Iowa State affirms plan for 50% Jack Trice Stadium football capacity

The plan is now officially for Jack Trice Stadium to be half as full as it usually is during home football games.

That much talked-about possibility became the current reality Wednesday, when the university posted campus-wide mitigation principles for the 2020-21 school year on its website.

“As guided by the Governor, the CDC, Iowa Department of Public Health and other state and federal health experts, the current plan is for a 50-percent capacity limit for events at Jack Trice Stadium, including football,” the message states, regarding the 61,500-seat stadium. “Additional mitigation strategies will be used to reduce the risk of COVID-19's spread, such as physical distancing, face coverings, electronic ticketing and crowd management designed to reduce fan congestion and contact."

“More information about COVID-19 mitigation strategies at Jack Trice Stadium, Hilton Coliseum and other athletic venues will be distributed prior to the opening of any venue to the public for a sporting event," the posting stated.

The 50% benchmark goes along with what athletics director Jamie Pollard wrote in a May 26 message to fans, in which he said:

"Attendance at Jack Trice Stadium would be limited to approximately 50 percent capacity in order to meet the current guidelines established by state and local officials.”

MORE: Inside the decades-long battle for Jack Trice Stadium's name

At the time, Pollard also wrote:

“We want to assure you that our staff is working to make the game day environment as safe as possible. After consulting with campus officials, we have concluded there is no reasonable way to guarantee that no one will contract the COVID-19 virus. Trying to adhere to a standard of absolute protection is simply not reasonable. We would either be held accountable for being far too restrictive or, more likely, not restrictive enough.

“We will establish, and eventually communicate to you, the mitigation measures that we will implement this fall. Those decisions are currently in the development stage and will be evaluated and tweaked as we learn more about the virus in the coming weeks.

“It will ultimately be up to each attendee to decide whether they are comfortable attending games given the mitigation strategies we will implement. That decision will remain a personal choice that all attendees need to make.”

Iowa State’s Wednesday mitigation model comes two days after the Story County Board of Health suggested the school consider prohibiting fans from attending 2020 football games.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been writing for the Des Moines Register for parts of six decades. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete. No one covers the Cyclones like the Register. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal to make sure you never miss a moment.