Iowa State announces reversal of plans to have fans in the stands for season opener

[Trice]

That seems pretty obvious.

And still. What rock was she under to not be able to anticipate the blow back?

How was Wendy unaware of this before Monday? That's the thing that keeps baffling me.

Lots of possible reasons. I saw some comments about her challenging the way the numbers were calculated. I don't know what came of that, but maybe she didn't realize it was quite as bad as it was when she okayed the decision. Maybe faculty really pushed back. Maybe she didn't have as thick of skin as she thought. All just speculation on my part.

 

[Rabbuk]

Agreed, anything above 0% would have have been criticized as much or more than 25k. Couldn't get the games canceled so now they are going after fan attendance.

25k was pretty out of line with peer institutions I think

 

[cycloneG]

Lots of possible reasons. I saw some comments about her challenging the way the numbers were calculated. I don't know what came of that, but maybe she didn't realize it was quite as bad as it was when she okayed the decision. Maybe faculty really pushed back. Maybe she didn't have as thick of skin as she thought. All just speculation on my part.

This is 100% true.

 

[Clonehomer]

You would hope, but sound decisions based on real data went out the window years ago.

I'll take leadership that is willing to listen over leadership that thinks they know better than everyone else any day.

 

[Zyklon]

Just think, if people weren't so scared to be called a p****y by Clay Travis and actually wore a mask at the grocery store, we would probably have fans in the stands and have most teams playing football. Oh well, at least you aren't a Corona Bro living in fear!

 

[bawbie]

Smh. Definitely a joke, but the virus isn’t nearly as serious as you seem to think it is. The average age of death is around 74!

The average age of my parents and wife's parents is around 74! I don't want them to die!! Telling old people to go jump off a cliff is ridiculously immoral.

Just like most countries in Europe, or in U.S. New York, Florida, Arizona, etc, the virus spikes and we see high cases, then it goes back down when it gets through enough people.

It goes back down when restrictions are put in place and people take it seriously. There has been nowhere that it has spiked and gone back down without shutting down in-person events and instituting a mask mandate of some type.

It’ll be okay, there’s a lot of things out in this world that are riskier than dying of covid.

And we do everything we can to limit the risks of all of those things. It makes no sense for this to be the one thing we ignore and do nothing to mitigate the risk.

 

[helechopper]

Sucks for us fans and the players, but definitely a smart move.

 

[diaclone]

Continue reading...

Really, it was only a matter of time......

 

[awd4cy]

The average age of my parents and wife's parents is around 74! I don't want them to die!! Telling old people to go jump off a cliff is ridiculously immoral.



It goes back down when restrictions are put in place and people take it seriously. There has been nowhere that it has spiked and gone back down without shutting down in-person events and instituting a mask mandate of some type.




And we do everything we can to limit the risks of all of those things. It makes no sense for this to be the one thing we ignore and do nothing to mitigate the risk.

That just means their risk is slightly higher. 90+% of 70 some year olds still live. Even the New York Times posted an article that they estimated that 40% of covid deaths have occurred in nursing homes. 40%!

 

[Cyclonefan710]

Way too many people have aligned their own personal self-esteem with the outcome of this attendance issue.

I thought 25K was aggressive. 25 *percent* might have been defensible although to announce that in the midst of a wave of national stories about Ames being the nation's hotspot was going to be an uphill battle from a PR standpoint regardless.

Where I think Pollard failed here was in anticipating the blowback he would get. Agree or disagree with it, I felt like that was pretty predictable, and if you're going to make a controversial decision against headwinds like that you need to be prepared to stick to your guns and absorb the criticism. If you're going to change course when things get hot, then you should anticipate the heat and just make a different choice in the first place. (I should add, all of this seems very un-Pollard-like to me so maybe it was Wintersteen who got squeamish, I don't know.)

But now Pollard has the worst of all worlds: bad publicity from the first (arguably bad) decision, another round of bad publicity from the new decision, plus he might have overcorrected and cost himself revenue by going straight to zero fans when instead aiming for 10-15K fans might have been hailed as a "more reasonable" choice when compared to 25K.

