Could Louisville football put fans in the stands in 2020?

Louisville football could hold games with fans.

Given the current state of college athletics, fans getting to see Louisville football play at all this year would be a major blessing.

That would mean that the ACC Conference continues its push to play football on-time this fall and that all fifteen of the current conference members continued safe practices including social distancing, consistent testing, and mask-wearing. For Louisville football, that is a big ask- Especially when classes resume and staffs are tasked with finding a way to distance players from the rest of the student body.

Still, it’s tough, but not impossible. As Duke University infectious disease specialist and ACC medical advisory chairman Cameron Wolfe explained, the current state of college football provides no more inherent risk than student-athletes already choose to accept when playing a contact sport.

"“We believe we can mitigate it down to a level that makes everyone safe,” Wolfe told The Daily. “Can we safely have two teams meet on the field? I would say yes.“You have to feel some level of comfortable playing in a non-zero risk environment,” he said. “You can’t tell me that running onto a football field is supposed to be a zero-risk environment. Now the reality is we have to accept a little bit of COVID risk to be a part of that.”"

From the sounds of things, the medical experts tasked with helping advise presidents and athletic directors in the ACC are optimistic regarding this season.

But does that mean the same for fans in the stands?

Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra suggests that it is possible.

“While the health and safety of our student athletes is our top priority, we have multiple models under review for as many Cardinals fans as possible to attend games this fall,” Tyra said on July 30th.

While local schools and businesses waver over whether or not to open, the city of Louisville has been one of the first in the country to place fans back in the stands.

The Louisville City FC model

Louisville’s pro soccer team was determined to begin the season with fans regardless of how strict social distancing protocols were. We wrote about how team officials managed to play games at 33 percent capacity:

"LouCity officials worked tirelessly to be able to make this game happen with fans, and it started by making the entire stadium compliant with state and CDC guidelines. Dividers were put in press boxes, and anywhere that workers had to stand closer than six feet away, and seats were taped off where fans were not allowed to sit.When it was decided what fans would be allotted tickets, families were grouped together, and then seats were taped off in order to leave six feet of space around fans on all sides."

FC has shown flawless execution so far during home games, and plans to continue hosting fans with a limited capacity.

The Kentucky Derby model

In very 2020 fashion, the Kentucky Derby- traditionally one of the largest sporting events in the world- will be held in Louisville in September.

However, officials laid out a plan to host the world’s largest horse race with an estimated ten to fifteen percent capacity.

All told, there will be around 23,000 people in seats- down significantly from the 150-170,000 that typically pack into Churchill Downs.

The Derby is able to keep people distancing by separating boxes and getting rid of standing room only tickets.

The Louisville football model

This should be seen as positive news, at least for a select amount of Louisville football fans.

Louisville City has shown that putting fans in stadiums is not only possible, but realistic. Kentucky governor Andy Beshear still has given the organization the green light to allow 50 percent capacity.

Churchill Downs has shown that distancing fans is practical and that officials will take something over nothing.

For Louisville football, this likely means that hosting fans at a much lower capacity than normal with mask-wearing and social distancing in place is very possible.

Like Louisville City, the Cardinals could tape off seats, group family members together, and enforce masks.

Louisville also has the luxury of having hundreds of boxes and suite-level seats where fans could attend and limit interaction with those in other boxes or sections.

Fans in the area have already attended games this year, and Louisville football fans should remain optimistic that seeing their team in-person in 2020 is a real possibility.