Clemson will have a reduced seating capacity of 19,000 fans for football games this season and will require face coverings unless eating or drinking, the school said Thursday.
Game-day traditions, including the pregame Tiger Walk and postgame Gathering at the Paw, will not take place this season. Fans are being asked not to tailgate.
The seating capacity inside the stadium normally is 81,500. Fans will be seated primarily in pods of two and four affiliated guests. In addition, each fan will have a designated gate of entry.
The limited seating capacity will equate to nearly $40 million in lost revenue, athletic director Dan Radakovich said Friday. If Clemson were forced to eliminate all spectators, he said, the loss could be closer to $60 million.
He added that no one will be allowed in the general seating area known as The Hill, which serves as the team’s pregame entrance point, but that the team will still run down the hill before the game.
“The idea of how all the things that we put out through the plan with the state and some information going out to our season-ticket holders is the result of about four months’ worth of work as it relates to our game operations and our [booster club] staff,” Radakovich said. “We engaged AECOM, one of our architectural partners, we’ve had dialogue with medical experts, we’ve had dialogue with our campus safety and security folks, so the result of all those conversations over that time period really came forward [Thursday] in the announcement of that plan.”
In a statement Thursday, Radakovich said Clemson would “continue to monitor guidance and make adjustments if necessary.”
ESPN’s David Hale contributed to this story.