But that's just public relations and nobody will care in a few days.

This wasn’t Pollards decision. Fans would be there if it was his call which makes me feel a little better that we still have a total boss as an AD.

 

[madguy30]

This is gonna be like a post Iowa loss level meltdown around here

I'd say it's UAB game levels.

 

[dafarmer]

My luck, they go undefeated and I won't get to see them in person and do the Juicy Wiggle in Section K. Just decided to go with the 2021 option on tickets. Well like all you Cubbie fans, wait for next year.

 

[DrClone]

They never should have went with 25,000

Should have followed along and did 25% to start. We tried to lead the nation in attendance for some reason and it backfired.
I don’t think you hear the backlash if they announce 25% which would be around 15k

It didn't backfire. Backfire would have been if they had 25,000 fans and a week later a massive outbreak.

 

[bawbie]

That just means their risk is slightly higher. 90+% of 70 some year olds still live. Even the New York Times posted an article that they estimated that 40% of covid deaths have occurred in nursing homes. 40%!

Are you asserting that the lives of people in nursing homes matter less than others?

Are nursing homes somehow hermetically sealed from the community at large with no one going in and out? Keeping a deadly virus away from the most vulnerable members of our community should be something we all care about. And the way to do that is clear - stop unchecked community spread.

 

[Tailg8er]

Odds for fans at the O/U game?

2%.

Even if allowed, how many will have opted out by that point? Are they going to prorate the cost of the season for how many games you get to go to? Sounds like a nightmare.

 

[ArgentCy]

That is not the source of the positivity rate or the spike in the state. The antigen numbers did affect one day if you look only at the new numbers, but they were counting those as negative tests all along, so it only fixed the data, it didn't change the positivity rates on any given day (per the IDPH website)

This is your outbreak that makes us the worst in the Country...?

 

[diaclone]

Absolutely incompetent from Wintersteen. I’d be pissed if I was Jamie. Not that I was totally on board with the announced plan but this looks like the same type of problem as the Big 10.

If you weren’t going to allow fans then don’t say you will allow fans.

Just to clarify I’m not being critical of no fans I’m being critical of her saying ok to 25,000 fans and then two days later saying no fans. If Iowa State has just said no fans it would have gotten grumbling but not people legitimately upset.

Sometimes in real life and death situations, the right decision is not made initially for various reasons. Happens all the the time in the real world with ANY organization.

A decision allowing fans for a football game in a city that has a super outbreak was just cowardice. They've made the right move. So what if they changed their minds to get to the right place.

 

[cycfan1]

Are you asserting that the lives of people in nursing homes matter less than others?

Are nursing homes somehow hermetically sealed from the community at large with no one going in and out? Keeping a deadly virus away from the most vulnerable members of our community should be something we all care about. And the way to do that is clear - stop unchecked community spread.

People aren't going to nursing homes to live out 15-20 years... the average stay is under 2 years before most pass.

• the median length of stay in a nursing home before death was 5 months
• the average length of stay was longer at 14 months due to a small number of study participants who had very long lengths of stay
• 65% died within 1 year of nursing home admission
• 53% died within 6 months of nursing home admission

 

[awd4cy]

Just think, if people weren't so scared to be called a p****y by Clay Travis and actually wore a mask at the grocery store, we would probably have fans in the stands and have most teams playing football. Oh well, at least you aren't a Corona Bro living in fear!

The reason we don’t have fans in the stands is the hysteria and over reaction from media and people like you. I sure hear a lot of soccer players in Europe still coming down with covid. Neymar was a big one today. Must still be going around over there some. Fans are starting to be let into stands there just like here at limited capacities.

 

[Clonefan32]

There's no way to view this other than being completely botched. A willingness to completely reverse course in 2 days time denotes trepidation about the decision. If you had any trepidation about this decision, you don't do it.