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Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Gov. Greg Abbott expect to see fans at college football games this fall

Though, limited capacities and hospital-grade disinfecting may be required.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby expects to see at least some fans at games when college football returns.

So does Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Neither is certain what things will exactly look like because of the concerns about COVID-19 and everything that comes with it.

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“That’s a great question,” Bowlsby said, during a 30-minute interview Friday with SiriusXM’s Big 12 Radio when asked about fans in the stands. “It really depends on how things go between now and then. I think it’s fair to ask the question: if it’s safe for the kids to be on the field in close contact to one another, why wouldn’t it be safe for fans to be in the stands at social distance?

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“Now you take an 80,000-seat stadium, though, and you might end up with 20,000 people there.”

Later Friday, Abbott told Austin television station KXAN that “my prediction is yes, we’re going to have college football beginning as scheduled, on schedule, with at least some level of fans in stands.”

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Abbott said he had been in touch with Bowlsby and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte. The anticipated start of Major League Baseball this summer could provide a pathway to available fan seating, the governor said.

“What we don’t know is what the capacity level would be,” Abbott said. “Would it be strategic and limited to ensure we have safe distancing practices? There are factors we simply do not know at this time. What is going to be the status of COVID-19 in the state of Texas? What is going to be the status of any type of medical treatments such as medicines that can be taken for people who test positive for COVID-19?”

Abbott said he anticipated further clarity on both questions by mid-July.

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Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith suggested this week that capacity might be limited from 20,000 up to 50,000 at 100,000-seat Ohio Stadium.

Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork would prefer a packed Kyle Field for home games, although he realizes the school may have to adjust.

“We would not want to decrease our season ticket base. We would not want to decrease opportunities,” Bjork said on a teleconference this week. “Our goal would be to hold tight on that as much as we could, and again, have that full experience."

Bowlsby cautioned that based on the “psychology of public assembly,” that attendance may be soft to begin the season.

He suggested that reduced stadium capacity could boost TV and radio listenership from fans unable to attend.

“If there’s any glimmering of a bright spot, that’s probably what it is,” Bowlsby said.

Positioning fans and allocating seats in the stands may be the easy part of the equation.

“I think we’ll have fans in the stands,” Bowlsby said. “When you think about how difficult it is to do hospital-level disinfecting in a weight room or locker room or a training room, think about doing it for an entire stadium – the entry ways, the lines at the rest rooms, the lines at the concessions stands, sitting that far apart in the stands. It’s a very large undertaking.”

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The Big 12 has hired a consultant to specifically advise the conference on disinfecting all of its campus facilities, Bowlsby said.

While the conference has spoken with a significant number of athletes over the past three months, Bowlsby suggested that the Big 12 will also likely reach out to parents.

“We haven’t spoken to a lot of parents and we probably need to … I think we really do have to have some of those conversations,” Bowlsby said. “More than anything else, we have to put the procedures in place, we have to do the necessary planning so we can test with regularity.”

Other steps remain on the drawing board, including plans for the inevitable.

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“We have to know exactly what we’re going to do for a triage and treatment standpoint if somebody tests positive,” Bowlsby said.

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