Penn State Announces Football, Fall Sports Won't Have Fans Amid Pandemic

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Penn State University plans to hold all fall sporting events without fans, according to an email sent to season ticket holders by the school's vice president for intercollegiate athletics, Sandy Barbour.

Per Greg Pickel of PennLive, she wrote: 

"As of today, the current large group gatherings guidance from the Governor's office limits capacity to 250 people for outside events and 25 people for inside events.

"Therefore, under the current conditions and current state orders, our fall sports events would be conducted without fans in the general seating areas of our facilities. We continue to work with the Governor's office to discuss, and possibly be prepared for the opportunity to have spectators at our fall Penn State sporting events."

Barbour added Penn State's games could open to fans later in the fall sports calendar. However, that would require the loosening of recommendations on large group gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is not expected anytime soon.

Penn State's athletic department expects to lose eight or nine figures in revenue from the fallout of the pandemic, Barbour wrote. 

Season ticket holders were given the option of rolling over their tickets to 2021, taking a full refund or making a tax-deductible donation to the Nittany Lion Club's Levi Lamb Fund.

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Penn State is slated to open its 2020 football season Sept. 5 against Northwestern.