Who Can Attend Gopher Football Games?

Will the Gopher football season begin on September 3 as it is scheduled? Will college football happen at all this year? If the season does start, how many fans will be allowed to attend? It that number is less than capacity, and how could it not, how will tickets be distributed?

Plenty of questions, but few answers at this point. Still, the Gopher athletic department is running through scenarios for game day attendance of different levels without knowing what the health safety protocol will be at that time. The Star Tribune reports that university officials are putting together contingency plans for various levels of stadium occupancy.

Associate athletic director Mike Wierzbicki said last week it's unlikely they will be able to fill TCF Bank Stadium to its capacity, "The reality of that is probably dwindling by the day as we get closer." He said the department is preparing for a variety of possibilities, anything from 25-percent to 75-percent of what the stadium will hold.

The Bank has an official capacity of 50,805. Twenty-five percent of that is 12,701. Seventy-five percent is 38,104. The university reported their season ticket holder numbers at about 21,700 which represents 43-percent of stadium capacity.

The Gophers have a loyalty ranking that is already used to determine bowl game ticket sales and season-ticket upgrades. The "Gopher Score" takes into account the years a fan has had a season ticket and the amount of money donated to the school's athletic department.

There is a link at the Gopher football page on the university's athletic website promoting the sale of season tickets. The Gophers are scheduled to play four straight home games to start the season: Florida Atlantic (Thursday, September 3), Tennessee Tech (Saturday, September 12), Iowa (Friday, September 18), and BYU (Saturday, September 26).