Tickets are sold out for Saturday night’s football game between Alabama and Missouri at Faurot Field.
All 11,700 of them.
The Southeastern Conference is launching its most recognized and lucrative sport this weekend amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but there will be a very different appearance at league venues. Due to social distancing guidelines that have been implemented by each of the SEC’s 14 institutions, the normal packed houses that can exceed 100,000 spectators on autumn Saturdays will instead resemble audiences typically reserved for spring games.
That includes South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium, which can seat 80,250 but will hold roughly 20,000 when Tennessee visits.
“It’s a great environment, and it’s a great setting for college football and for the Southeastern Conference,” Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said earlier this week. “I get excited whether our fans are there or not. I get really excited when our fans are there, but just to be quite candid, there were some days I didn’t think we were going to get to this point, and I think we would all agree with that.”