There should be a big crowd on hand when Georgia State opens the next football season against Army at Center Parc Stadium on Sept. 4. The specific number of spectators that will be allowed has not yet been determined, but Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill is optimistic things will look more normal in the 2021 season.
In light of news that schools such as Alabama, Texas and Texas A&M are likely to play to full houses in the fall, the Sun Belt is pondering what to do about lifting attendance restrictions for the coming season.
Gill, who held a virtual meeting with Atlanta media members Tuesday, said much will depend on understanding how vaccines and other safety measures can help suppress the spread of the coronavirus and allow crowd sizes to be increased.
“We want to get back to more normal, closer to normal, but I don’t know if we’re going back to 2019. How do we get closer to that?” Gill said. “Even if there are no limits in the stadiums, will people be comfortable with going and standing shoulder to shoulder? That’s a question that will be answered, and we’ll find out in September. Even if you take off the shackles, it doesn’t mean people will feel comfortable crowding in like it’s 2019.”
Gill, who is about to start his third year on the job, remains optimistic.
“I’m hoping we’ll have full stadiums, with the caveat being we’ve got to see how COVID advances and how we are with it,” he said. “The one thing we’ve talked about is that COVID is not going to adjust for us. We have to adjust for COVID. We are planning on full stadiums, but at the end of the day the virus will dictate if that’s possible. I’m optimistic we’ll be able to remove some of the restrictions of people going to our venues.”
Gill, who played football at Duke, is in favor of having fans, bands and cheerleaders back at the games.
“(Playing games) without the fans was better than nothing, but it’s not the same without fans, same thing without bands and cheerleaders,” he said. “It’s so important to the culture, to the vibe.”
The Georgia State band and cheerleaders were at the home games in 2020, but were not allowed on the field.
The Sun Belt Conference is one of the non-Power Five conferences that did not hesitate to play football in the fall. It turned out to be a wise decision. Only 11 games were postponed or canceled. Three Sun Belt teams defeated opponents from the Big 12. Four of the five Sun Belt teams that went to bowl games came away with wins, including Georgia State. Two members ended up in the final AP rankings.
“There were a lot of TV windows we would not have had,” Gill said. “That’s a lot of exposure we wouldn’t have had. But it’s not just about having the exposure. It’s about actually winning the games, and we were able to do that this year. Our plan of playing football was tremendous and had a lot of benefits.”
Gill addressed several other topics during the meeting.
The league currently is not looking to expand. “We are in a good spot. People are interested in joining the Sun Belt, and we understand that. We are not looking to expand. We feel good about the numbers we have,” he said.
The league will re-examine the basketball schedule. In 2020-21 the league was split into two five-team divisions, and each school played a two-game series each weekend. It did not help the reputation of the member teams. “Some adjustments are probably needed to make us the conference we want to be,” he said.
The league will continue to play the conference championship football game on a campus site rather than migrate to a neutral stadium. “It’s something we’ll always consider and talk about. Right now we’re comfortable with it being on campus. You’ve got a built-in fan base, and it puts you in the best position to create the atmosphere you want for the championship,” he said.
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