High schools adjusting to new attendance policies for fall sports

Ohio’s high school football season starts Friday. It will look much different than any previous season because of attendance restrictions and various health-and-safety protocols put in place to decrease the chances of spreading COVID-19. Fans will have to wear masks. They will have to sit in designated areas.

Athletic directors, players, coaches, trainers, etc., hope the rules allow them to complete a season during the coronavirus pandemic.

“At the end of the day, the games are for the kids,” Springfield Athletic Director Mike Dellapina said, “and the fans are the guests. You would expect guests in your house to follow the rules of the house. We need fans to comply. Otherwise, it could get shut down very quickly. The first game could be the last game. It’s really important that everyone follow the directions and socially distance themselves and wear their masks and try to be respectful of everyone in the crowd. It’s not going to be an ideal situation, but we feel we’ve taken the steps to at least mark everything so we can socially distance. I think we’ve got a solid plan in place.”

Here’s a breakdown on the plans various local schools have:

1. Crowd size: The limits on attendance will play the biggest role in keeping everyone safe. When Gov. Mike DeWine announced last week, all sports could proceed with their fall seasons, he also revealed there would be a limit on stadium capacity: 15 percent or a maximum of 1,500 fans at outdoor events.

For Springfield, that means they can have as many as 600 spectators at the high school stadium, Dellapina said. Springfield will allow 400 of its fans into the stadium and, per Greater Western Ohio Conference policy, 200 visiting fans.

Every player on Springfield’s roster, plus the coaches, trainers, cheerleaders and band and drill team members will get two tickets to distribute. In most cases, those tickets will go to parents. That’s the priority for schools across the area.

Anyone who can’t get into game at Springfield can watch a live stream on the TKDS Sports Network’s Facebook and YouTube channels. Many schools are streaming events this season, often through another company: Chatterbox Sports.

At Centerville Stadium, which can seat as many as 6,900 fans, the limit will be 1,035 this season with 200 of those going to visiting fans, according to Centerville Athletic Director Rob Dement. For soccer games at Alumni Stadium, as many as 285 fans can attend games, and 85 of those tickets go to visiting fans.

For indoor events, capacity is also limited to 15 percent or a maximum of 300 fans. At Centerville High School, that means 200 tickets go to the home fans and 100 to the visitors.

At Carroll High School, the spectator limit is 606, Athletic Director Scott Molfenter said. The visiting team will get 120 of those tickets.

“We’re lucky in that our visitor’s side has a decent amount of seating,” Molfenter said. “We’ve kind of got a balanced venue.”

At Hamilton High School, where the football stadium can seat 6,500 fans, attendance will be limited to just under 1,000, Athletic Director Bill Stewart said.

“We’re just happy to be playing, in all honesty,” Stewart said. “We’re going to work out the details. I think that’s what ADs do. Like the teacher in the classroom, you change and adapt and overcome. We’re having to change our protocols a little bit. The people I feel badly for are the students because based on the limits, we’re going to have few, if any, students there.”

At West Carrollton, attendance will be limited to 525, Athletic Director Evan Ivory said, with 140 tickets going to visiting fans. That’s for a stadium that can seat 3,500.

“It’s definitely going to look a lot different,” Ivory said, “and we’ll have a lot of angry people who can’t get in. At the same time, this is much better than having a season.”

2. Ticket distribution: At West Carrollton, families of football players, coaches, cheerleaders and marching band members can purchase up two tickets at the high school office from Monday through Wednesday. They also can request as many as two additional tickets with no guarantee those tickets will be available. If they do get additional tickets, they can pick them up at the high school on Thursday.

“All of our football tickets are pre-sale only,” Ivory said. “There won’t be any tickets sold at the gate, which is a big thing we’ve really got to start promoting.”

At Greater Western Ohio Conference events, fans will register their groups using a QR code, which will help schools in the event contact tracing is needed. Fans will see signs with the code at the gates and will scan the code with their phones. This will lead them to a survey, which they will fill out using their phone. Only one member of each party has to fill out the survey.

Some schools are eliminating paper tickets and using a company called HomeTown Ticketing to sell tickets online. Bishop Fenwick reminded fans on social media on Tuesday prior to its season-opening volleyball match against Kenton Ridge, “Tickets need to be purchased online prior to game. NO walk up Tix!”

Bellefontaine Athletic Director Matt Comstock wrote on Twitter this week his school has been using Hometown Ticketing for a year.

“I know there are thousands of schools who have signed up over the past few weeks,” Comstock wrote. “You can relax because they will take care of you!”

3. Social distancing: Once fans get into stadiums, they won’t be able sit wherever they want. Some schools have marked spaces for family groups to sit so they remain socially distant.

“It’s not as simple as marking Xs six feet apart,” Dellapina said. “You also have to stagger them so people aren’t sitting directly behind other groups. We went through over the weekend and marked our stadium. We’re going to continue to refine our process and review it.”

Vandalia Butler Athletic Director Jordan Shumaker shared photos on Twitter of the school’s gym before a volleyball match. Blue tape covered large sections of the seating area, and fans were instructed to sit where there wasn’t tape.

West Carrollton will have signs everywhere, alerting fans to the policies, Ivory said.

“We’re not necessarily going to to go around asking if they are families sitting in groups,” he said. “The goal is to spread out as much as possible. We’ve moved the marching band down to some bleachers along the field to clear up as much space as possible.”