Jamie Pollard gives further details on plans for Jack Trice Stadium in 2020

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cygrads

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Pretty reasonable - still a lot of unknowns and we are still 3 months out. I think he's being realistic knowing you can't police/enforce what needs to be done or what each individual thinks should be done. He has also allowed everyone the opportunity to get a refund or apply to next season if they are uncomfortable at all.
 

JM4CY

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Jamie gives us another reason to be damn glad he's in charge of the AD.
 

nfrine

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I would expect an effort. Certain examples would include:
1. Specifying that seats will be separate. He specified otherwise for at least the big donors, but that will be everybody.

2. Specifiy distancing in parking. He says it sorts itself out, or just another version of "I trust Iowans to do the right thing."

3. Require masks.

These are some easy steps that anyone can implement.
You should take advantage of JP's offer to stay home this year but retain your seats for next year. Good thing you are not a Hok.
 

JP4CY

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I mean I get that but there is some calculations between excluding a minimum level donor who may be on the hook for the next ten years for students who potentially could give the next 40 years
I absolutely get that point of view. I think in a pandemic situation, where the rules are kind of out the window, it's not unreasonable to say "we need the money now. Not having March Madness is already killing some schools, etc."

Again, I get both sides.
 

alarson

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Well 2 months ago it was No football. Last month it was maybe football but no fans. Who knows where we'll be 3 months from now.

Hopefully healthy and ready to kickoff with a stadium full of fans.

The problem is that nothing has really changed in why we banned large events like this in the first place. Large events like this are a massive risk, not just on an individual level, but because an event with tens of thousands of people creates many opportunities for community virus spread, which could kick off outbreaks outside of those events, both in the local community and when people go home from the game and take the virus with them. Even if it isnt premature to be doing all this opening up (which a lot of experts say it is, but it is what it is right now) that doesnt change that large events will remain an issue well after everything is open.

Given that, and given that 30k packed into their normal seats is going to be just as much of a spread risk as 60k is, to push ahead with this shows a massive disregard for the health of the community at large. It should still be "football with no\few fans"
 
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Macloney

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The problem is that nothing has really changed in why we banned large events like this in the first place. Large events like this are a massive risk, not just on an individual level, but because an event with tens of thousands of people creates many opportunities for community virus spread, which could kick off outbreaks outside of those events, both in the local community and when people go home from the game and take the virus with them. Even if it isnt premature to be doing all this opening up (which a lot of experts say it is, but it is what it is right now) that doesnt change that large events will remain an issue well after everything is open.

Given that, and given that 30k packed into their normal seats is going to be just as much of a spread risk as 60k is, to push ahead with this shows a massive disregard for the health of the community at large. It should still be "football with no\few fans"

You are right, nothing has changed. No vaccine, cases still rising, deaths still rising, no new clinically proven treatments, no knowledge about immunity after infection and a new development that gives kids a horrible auto-immune disease that nobody knows anything about.

China admitted a full lock-down of 5 months before even beginning to reopen, but we are good after 2 months?

You can't have March Madness and literally nothing has changed and you want to have a crowd of 30,000? I guess I am missing something.
 

Drew0311

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Honestly I say bump it to 50k. 50k is just as bad as 30k in the stands. However, I think he made a pretty good call for now. Guessing we won’t have a vaccine anytime soon so it’s good we get things in our country rolling again. Can’t keep our country **** down forever. Virus is not going away any time soon.
 
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alarson

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Honestly I say bump it to 50k. 50k is just as bad as 30k in the stands. However, I think he made a pretty good call for now. Guessing we won’t have a vaccine anytime soon so it’s good we get things in our country rolling again. Can’t keep our country **** down forever. Virus is not going away any time soon.

There is a big difference between "keeping our country shut down forever" and allowing large events that are a high risk for spread. I think if everything else aside from large events were allowed, yet large events were cancelled, most people would not consider things very "shut down". A middle ground exists of allowing more low risk activities discouraging medium-risk, and outright banning high-risk activities. Tens of thousands of people in a stadium would be high-risk according to any metric
 

CYdTracked

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It's refreshing after months of being told we can't do this or that to finally have some kind of light at the end of the tunnel to possibly look forward to this fall. Trying to keep the politics out of this but the bottom line is this all comes down to personal risk management and choices. If you don't feel comfortable then don't go to games and there is at least an option there to keep your seats for 2021 if you choose that. If you go to the games then be responsible about it. I think basketball could be more of a challenge than football because it's indoors and in tighter proximity. We know the virus does not survive long in warm temperatures and sunlight so personally I am not worried about any outdoor activities or events at this point as long as I am not elbow to elbow with someone.

It will be interesting to study the impacts of the decisions made over the next few years because while we measure cases and deaths caused by this virus but there are so many other things this virus has had a negative impact on too that will need to be measured and evaluated as well. Staying out of naming the specifics with that for the sake of turning this into another cave post...
 
