Late yesterday afternoon, MHSAA responded to Governor Whitmer's Executive Order 2020-183. This clarification was meant to aid districts in properly setting limits to crowd sizes at athletic events. Below are some key points from the MHSAA:
- Indoor events have a limit of 20% of the seating capacity. In our gym that means we can hold 120 ticketed guests.
- Outdoor events have a limit of 30% of the seating capacity. At our football field, that means we can accommodate 240 ticketed guests.
- All spectators are REQUIRED to wear a facial covering still.
- Spectators from separate households must still maintain six feet of social distancing at all times.
- There will be NO concessions at indoor events.
- Many news outlets incorrectly reported that the limits were changed to 500 indoors and 1,000 outdoors. That was only in cases where the 20/30% capacity would exceed those numbers-most high school facilities in the NCTL will not come near that size.
We are currently working with the other schools in the NCTL to make sure we can allow as many spectators as possible into each event. Our priority continues to be to make sure that our athletes are allowed to invite the family and friends they want at an event to be there each night, as of now each athlete is still guaranteed two tickets. We will release details about extra tickets once a system has been agreed upon and put into place. We must also work with visiting schools to make sure their families have the same opportunity. We have four nights of home events next week--including homecoming football versus Caseville on Friday night at 7 pm. The athletic department is working tirelessly to prepare for those events and get every guest tickets. Please stay tuned for further details about how to acquire extra tickets as those details become available. We appreciate your patience, Go Pirates!