Empty Seats & Artificial Crowd Noise: The 2020 Notre Dame Season Will Be Anything But Normal
Notre Dame finally announced its plans for fan attendance in 2020 on Monday and there will be many empty seats inside Notre Dame Stadium this fall. It was also reported that fake crowd noise will be permitted by ACC schools this year with limited capacities creating a new normal for 2020 that is anything but normal.
Notre Dame’s official policy that they released on Monday states that capacity of Notre Dame Stadium will be limited to a maximum of 20%. With a max capacity of around 80,000; that puts the max capacity for home games at 16,000 this fall.
Those seats will be filled primarily with students who will get first priority for tickets while the remaining tickets will go to Notre Dame faculty and staff. Families of student-athletes playing will also be permitted to attend games as well but will have designated areas of their own in the stadium.
In addition to limiting attendance, Notre Dame announced that masks will be required in the stadium, there will not be any tailgating permitted, and mobile tickets will be used in place of traditional paper tickets.
All of these measures are meant to keep attendance to those who are already on campus and part of the community – outside of the families of players.
With limited attendance at most stadiums and no attendance at all at some stadiums like Duke and North Carolina (for at least their games in September), it was also reported that the ACC will allow member programs to use artificial crowd noise during games this fall.
That noise is not permissible to make it impossible for opponents to communicate. On-field officials will also be able to make judgments on whether or not the noise is too loud and potentially enforce penalties.
Notre Dame didn’t specify in their release about the changes in the gameday experience whether or not they would be using fake crowd noise for its games this fall but expect Brian Kelly to be asked about it tomorrow when he meets with the media at noon ET.
Notre Dame stated that additional changes to game day policies will be released later. Kick-off for Notre Dame’s season-opener against Duke on September 12, for instance, has yet to be announced.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
What a shame! Football fans should call themselves protesters then they could gather together.
As a local fan who lives 2.5 miles from the stadium, and having attended all the home games last year while working on campus from time to time I have seen much since March to know the University is making the right decision in limiting attendance and adjusting its policies. The health and welfare of everyone is PARAMOUNT. Irish Nation will need to accept the change for a season. At least we will have football and be able to watch it on NBC. REMEMBER the alternative – many teams may not be seen at all by their fans, in person or otherwise….count your blessings when the kickoff commences Sept 12…..
Let’s hope the season finishes. I don’t feel confident
Finally! ND crowd noise will be just as loud as other stadiums.