Wolf to allow fans into sporting events
On second thought …
Gov. Tom Wolf has had a change of heart and will allow a small number of fans into sporting events.
The governor’s guidance for sports during the COVID-19 pandemic was changed Wednesday to allow spectators into games.
But fans will now count toward the 250 for outdoor events and 25 for indoor events.
Under those circumstances, it is unlikely that many, if any at all, will be permitted into athletic events at some schools.
“From what I’m hearing in the text chain, everyone is in the same boat,” said Ricci Rich, athletic director at Trinity High School.
“They don’t have any room for spectators. It doesn’t give us any spectators for football or volleyball. Right now, you have to count every single head.”
Rich said he would favor the PIAA allowing two pods, each that would hold 250 people. One would be on the field and the other in the stands.
“Hopefully, we can have 250 in the stands who are never near the players on the field and 250 on the playing surface,” Rich said.
Rich said it would benefit some sports but called the move by the PIAA “kicking the can down the road.”
Players, coaches, band members, cheerleaders, officials, media, security and game workers all count toward the 250 limit. At best, that leaves only a handful of spectators. Rich doesn’t see the band being cut out to give more spots to spectators.
“The experience is more important for the kids being there than the spectators,” Rich said.
At Canon-McMillan High School, athletic director Frank Vulcano said the school was already at the 250 limit for football and 25 limit for volleyball.
“The governor didn’t do us (athletic directors) any favors,” Vulcano said. “We already have 253 in the band alone. We had to limit them to 50. We have 85 football players, and I had to cut them to 50. We have 12 cheerleaders instead of 20-some. We are right at 25 for volleyball. The governor made the change, and he didn’t change anything.”
Vulcano said, “All the governer did was create problems for us. Parents think they are going to get into games now, and we don’t have room for them. And it’s not our call. This didn’t help us at all.”
Vulcano said 25 people in his gymnasium means it is at 1% of capacity. Even now, some reserves on the volleyball team will have to stand outside the gymnasium so the 25-person limit can be maintained.
Smaller schools have an advantage, but not much.
“Everyone is scrambling trying to get a plan together,” said Linda Messich, athletic director at Mapletown High School. “We’re trying to figure it out.”
Bill Simms, athletic director at West Greene, said some fans will be able to watch football games, but that won’t be the case for volleyball.
“Now you are going to have the argument why do the football parents get to watch them and the volleyball players parents don’t,” said Simms. “Take Canon-Mac, for example. Their gym holds 3,000, and they are allowed 25. It makes no sense. In the reality of it, it’s good that one or two parents will get to see their son play football. At the same time, it causes controversy for the indoor sports. The parents won’t get to see them play volleyball. I think we can all socially distance to get one or two parents into a volleyball game.”
In August, the PIAA voted to allow the games to be played but without spectators. Such were the fears of spreading the coronavirus.
Wednesday’s action came on the same day the state House of Representatives passed a measure to allow schools the ability to decide whether to admit spectators to high school sports. It moves on to the Senate.