MHSAA Issues Guidance Allowing More Spectators at Athletic Events

(September 30, 2020 4:08 PM)  The MHSAA today issued guidance that allows for increased gathering numbers for indoor and outdoor events in all regions of the state.  In a memo to athletic directors and football coaches from Executive Director Mark Uyl,  changes become effective on Friday, October 9 that will allow for larger in-person audiences at football games and other sporting events. 

The new guidance from the MHSAA follows Governor Whitmer’s latest executive order allowing movie theaters, bowling alleys and performance venues to reopen with new capacity limits.

As an example for an outdoor event, the MHSAA order limits attendance to 1,000 spectators in a football stadium that has a capacity of 3,333.  Regardless of stadium size, no more than 1,000 spectators will be allowed.  A venue with capacity of 1,000 would be limited to 300 (30%).  Indoor gyms will have a capacity limit of 20% (in the region that includes Jackson County).

The MHSAA allows individual school districts to leave in place current restrictions based on local policies.    

The MHSAA provided this list of parameters:

1. The effective date of this new guidance under EO 183 is Friday, October 9.

2. Social distancing MUST be followed at all times for everyone except athletes involved in active participation during the contest. There is no change to the face covering requirements under EO 153 (for all non-athletes) and EO 180 (for all athletes).

3. If an indoor event is in a fixed indoor seating venue (gymnasium or pool), 20% of seating capacity is allowed for up to 500 spectators (25% in Regions 6 and 8). If your gymnasium seats 2,500 or more, you would be able to sell 500 spectator tickets. If your gymnasium seats less than 2,500, take 20% (or 25% in Regions 6 and 8) of your maximum capacity to determine the number of allowed spectators.

4. If an outdoor event is in a fixed outdoor seating venue (football or soccer stadium), 30% of seating capacity is allowed for up to 1,000 spectators. If your stadium seats 3,333 or more, you would be able to sell 1,000 spectator tickets. If your stadium seats less than 3,333, take 30% of your maximum seating capacity to determine the number of allowed spectators.

5. If an outdoor event is NOT in a fixed outdoor seating venue (cross country, golf, soccer field with no permanent/fixed seating), a site must maintain no more than 30 spectators per 1,000 square feet of the facility, up to a maximum of 1,000 spectators. We realize this will be challenging to enforce in cross country and golf in particular given the massive expanse of many cross country and golf courses. In these cases, use every opportunity possible to announce and remind all involved to keep social distancing at all times.

6. When spectator tickets are sold in advance, the availability of those tickets must be divided on a 50-50 basis between the home and visiting school. If remaining tickets are sold at the gate, they may be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. If tickets are not sold in advance, spectators are admitted on a first-come first-serve basis. All persons admitted with a school, league or conference pass for regular season contests must be included in the spectator limits.

7. This new order eliminates the need for the MHSAA definition of “participant” as attendance is no longer connected to the number of participants. Local schools can now determine participant groups to be included with regular season contests such as players, cheerleaders, dance teams, pompon squads and bands.

For regular season events, schools may have more restrictive local policies.