SEC announces fan health and safety guidelines for fall football

The SEC has announced safety and health guidelines for for the 2020 football season. The main takeaways is that the league will allow its 14 schools to determine how fan attendance and tailgating will be handled this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“These fan guidelines have been adopted by the 14 member schools of the Southeastern Conference as baseline recommendations for the campus management of fan health and safety,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey in a press release. “Although local and state guidelines will determine if and how many fans can attend games, these guidelines provide conference-wide expectations for protection of guests who are able to attend our games.”

Here are some of the key points from the SEC’s plan for fans at games this fall:

Attendance

• Institutions shall determine the number of guests permitted to attend in accordance with applicable state and local guidelines, policies and/or regulations. In the absence of state and/or local guidelines, policies and/or regulations, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations on physical distancing should be applied.

Face Coverings

• Face coverings (over the nose and mouth) shall be required as a condition of all guest ingress, egress, and movement throughout the stadium, as well as any time guests are unable to maintain the recommended physical distance from others who are not in their same household.
• Stadium workers and athletics staff should wear face coverings at all times.

Food, Beverage and Merchandise

• Barriers (e.g., plexiglass) shall be installed at all points-of-sale or otherwise all concessions staff shall wear a face shield plus a mask.
• Queuing lines at points-of-sale shall permit physical distancing between guests.
• “Grab and go” food/beverage options should be considered at points-of-sale locations.
• Beverages shall be provided directly to guests. Machines designed to allow guests to fill or refill beverages must remain inoperable.
• Condiments shall be offered only as single-serve condiments, and condiment carts shall be prohibited.
• All portable points-of-sale locations shall be strategically placed to ensure physical distancing is permitted between guests who are in line or may be in close proximity to the selling location for other purposes.

Tailgating

• Institutions shall determine whether tailgating or other large gatherings of guests (e.g., alumni events, university recruiting events, etc.) are permitted on property owned and/or controlled by the institution in accordance with applicable state and local guidelines, policies and/or regulations. In the absence of state and/or local guidelines, CDC recommendations on physical distancing should be applied.
• Considerations should be given as to the time parking lots open.

Go here for the full press release.