Auburn football: Will Tiger fans fill Jordan-Hare to capacity in 2021?

We can all agree that Auburn football was not quite the same without all 87,451 of us in the stands. Will Jordan-Hare still be reduced to 20% capacity in the fall?

While no one can be sure what the coming months will bring in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, quite a few SEC schools have already made some sort of announcement regarding their 2021 football attendance policy.

Texas A&M had the highest attendance in the country operating at 25% in the 2020 season. Athletic director Ross Bjork announced in February that they intend to go forward with a full stadium in 2021, according to USA Today. Conversely, Vanderbilt was the only SEC school not to allow fans in 2020.

Per The Advocate, seven of the 14 SEC schools have made a public statement that they anticipate full capacity in the fall: LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Florida. Among the other seven schools that have not indicated their plans is Auburn.

Auburn football’s spring A-Day game is set for April 17, and the university has yet to announce whether or not fans will even be allowed into Jordan-Hare for the scrimmage. It’s likely that Auburn will wait until much closer to the fall to announce their attendance plans.

Some schools, like Florida, are already going forward with the plan to have full attendance. Per the UF Football website:

"Planning for the 2021 football season has been centered around the belief that there will be a full stadium all season. However, the safety of our student-athletes, staff and fans remains our top priority. The University Athletic Association will continue to monitor and follow health guidelines as we get closer to the season. Any changes to our capacity will be communicated to ticket holders as we did for the 2020 season and options will be available for your paid balance such as donations, season rollover, and refunds."

In fact, the University of Alabama is loudly declaring that they will be at full capacity in 2021, and they probably want everyone to think that if fulls stadiums do exist in the fall that it was all because they did it first:

The Auburn football ticketing website has no information on the 2021 season or season tickets, and no indication of whether or not they will be available to purchase as usual or if there will once again be COVID restrictions.

Here’s hoping we’re sitting in a full stadium come fall, though it’s truthfully too soon to tell.