The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an impact on the sports world, and that means there will be changes at Memorial Stadium this fall. That begins Saturday, when Missouri is set to open the 2020 season against No. 2 Alabama.

The capacity for the opener has been capped at 11,700, Missouri officials told Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which is close to 19 percent of its typical capacity of 61,620. As Matter points out, the last time the Tigers had a home game with an announced attendance of less than 20,000 was Nov. 14, 1959, against Kansas State.

Obviously, times are much different now, and had it not been for the pandemic, Memorial Stadium would have had a much larger crowd come Saturday.

The Tigers have five home games this season, but it’s not yet clear whether they’ll allow more fans into the stadium later in the year. After the opener, they won’t play at home again until Oct. 17 vs. Vanderbilt.

“It could with science if the CDC changes things as far as the distancing [or] if something unforeseen right now changes,” Missouri athletics director Jim Sterk told Matter. “So, right now we’ll see. It could go up or down, I guess.”

There will be other changes at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, too. Parking lots won’t open until three hours prior to kickoff. Only digital tickets will be accepted, with mobile help stations at all four corners of the stadium if a fan is having trouble. Fans must enter and exit through the zone listed on their tickets, using only the restrooms and concession stands in their zone.

Marching Mizzou and the spirit squads will be in the Bunker Club, rather than on the field. And the Rock M hill is reserved for assigned student seating.

It will look different, but it will still be the first Missouri football game of the season. The Tigers and Crimson Tide are set to kick off on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.