Texas Football: DRK capacity could be down to 25 percent in 2020

The Texas football program could be continuing to adjust their plans for the looming 2020 season, now with altering fan capacity limits.

The plans for the 2020 college football season are going to have to start coming together around the Big 12 in the near future. And the Texas football program is going to have to continue to adjust in parts on their own along the way. An initial important move that the Longhorns made was declaring that home games would only be held to 50 percent for fan attendance.

But Texas could be taking one more step to stay safe for home games held at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic. A potential next step that could be looming is the Longhorns moving to 25 percent capacity for fan attendance at home games this fall.

On an update released by the University of Texas-Austin interim president Jay Hartzell on July 29, it sounds like the plan for the Longhorns could be moving to 25 percent capacity for fan attendance at football games this coming season. Here’s more on what he had to say on this matter.

"As we’ve planned for the fall semester, one of the common questions we’ve heard from our community is: How do we expect our athletic events, and football in particular, to take place? We have been exploring a range of scenarios surrounding crowd attendance for upcoming football games at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, with a maximum occupancy of up to 50% of crowd capacity.Kevin Eltife, Chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, has requested that the university continue to review its policies and specifically explore the logistics, health and safety effects of crowds at 25% of capacity (including students).The analysis of this new crowd size target is a reflection of the consistent change and uncertainty that has come with the COVID-19 pandemic. As rates in Austin and throughout Texas continue to ebb and flow, we must be agile and work consistently to develop strategies to protect the safety of our student athletes, coaches, staff members, students and all who visit our campus for athletic events. As we approach the start of the football season, we will closely monitor the spread of COVID-19 and make final decisions based on the guidance of our Board of Regents and state health officials in the coming weeks."

This sounds like a move that could happen since a few other schools are doing it too. The Ohio State Buckeyes are one of the bigger football programs that could be enacting something similar. Ohio State is reportedly having 20 percent fan capacity at their home games at Ohio Stadium this fall.

Texas athletic director Chris del Conte will continue to have a very busy job getting his department ready for fall sports. Even winter sports are going to be a challenge, as the question of fan attendance at basketball and baseball are going to hit center stage soon too.

The 2020 season for the Longhorns is supposed to open up on Sep. 5 at home at DKR against the South Florida Bulls. Del Conte could have more adjustments dropping along the way as Texas tries to alter their 2020 season plan to be the safest possible to play through the COVID-19 pandemic.