Syracuse Announces Modified Stadium Protocols for Virginia Game

[OrangeXtreme]

Syracuse Announces Modified Stadium Protocols For Virginia Game - Syracuse University Athletics

Syracuse University has announced modifications to the enhanced public health protocols that have been in effect at the Stadium since December 17. Beginning with the men's basketball game against Virginia on Saturday, January 1, at 6 p.m., food and beverage service will once again be offered.

cuse.com

Syracuse University has announced modifications to the enhanced public health protocols that have been in effect at the Stadium since December 17. Beginning with the men's basketball game against Virginia on Saturday, January 1, at 6 p.m., food and beverage service will once again be offered.

Fans should expect the following measures when at the Stadium:

• Fans may purchase from a limited offering of food and beverages, including beer and wine. All food and drinks must be consumed while seated.
• All fans age 5 and up are required to provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID test. Proof must be shown at the gate to secure entry to the stadium. (Newborns to age 4 do not require a vaccination or a test result to enter the facility.)
• The Courtside Lounge will remain closed.
• Club 44 will remain closed.
• Backcourt activities and concession areas remain closed.
• Pre-game courtside gathering will be prohibited.
• Tailgating in the parking lots prior to games will not be permitted.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I want to take a wild guess here...

when they stopped serving food, maybe under state law they had to stop selling alcohol as well?

 

[JeremyCuse]

I want to take a wild guess here...

when they stopped serving food, maybe under state law they had to stop selling alcohol as well?

Maybe, but they haven't served either the last two games. From what I have heard SU has been inundated with complaints especially about the lack of alcohol and it was becoming untenable.

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

Maybe, but they haven't served either the last two games. From what I have heard SU has been inundated with complaints especially about the lack of alcohol and it was becoming untenable.

The problem is it never made any sense the way they drew it up.

Look, I'm all for being smart and safe. If you want to mandate masks in concourses and bathrooms, fine. But it never made sense to say "COVID won't travel on coffee cups but it will on beer cups or on a nacho". It was stupid and arbitrary and the exact type of overreach that makes people frustrated and less likely to follow the rules that DO matter

 

[Jeremy L.]

Thank god, now I have a reason to go back for basketball games

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Maybe, but they haven't served either the last two games. From what I have heard SU has been inundated with complaints especially about the lack of alcohol and it was becoming untenable.

That's my point.

Maybe under the current Covid NYS Liquor laws, you can't serve alcohol unless there's food. I know all the bars were forced to start selling peanuts or pretzels to be in compliance.

When SU cut off all the food sales, they had to cut off the taps at the same time. But soft drinks were still allowed.

 

[upperdeck]

Maybe, but they haven't served either the last two games. From what I have heard SU has been inundated with complaints especially about the lack of alcohol and it was becoming untenable.

it was like when i went to the movies the other night... everyone comes into the place lugging in food/drink wearing a mask and then for 2 hrs off goes the mask chowing down popcorn.. so much for safety..

at least the theaters are only running about 10% full most of the time so you have a chance to sit away from people and many have reserved seating to control as much as you can about being so close.. the interesting part is you can pull up the seating charts live and see how many people are not even bothering to sit in their assigned seats..

 

[JeremyCuse]

That's my point.

Maybe under the current Covid NYS Liquor laws, you can't serve alcohol unless there's food. I know all the bars were forced to start selling peanuts or pretzels to be in compliance.

When SU cut off all the food sales, they had to cut off the taps at the same time. But soft drinks were still allowed.

That was in effect previously but expired when the legislature ended/took back Cuomo's emergency powers. Now there could be a law on the books pre-covid about that which is possible.

 

[JeremyCuse]

The problem is it never made any sense the way they drew it up.

Look, I'm all for being smart and safe. If you want to mandate masks in concourses and bathrooms, fine. But it never made sense to say "COVID won't travel on coffee cups but it will on beer cups or on a nacho". It was stupid and arbitrary and the exact type of overreach that makes people frustrated and less likely to follow the rules that DO matter

Agreed, also as much as it may be a first world problem people have been attending games for nearly 40 years at the Dome expecting to be able to get food and to a decent portion more importantly booze at the games. Once SU introduced the new measures I knew it wouldn't be long until they had to scale it back due to the backlash. SU means well but whoever came up with this really doesn't understand the fanbase and what's going to fly nearly 2 years into COVID.

