Oklahoma football plans to bring fans back at full capacity in 2021
By John Makuch
Oklahoma football is planning to bring back fans in full this fall.
After a 2020 season in which the Sooners played home games at 25-percent capacity, a full Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium will make its return in 2021. With improved vaccination numbers in the state of Oklahoma, over 80,000 fans will potentially make their return to Norman to cheer on the six-time defending Big 12-champion Sooners.
Safeguards are said to be in place for this new plan It is unclear at this time if masks will be required for attendance. No matter the plan, having that atmosphere is something that was a clear void at OU football games in 2020.
Hearing a packed arena full of fans yelling “Boomer” followed by “Sooner” is one of the most iconic and great fan moments in all of College Football. Hearing that again from a packed crowd will send chills down the spines of players and fans all alike.
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Seeing a stadium with tens of thousands of fans is going to be surreal, and unbelievable, given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-impacted 2020 season, but that is the thinking and current planning looking ahead to the 2021 college football season.
Whether vaccinations, masks, or tests are required, the Owen Field will be packed with loud Sooner fans ready to help this team have a standout season.
The games clearly did not have the same energy with fans absent this past season. While these restrictions were necessary to have a season at all, this easily affected the feel of the game both in the stadium for the players and on television.
The current thought is that by the fall, all BIG 12 schools will approach the attendance issue similarly and operate under the same rules in 2021. Seeing the state of Texas open up state completely leaves Oklahoma as next to follow within a few months potentially.
This is the beginning of a potential return to some form of normalcy, or as normal as possible given the situation at the time. Time will only tell whether or not the numbers improve enough for this to be the safe option, but with vaccines available and numbers improving. it may be very possible.
The idea to return to 100 percent could just be optimism, but this is again reliant on the rise in vaccinations.
Either way, Oklahoma football will benefit from the energy of the fans, something the Sooners have not had in over a year. We are now beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic, but the hope is that Oklahoma is not celebrating too soon by having full capacity.