Mason Talks Attendance at Vanderbilt Stadium
The decision not to allow fans to attend Vanderbilt football games in 2020 set of an immediate firestorm among longtime fans and season ticket holders. It also caused some longtime supporters to denounce their loyalty and future attendance past the 2020 season.
Head football coach Derek Mason joined local media members on Tuesday for a conference call, where he was asked about a season without fans in attendance.
"I feel like right now, our job is to get back to football," said Mason. "I mean across the country as I've watched football, most places have started with limited crowds or no fans at all. I think smart here."
"We sit right in the city of Nashville, and I think the idea is to get football started, and let's see where we go from there, added Mason. "With that, I'm focused on getting this team ready to play."
While the Commodores are accustomed to playing before small crowds, this will be even more different.
"When we come back here and play versus LSU, we'd all like to have a crowd, but we all understand too that we're in the midst of COVID," concluded Mason. "So, right now we're going to take it one game at a time as the state and local government restrictions are still there, man, we'll figure out exactly where we fit and let's see where Vanderbilt goes, and as we get better with our numbers, I'm sure there will be an opportunity at some point to look at bringing our football family and our fans back into our stadium."
While Mason sounds optimistic-not a negative thing these days to sound optimistic- the chances of this change occurring seem unlikely given how Metro Nashville city government is continuing to keep restrictions tight and have already canceled public events into December.
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