Days away from BYU’s home opener against Troy on Saturday, the University’s plan to allow up to 6,000 fans in LaVell Edwards Stadium has been scrapped.
On Tuesday, Gov. Gary Herbert announced Provo and Orem would move from low risk to moderate, or yellow to orange, due to the spike in coronavirus cases. The decision results in the upcoming Troy and LA Tech (Oct. 2) games to go forward with no fans in attendance.
The change in restriction level will go into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
Along with Herbert, the presidents of BYU and Utah Valley released a joint statement on Tuesday warning students of the current situation and even threatened to close campuses for the rest of the semester if students continue refusing to follow health guidelines.
While the Cougars were originally planning on playing in front of a crowd, albeit much smaller than usual, they shouldn’t be too thrown off by the recent turn of events. At their season opener, the Cougars routed Navy 55-3 in an empty Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
For fans who had already purchased tickets for the Troy game, tickets will be honored for the first home game once the state designation changes to allow BYU to host fans in the stadium or those interested in receiving a refund can email BYUtickets@byu.edu, a spokesperson said.
