Perkins: I'm OK With the University of Miami Allowing Fans at its Season Opener
I don’t mind the University of Miami announcing Monday it would allow a maximum of 13,000 fans at the Sept. 10 season opener at Hard Rock Stadium.
Ideally, UM wouldn’t allow any fans at the game.
I’d back that plan 100 percent. Err on the side of caution.
But here’s the thing…
We’re probably going to be living with COVID-19 for the next year or so, meaning we’ll probably be wearing masks and social distancing into next summer.
Heck, even if someone announced tomorrow they’ve discovered a vaccine wouldn’t you want them to test it for at least a year?
The bottom line is at some point we must learn to live with this virus, and saying you’ll allow a maximum capacity of about 20 percent at Hard Rock Stadium isn’t a terrible idea.
No one said UM would definitely allow 13,000 people. They said that’s the maximum. They might allow 10,000.
They might allow 3,000.
They might not allow anyone to attend the game.
This could be a week-to-week decision.
We don’t know.
All we know is UM, such as the ACC, SEC and Big 12, has said it wants to stay in the game. It wants to leave open the possibility of having fans attend the game. The Canes don’t want to eliminate themselves right now such as the Big Ten and Pac-12 eliminated themselves from playing in the fall.
I’m down with that. That’s cool.
Honestly, I don’t think the ACC, SEC or Big 12 is going to be able to safely play an entire season. I hope they do.
But I think it’s highly unlikely 100 college football players can mingle with other students (and you can be sure they’ll mingle) for five consecutive months and not have a wave of infections.
UM announced Friday it already had four students test positive and another 51 students are in quarantine. That’s an auspicious start to the fall semester.
Still, I’m OK with teams giving it a try.
We must carefully and cautiously experiment with getting back to a semblance of life before COVID-19.
No, playing college football isn’t necessary, and neither is attending a college football game.
Reasonably testing the limits of our new COVID-19 lifestyle is necessary, however.
And this plan, at this point, seems reasonable.
Look, I’m not politicizing this issue.
I’d favor a national shelter-in-place of about a month to try to get this thing under better control. Everybody keep your butt in the house for 30 days, and when you go out, definitely mask up. That’s mandatory. That’d be my policy.
But if we’re not going to do that, let’s figure out how we can live with this virus, let’s stick a toe in the water.
That’s what Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel thought, too.
“So I asked the question of the team, I said, ‘You know, is it possible to create a stadium environment where people can be socially distant and socially present at the same time?’ ” he said during a Monday news conference.
We’ll see.
Some, such as U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, a former UM president and secretary of Health and Human Services, disagree with opening the stadium to spectators.
Shalala said, “It is very difficult to open anything when you have community spread. We still have community spread.”
Buffalo coach Sean McDermott, whose team plays the Dolphins in Miami’s Sept. 20 home opener, said it’s “ridiculous” to have fans attend.
But, again, if we’re not going to do a national shelter-in-place we must push a few limits. Reasonably.
Let’s not do anything crazy such as throwing house parties or re-opening bars. We’re not idiots.
Let’s do this thing the right way, under the scrutiny of a watchful public eye and lots of TV cameras. Under those conditions the folks at Hard Rock Stadium, and every other facility that’s opening to fans, ought to have plenty of motivation to enforce the rules and keep people socially distanced.
If not, shut ’em down.
It’s simple.
