether it’s
switching to a game with no fans in
the stadium, postponing the season
until spring or canceling it alto
gether, as several conferences have
already done.
“We learn different things every
day,” McGarity said. “I don’t think
there is a drop-dead date. We don’t
have one designated... But I just
think we look at the information
daily and listen to what our other
peer institutions are doing, as well
as the Big 12 and the ACC, the AAC
[American Athletic Conference] and every
body else that is playing, and keep tabs on
everyone else.”
Whether or not Georgia plays as cur
rently planned, Girtz said there’s no doubt
that “it’s going to be a very different foot
ball season for hotels, bars, restaurants,
caterers and everyone in between” in the
Athens community. ©
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SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM H