Back at the CLA: Gamecocks announce rules, capacity for basketball fans this season
Both the South Carolina men’s and women’s basketball teams will welcome a limited number of fans to games at Colonial Life Arena this season, the school announced Tuesday.
The USC athletic department received approval from the S.C. Department of Commerce to admit 3,500 fans — or 19.44% of the 18,000-seat arena.
Neither team has released a schedule for the 2020 season, which begins Nov. 25. But the school Tuesday said that “with schedules for Carolina men’s and women’s basketball almost complete, Gamecock Athletics has tentatively scheduled the week of Nov. 9 to begin the seat selection process.”
Details on parking and student ticket distribution are still to come.
As for COVID-19 safety measures, seats will be divided into pods of two, four or six people, with six feet of distance between each pod. The arena will also feature new signage that encourages distancing and directs traffic flow. Facial coverings will be required for both staff and fans inside the facility.
The action will also look different on and near the court due to COVID-19 protocols. The first five rows above the court will not be available for spectator seating. Team benches will be moved to opposite sides of the court to promote distancing.
Men’s coach Frank Martin said in early October that he supported fans attending games.
“We’re not going to get sick because there are fans at the games,” Martin said. “It’s the fan-on-fan exposure … that’s where the concern’s at.
“I think we should have fans at the game. How many? I kind of leave that out there. I know this: People are allowed to go to bars. People are allowed to go to restaurants. People are allowed to do all kinds of stuff, but don’t go to a sporting event? That’s a major problem. That’s where I get confused ... But I hope we have fans. I really do.”
USC’s Williams-Brice Stadium can host about 20,000 fans this season, or about 25% capacity. Football teams in the Big 10 and Pac12 conferences are playing with limited to no spectators in attendance.
Women’s coach Dawn Staley said in mid-October that she wasn’t sure how many people would be allowed at games, but cited the capacity cap set for Gamecock football games as an example.
“What would it be for us, if it’s 17% of the Colonial Life Arena? Not very many. Not very many, and I’m not looking forward to people actually hearing me scream out on the sidelines,” Staley joked. “So that’s, that’s not something I’m looking forward to. But again, we’ll pivot, and the teams that are able to do that hopefully will be the ones that are at a Final Four and hoisting up a national championship.”
The USC women’s team drew an average of 12,218 fans per game last season, tops in the country, and Staley’s program has led women’s basketball in attendance six years in a row. The men’s team averaged 12,180 fans per game last year, 29th in the nation, and has averaged more than 11,000 per game for each of the past six seasons.
Last week, in-state rival Clemson announced a 2020-21 season capacity of 1,860 fans at Littlejohn Coliseum, or about 21% of the arena’s normal limit of 8,758. The Tigers are selling tickets in pods primarily in groups of two and four.
— The State’s Greg Hadley contributed this story.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Back at the CLA: Gamecocks announce rules, capacity for basketball fans this season."
