College football is back. So, too, are soldout crowds across the country.
From Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia, to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, we saw packed college football stadiums across the country this weekend.
Fans were loving the sights. The sport is truly better when the stadiums are packed.
JUMP AROUND IS BACK AND IT HAS NEVER HIT HARDER@BadgerFootball | @UWBadgers pic.twitter.com/waT3hmaOqO
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 4, 2021
Of course, we’re still in a pandemic, with COVID-19 cases continuing to pop up across the country. Vaccination rates are rising, but the sight of packed college football stadiums is causing some to worry about a “mass spreader” event.
Glad to see more US-based scholars blasting college football for super spread events (which could impact our health)
let’s extend this critique to college sport’s plantation system:
How the predominantly Black & Brown football players are exploited & brain damaged for $$$$
— Dr. Johanna Mellis (@JohannaMellis) September 4, 2021
Major sporting events, with crowds, have been taking place throughout all of 2021. While it’s certainly fair to worry about the spread of COVID-19, have we actually been able to identify sporting events as the cause of a “superspreader” event?
As ESPN.com notes, there are a couple of examples. However, we’ve yet to officially see it with college football:
There have already been instances of the health risks that come from crowded sporting events. The first came Feb. 19, as nearly 2,500 fans of Spanish soccer club Valencia traveled to Italy to watch a Champions League match against Atalanta. They were among the 44,236 fans inside Milan’s San Siro Stadium, and several weeks later, after it was determined to be a coronavirus “super-spreading event” that played a significant role in outbreaks locally and in Spain, the match became known as “Game Zero.”
ESPN.com will be “mapping” college football crowds throughout the season here.
Hopefully we’ll continue to see both soldout college football stadiums and a lack of COVID-19 spread.
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