Alabama Planning to Host Full-Capacity Crowds at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2021

The University of Alabama is expecting to have a full house when the defending national champions return for the 2021 season. 

Athletic Director Greg Byrne said Monday that the school was "moving forward with plans to have a full stadium in the fall" as the University of Alabama system announced plans to return to in-person learning without restrictions for the fall semester. 

Bryant-Denny Stadium has a capacity of 100,077. 

Byrne said the program will continue to keep an eye on medical guidelines "as we have all along." 

In 2020, Alabama limited the capacity to 20 percent amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is currently slowing as vaccinations continue to become available nationwide. In Alabama, just 13 percent of people have received one shot of a vaccine, which ranks among the lowest totals nationwide, per the New York Times. 

The stadium will play host to seven games next season, with the first coming on Sept. 11 when Mercer comes to Tuscaloosa. 

Elsewhere, Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury said in February that the program was "going into planning right now like we're going to be at full capacity." Their 55,000-seat stadium was also limited to 20 percent in 2021, according to Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.