Could high school games be played with empty bleachers?
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has said that whenever the National Basketball Association resumes play, he expects the games to take place in empty arenas.
Cuban’s is one of many voices in a chorus proposing that collegiate and professional games might be played without crowds in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association considered ending men’s and women’s basketball seasons the same way, before canceling collegiate competition for the rest of the year. Major League Baseball currently is weighing whether to begin its season before empty stadiums.
Once the UIL lifts its suspension of competition, could area high school games be played under the same format?
Memorial girls basketball coach Laura Zapata said the Minutemen’s athletic staff had talked about the possibility with Edgewood ISD athletic director Robert Gomez as a hypothetical. Personally, Zapata favors the concept of playing without crowds, as long as conditions are safe and players are protected.
“He said he’d talked with other athletic directors, and that it might be a possibility,” Zapata said. “It was the first time I’d heard that, but he’s really good about mentioning possible scenarios.”
The UIL is deliberating the fate of spring sports seasons, which it determined will not begin before May 4. The organization has not publicly addressed details about the potential resumption of play, including fan involvement.
“I don’t think it would be a problem,” Zapata said of playing with no fans in the venue. “Kids, at this juncture, just want to play. We’ve got a lot of talented kids in our area, and my heart bleeds for the seniors.”
With everything up in the air, fall sports coaches are concerned their 2020 seasons may not begin on time. Former Southwest football coach Matt Elliott, who retired after the 2019 season to accept a position in the Southwest ISD athletic department, doesn’t advocate playing games without crowd support.
“You’re not going to put a group of kids out there and keep fans away,” Elliott said. “It would be better to make a decision not to play until you can have crowds.
“With everybody working on this, I think somebody is going to figure it out and we’ll be ready to play in August.”
Football is known for pageantry and action throughout the stadium with bands, cheerleaders and dance teams. Of course, the risk of COVID-19 exposure also is magnified.
Softball is a sport that appears more adaptable to playing without crowds and having games live-streamed to fans outside stadium walls. High school teams generate their own noise.
“It’s non-stop on the bench,” said Michelle Suarez, who coaches both softball and volleyball at Brackenridge. “That’s the big difference between (the sports). I think our dugouts might get a little louder and there might be more talking to (opponents).”
In an age when tablets seem to be employed on every bench and cameras are present at every game, the possibility for such a bold experiment to supply displaced fans with the action seems to be in place.
“We’re in uncharted waters at this point,” said South San baseball coach Robert Zamora, who has been the school’s athletic director. “But the community thrives on high school sports. Sports has a way of providing a sense of comfort, or a release.”
