MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University and its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will welcome fans back to Milan Puskar Stadium for the first time this football season, when the Mountaineers play host to Kansas on Oct. 17.
“I want to thank all parties involved in getting to this point,” WVU Director of Athletics Shane Lyons said. “COVID-19 has presented many challenges, but we have always put the health and safety of our student-athletes, University and community first. Needless to say, we are excited to open our gates and welcome Mountaineer fans back to the stadium.”
The stadium will operate at 25% capacity as part of the health, safety and wellness measures being implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The athletics department, in conjunction with the University’s team of medical professionals and appropriate parties, will not only cap attendance at approximately 15,000 fans for each remaining game this season, but will also take additional steps to increase fan safety.
Facemasks will be required of all spectators entering the stadium, and the department has previously provided a complimentary WVU branded mask to every fan who initially purchased season tickets for the 2020 season. Facemasks should always be worn while fans are in the stadium with the exception of when fans are eating and drinking.
Athletics already announced the switch to mobile ticketing at all gates for football to provide a contactless entry, which is the most sanitary, efficient and quickest way to enter a sporting event. Mountaineer fans will download and store tickets to their Apple or Android smartphone, which will never leave the owner’s hands and avoids additional touching from stadium security. More information on mobile ticketing is available at wvusports.com/mobiletickets.
While single-game parking passes will be sold to fans who have the opportunity to request single-game tickets for the remaining games this season, tailgating will not be allowed in the game day parking lots operated by WVU Athletics. The no tailgating policy will be strictly enforced. RV parking will not be available for the 2020 season.
With the 25% capacity limit, priority admittance into the stadium will go to season ticket holders who opted to maintain their investment in WVU football for the 2020 season, WVU students and player families. A limited number of tickets will go to the visiting team.
Beginning Tuesday, an online request form will be available to all Mountaineer Athletic Club members and football season ticket holders who opted to maintain priority for the 2020 season or converted their ticket payment to a 2020 MAC gift. These fans will have exclusive priority to request single-game tickets for all remaining home games through Sunday. The Mountaineer Ticket Office reserves the right to limit all requests based on availability and will assign the best available seat locations with every effort made to assign seat locations as close to the original season ticket seat locations as possible.
On Oct. 5 fans who initially made a 2020 MAC gift and/or purchased 2020 football season tickets but ultimately elected to roll their investment over as a credit to the 2021 season, will receive information about single game-ticket availability for the remaining home games.
On Oct. 9, football season ticket holders who initially purchased 2020 season tickets but ultimately requested a refund of their MAC gift and/or season ticket purchase and all other football 2019 season ticket holders will receive information about single game-ticket availability for the remaining home games.
If tickets remain for the available games, an announcement regarding general public availability will be made on Oct. 12.
Priority ticket information will be sent via email to the aforementioned groups via the email address on the customer’s Mountaineer Ticket Office account. Fans should login to their online wvugame.com account at wvugame.com/myaccount and click ‘Season Ticket Renewals’ to request their tickets. Priority requests will only be taken online. The Mountaineer Ticket Office reserves the right to limit all orders and will assign the best available seat locations. Fans should call 1-800-WVU GAME for customer service assistance and more information on the single-game ticket and parking sales processes.
To ease concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic, season ticket holders from last season who do not renew their tickets in 2020 and/or purchase available single game tickets in 2020 will still be given priority to purchase their same seats from the 2019 season for the 2021 football season.
More information on the WVU student ticketing process will be released separately at a later date.
WVU’s stadium capacity plan will continually be evaluated and adjusted throughout the season, and fans will be updated of any changes based on any future changes to the status of the COVID-19 virus on the WVU campus and locally.
