Schedule released, capacity decision remains for West Virginia football

As of this writing, West Virginia will play football this fall.

The Mountaineers have the ten-game schedule to prove it.

The 10-game slate features six home games as well as four on the road with things set to open in less than a month Sept. 12 in Morgantown against Eastern Kentucky.

With that date ticking closer, that means decisions are going to have to be made soon on what the fan experience could look like and the capacity allowed inside the 60,000 seat Milan Puskar Stadium. Athletic Director Shane Lyons has suggested that the capacity could be capped at around 20 to 30-percent allow for social distancing and to be spread throughout the stadium.

But no decision has been yet to be publicly revealed and won’t be without discussions from the university, local and state health departments, medical experts and government bodies.

If the Mountaineers take that route, a 20-percent model would allow for 12,000 fans while that 30-percent total could up the number in the stands to 18,000. While that difference might not seem significant it certainly would be given the current state of college athletics.

West Virginia has already sold 18,000 season tickets so the 30-percent model could possibly cover all of those, but anything less would force the MAC to use a system to identify those that would attend.

Texas Tech has already announced that they will be reducing seating to 25-percent of the capacity of 60,454 seat Jones AT&T Stadium, while Baylor is taking the same approach at the 45,140 seat McLane Stadium. Oklahoma is doing the same in the 80,126 seat Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

For Texas Tech that would be over 15,000 fans in the stands, while that total would be 11,285 at Baylor and over 20,000 at Oklahoma. It is likely that the Mountaineers fall somewhere within that realm and is likely that it is the 15,000 number that you’ve seen at a similar sized stadium at Texas Tech.

Once a seating capacity decision has been made, then officials must make determinations on concessions, restrooms and various other issues that must be addressed.

The good news is that we shouldn’t have to wait much longer because the season is right around the corner and the fact we’re even discussing college football and fans in the stands this late in the game is exciting in itself.

This could all change overnight, but for now, things are moving forward.

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