Games are different this year for Missouri basketball fans. Mizzou Athletics has added new procedures at games in order to keep attendees safe from the spread of COVID-19.
Brinn Trousdale, event staff assistant at Mizzou Athletics, has worked a couple of shifts at Missouri basketball games this year.
“I know, for at least the ticket taker job, we have to scan [everyone’s ticket] who enters and make sure that they’re wearing masks,” Trousdale said. “If they don’t have a mask, we provide them [with] a mask.”
Along with checking for masks at the entrance, staff members hold signs up for fans that remind them to wear a mask at all times.
“Every timeout, we walk down the middle of the seating sections and show it to people,” Trousdale said. “If they [are not] wearing their mask, we politely tell them to put their mask on.”
The Jumbotron also reminds fans to wear their masks and practice COVID-19 safety precautions, such as washing your hands.
When it comes to seating, fans are only allowed to sit in groups of two or four if they are in the same household. Intercollegiate Athletics’ Nick Joos, deputy athletics director of communications, and R.J. Layton, associate director of strategic communications, said that up to 3,000 fans are allowed at each basketball game.
MU sophomore Megan Martin has attended one basketball game so far this year and plans to attend more. Martin said basketball is a huge part of her life so she has enjoyed watching Mizzou’s success on the court.
“All the other seats are socially distanced so [that] you’re away from anybody that’s not you and the one [or 3] other [people] that you came with,” Martin said.
Though the arena’s procedures are stricter this year, Martin, who attended Missouri basketball games last year, thinks the atmosphere is more relaxed.
“I definitely think it’s different,” Martin said. “It’s harder to yell when you’re wearing a mask. I feel like usually when [people are] around each other they’re interacting or high fiving or whatever.”
Martin said she feels safe going to basketball games because of the precautions taken at each game. She attended a basketball game with her roommate and two housemates.
“We weren’t near anybody the whole time,” Martin said. “So I think they did a good job — especially at entrances and exits where there could be large groups of people.”
_Edited by Sophie Chappell | schappell@themaneater.com _