Clemson limiting attendance for college football games to 19,000

Clemson will have fans in Memorial Stadium this football season.

Death Valley won’t be full as usual, only about one-fourth capacity when the preseason No. 1 Tigers have their home opener Sept. 19 against The Citadel. But considering the alternatives, two of the Power Five conferences have elected to not even play this season and fellow ACC team Duke will start play in an empty home stadium, some fans are better than none.

“That’s huge,” Clemson defensive back Andrew Booth said Thursday after practice and only about an hour or so after the official announcement. “We thought it was just going to be us out there. To be able to have just that amount of people is a huge blessing. (Otherwise), it just would feel like we were out there doing scrimmages. This is going to be beautiful.”

Clemson announced Thursday afternoon it would have only about 19,000 fans in a facility that can hold more than 81,000. Fans will be seated primarily in groups of two or four throughout the stadium. Tailgating is discouraged and masks will be mandatory for those not eating or drinking.

Special permission for large groups has been granted to Clemson from Gov. Henry McMaster, the South Carolina Department of Commerce and also the Department of Health and Environmental Control as to how to deal with COVID-19 coronavirus protocol.

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“We are thankful … for our plan to host fans in our venues this fall,” said Dan Radakovich, Clemson’s director of athletics, in a news release. “Our IPTAY and athletic staff have worked tirelessly and taken a comprehensive look at the game-day experience.

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