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Psyclone

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There is a big difference between "keeping our country shut down forever" and allowing large events that are a high risk for spread. I think if everything else aside from large events were allowed, yet large events were cancelled, most people would not consider things very "shutif t down". A middle ground exists of allowing more low risk activities discouraging medium-risk, and outright banning high-risk activities. Tens of thousands of people in a stadium would be high-risk according to any metric
I've been trying to think through just how much risk I would be taking on. 30K is a lot of people, but I'm only going to come near a small fraction of them. My particular seat is in the back row of the JTC at the end near a beam. The beam isolates me in one direction. So the main threat would be from the people a couple seats away. There is risk entering and exiting the stadium, and also using the bathroom. There is also risk if I go to the bar or get in the food line (if they have food, which they may not). I can control some of that contact, but not all.
 
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trevn

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Whether or not we are going to have football this fall has been a pretty big question for a lot of reasons, and a question many people have interest in. We're still in uncertain times, but I don't see how you can criticize Pollard for putting a plan together with information he has today and communicating that plan to the public. A lot can and likely will change between now and September. At least he's being transparent about where the athletic department is at so people can make decisions about buying tickets and donating. It also gets cash flowing in again and will help the athletic department project a little more accurately the economic impact of the reduced attendance. The more information they have and the sooner they get that information, the better prepared they will be to weather the storm and keep things on track for the future goals they have.
 

danwbarrett

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I've been trying to think through just how much risk I would be taking on. 30K is a lot of people, but I'm only going to come near a small fraction of them. My particular seat is in the back row of the JTC at the end near a beam. The beam isolates me in one direction. So the main threat would be from the people a couple seats away. There is risk entering and exiting the stadium, and also using the bathroom. There is also risk if I go to the bar or get in the food line (if they have food, which they may not). I can control some of that contact, but not all.
Don’t assume you will have your normal seat in 2020 when the 30,000 fans are spread out in 61,500 seats.
 

CyGuy5

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Hopefully by August it gets up to 50k, but at this point I’m not going to complain about being able to watch Cyclone football in person. Might not be able to make it to a lot of games, but it’s worth it in my opinion.

Edit: What I am wondering about is I assume the big donor season ticket holders will get the good (or at least better) seats and the non-donors will get screwed. It would be nice to have some idea about what will happen with seating assignments
 

cygrads

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I've been trying to think through just how much risk I would be taking on. 30K is a lot of people, but I'm only going to come near a small fraction of them. My particular seat is in the back row of the JTC at the end near a beam. The beam isolates me in one direction. So the main threat would be from the people a couple seats away. There is risk entering and exiting the stadium, and also using the bathroom. There is also risk if I go to the bar or get in the food line (if they have food, which they may not). I can control some of that contact, but not all.

My wife is high risk and if there are too many folks around us we may move a couple of sections over to the section where the visiting band sits just to spread out. I'm sure we will wear masks going in, out and bathrooms. We will also use a lot of hand sanitizer. If we still aren't comfortable then we will possibly sell our tickets.
 

cygrads

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Pretty sure it's already been covered- the current plan is same seats
Agree, you can't move people's seats and then get to Sep and find you can have more than 50% and allow non-season ticket holders or non-donors getting better seats.
 

Cycsk

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Don’t assume you will have your normal seat in 2020 when the 30,000 fans are spread out in 61,500 seats.


I've heard nothing that would indicate that fans will be spread out and assigned different seats. Pollard certainly was specific when he talked about not losing your seats even if you wait out for a year. Thus, I will assume that the plan is for 30,000 to be able to sit in their chosen seats.
 

Clonehomer

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You are right, nothing has changed. No vaccine, cases still rising, deaths still rising, no new clinically proven treatments, no knowledge about immunity after infection and a new development that gives kids a horrible auto-immune disease that nobody knows anything about.

China admitted a full lock-down of 5 months before even beginning to reopen, but we are good after 2 months?

You can't have March Madness and literally nothing has changed and you want to have a crowd of 30,000? I guess I am missing something.

I am going to challenge you on that. See the link for daily deaths. We're definitely on a downward slope. I'd imagine all of these plans are based on that trend continuing. I don't necessarily trust the testing numbers because of the varying methodology of what to include. While the fatalities per day number does lag behind infections, it is the most accurate number to track.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-united-states-each-day-2020-n1177936
 
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06_CY

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If you go to the game and don't feel comfortable with X number of people sitting near you, you can always move to an empty section. Nothing will be stopping you from doing that.
 

CyBobby

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I'm unimpressed, but not surprised. His plan is to do nothing and let things sort themselves out while he makes that stupid argument that we just have to live with this.

Oh, well. Money wins.

Just remember that we all live in a Capitalist Society and Money Always WINS......The commissioners and athletic directors and just going where the money is so that their Athletic Dept's don't get financially destroyed...and frankly I would do that same thing in this time of the Novel Coronavirus.....