UM Athletics Announces Stadium Capacity, Safety Protocol Plan for 2020 Football Season Opener
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami Athletics, in conjunction with Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Dolphins and local and state government officials, today announced its stadium capacity and safety protocol plan for the 2020 Hurricanes football home opener.
A maximum of 13,000 fans will be allowed to attend the home opener on Thursday, September 10, at Hard Rock Stadium against UAB. Kickoff time will be announced at a later date.
UM season ticket holders will have first priority to participate in an individual game on-sale. Additional details will be communicated via e-mail. If season ticket holders are not interested or able to attend games in-person, a portion or all of the funds in their account can be rolled over in support of the Canes United Covid-19 Relief Initiative. Their accounts can also be credited for the 2021 football season with the funds paid-to-date. A refund is also available if requested.
All seat locations, parking and tenure will be rolled over to the next season automatically. No action is needed for this to occur. UM Athletics has transitioned to a mobile ticketing system so all tickets and parking passes will be delivered electronically and must be scanned in on a mobile device at Hard Rock Stadium. Separate communication will be sent to UM students regarding attendance.
Policies for the 2020 season will include:
- GBAC Star certification
- Socially distanced seating clusters
- All fans and stadium employees will be required to wear a mask when not actively eating or drinking
- Upgrading Air Conditioning filters from Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) 10 to MERV 14 (Hospital Grade)
- Mobile touchless entry with more points of entries and exits to help avoid bottlenecks at ingress/egress
- Staggered gate entry with entry times listed on game tickets
- Cashless experience for food service, parking and retail
- New walk through metal detectors with touchless security screening to allow fans to keep all items in their pockets for faster entry
- 1 metal detector for every 104 fans vs 1 metal detector for every 394 fans in 2019
- Changing from manual to contactless toilets and faucets
- No smoking inside the stadium or helixes
- No tailgating for 2020 season with parking lots open two hours before kickoff instead of four hours
Upon entry, fans will go through a touchless security scan. Food, beverage, parking and retail will become a cashless experience supported by in-app mobile and credit card payment options. Express pickup for food and beverage will also be available. Furthermore, all manual faucets, toilet handles, toilets, soap dispensers and paper towel dispensers have been changed to automatic sensors to provide a touchless restroom experience.
These programs are in addition to Hard Rock Stadium becoming the first stadium in the world to receive GBAC STAR™ accreditation from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), a Division of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association. Hard Rock Stadium completed 20 program elements focused on cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention practices to control risks associated with infectious agents.