Greg Byrne says Alabama planning for full-capacity crowd, tailgating at home games
By SDS Staff
Published:
Coming off of a 2020 college football season of reduced capacity around the country, college football fans are hoping to be part of larger home crowds this fall. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne says UA is planning for full-capacity at Bryant-Denny Stadium and tailgating.
“We are planning on full capacity, we’re planning on having tailgating and all those different things,” Byrne said in a radio interview with Eli Gold, per Charlie Potter of BamaOnLine. “And at the same time, we still hope that people will do what they can to make it as safe as possible.”
Byrne continued on the subject of safety, discussing vaccination rates in the Alabama athletic department and his personal experience.
“We’re really proud as an athletic department,” Byrne told Gold, per Potter. “We’re at 91.85 percent vaccinated as of a couple of days ago — all told, all our teams. Football, Coach Saban’s been very vocal about it. We’re at 99.5 percent. And what we’ve tried to do is say, ‘Hey, we’re doing it. We’re setting an example, we’re trying to lead and encourage.’ Have people had any side effects? Sure, from time to time there’s been some. But I go right back at them and say, ‘Man, I had COVID, and it kicked my tail for two and a half months and was like nothing I’ve ever dealt with before. I don’t wanna deal with that again.’
“So as soon as I was eligible, I went and got vaccinated, and I’m very glad that I did. We’ve tried to do all we can to encourage that and say that it’s safe. We’ve got great scientists and doctors, and our entire medical team said that’s the right thing to do and we’ve been following their guidance.”
Alabama opens the 2021 season in Atlanta against Miami. The Crimson Tide return home in Week 2 to face Mercer.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
