MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU coach Neal Brown doesn’t think his players will have much of a problem getting up for the Eastern Kentucky season opener on Sept. 12, even with no fans in the stands.
In fact, he’s more “disappointed” for the fans who won’t be able to sit in the friendly confines of Milan Puskar Stadium.
“Our players? They’ll be fine. They’ll get up there and be excited to play,” Brown said Saturday. “Would they like to play in front of the fans and a full stadium? Absolutely, but I really feel for our fans because they really look forward to it. We have one of the best fan bases in the entire country, so I really feel for our fans.”
Athletic director Shane Lyons announced last Thursday only game-essential personnel and families of players and coaches will be permitted to attend the EKU game, but the situation will be re-evaluated for Big 12 play, beginning with the Oct. 3 home game against Baylor.
The decision, which was collaborated between university, state and local officials, is different from what many other Big 12 schools are trying to do. Texas Tech, Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas State, TCU, Oklahoma and Texas all announced capacities between 20-25%. WVU is the only school in the conference that said it will not have any fans for at least one game.
Brown, though, isn’t worried about any competitive disadvantages and knows why the decisions on fan attendance are a local discussion and not a league-wide mandate.
“I don’t think there’s a way to make it uniform, honestly,” he said. “It’s all about how the virus is going in that particular area. Whether we play at home or on the road, or they have fans and we don’t, we’ve gotta get ready to play.”
A report released last week said the NFL is contemplating the idea of pumping in fake crowd noise, similar to what MLB has done throughout its season, as well as the NHL and NBA in their respective bubbles.
A WVU spokesperson said it has not been decided whether crowd noise will be pumped into Milan Puskar Stadium, or whether the Pride of West Virginia and cheerleaders will be able to attend.
However, Brown is trying to practice in a situation where noise is as limited as possible.
“We practiced [Saturday] with no music or anything like that in the stadium,” he said. In the NBA bubble, “Those are some of the best athletes in the world competing at an elite level with no fans. If LeBron James can play in front of no fans, I think all the Mountaineers can line up and execute and be excited about playing.”
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