 

[PhatOrange]

The Times Union Center right in the middle of the State Capital had none of these mandates for an NLL lax game the other night. Vax/Negative test to get in but the food and mask rules once inside were nil. eating drinking hanging out etc, the dome rules seem pretty over the top and silly. You can only eat or drink at your seat? what? no tailgating? Who would want to tailgate anyways but why is it not permitted?

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

The Times Union Center right in the middle of the State Capital had none of these mandates for an NLL lax game the other night. Vax/Negative test to get in but the food and mask rules once inside were nil. eating drinking hanging out etc, the dome rules seem pretty over the top and silly. You can only eat or drink at your seat? what? no tailgating? Who would want to tailgate anyways but why is it not permitted?

Do people even tailgate for hoops ? I thought that was pretty much a no go

 

[JRHEETER]

This is all clearly a way to cut back on spending money on concessions while the students aren’t at school and during games that aren’t drawing a large crowd

This has absolutely nothing to do with COVID in my humble opinion regarding the concessions

 

[SWC75]

My thought was that, if they weren't going to offer food, should the prohibition against outside food be lifted for those games?

Also: Will there be pizza?

 

[Consigliere]

And then there is this??????

Dear 'Cuse Athletics Fund donor,

Earlier this morning, Syracuse University announced modifications to the enhanced public health protocols that have been in effect at the Stadium since December 17. Beginning with the men’s basketball game against Virginia on Saturday, January 1, food and beverage service will once again be offered.

As a backcourt hospitality patron, you will be able to enjoy pre-game and halftime hospitality (food, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages) associated with your purchase. Please note the game time for Saturday’s game versus Virginia is now 6pm.

We are pleased to share this news with you, and look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Sincerely,

Syracuse Athletics

 

[Jeremy L.]

And then there is this??????

Dear 'Cuse Athletics Fund donor,

Earlier this morning, Syracuse University announced modifications to the enhanced public health protocols that have been in effect at the Stadium since December 17. Beginning with the men’s basketball game against Virginia on Saturday, January 1, food and beverage service will once again be offered.

As a backcourt hospitality patron, you will be able to enjoy pre-game and halftime hospitality (food, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages) associated with your purchase. Please note the game time for Saturday’s game versus Virginia is now 6pm.

We are pleased to share this news with you, and look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Sincerely,

Syracuse Athletics

Believe that was announced on Wednesday

 

[Consigliere]

I'm missing something. Press release in the OP states:

"

• The Courtside Lounge will remain closed.
• Club 44 will remain closed.
• Backcourt activities and concession areas remain closed."

Email says:
"As a backcourt hospitality patron, you will be able to enjoy pre-game and halftime hospitality (food, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages) associated with your purchase. "

So will backcourt lounge be open or closed?

 

[Vorony]

I'm missing something. Press release in the OP states:

"

• The Courtside Lounge will remain closed.
• Club 44 will remain closed.
• Backcourt activities and concession areas remain closed."

Email says:
"As a backcourt hospitality patron, you will be able to enjoy pre-game and halftime hospitality (food, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages) associated with your purchase. "

So will backcourt lounge be open or closed?

I would assume that the lounge will be closed in terms of mingling and socializing. But maybe open to courtside seat holders to grab food and drinks to go? The policy states that everything needs to be consumed at your seat and no congregating is allowed. So that should be enforced universally, regardless of donation level.

 

[Sherman20]

I get that. What I am saying is that by allowing coffee and water you are still providing the allowance for people to take them off and drink. Their selectivity as to what items people could remove the mask and put things in their mouth for made it feel arbitrary and hard to take seriously.

For me, the best formula is allowing eating and drinking and strong enforcement of the mask rules. However, at the very least, make a consistent rule.

Agreed. But you know what happens when people drink alcohol. They let their guards down and aren’t as careful. So I guess that was the rationale. I do think it’s ok to tweak the rules based on how much community transmission is happening. In the fall it wasn’t as bad. But there’s a ton of it right now, so hopefully enforcement and rule following will increase. it’s also true that SU may not want to do the hard job of enforcing the rules because they’re afraid to set people off and anger them.

 

[bballbeadle]

Last night was an interesting experience. I had flown on Tuesday, wearing an N95, which I had never done before. It killed my nose. Ugh. My daughter and I wore them again to the game. Mask 2, nose 0. The man in front of me who never wears a mask wore one. The usher constantly was checking the crowd and would signal to people. Sometimes he had to go over to them. As far as I could tell, no one was drunk. It was weird, and kind of nice.

We had a decent crowd and people paid attention and cheered consistently. The lack of students and band is just terrible. The “music” they played instead was beyond terrible. But for the first time at one of these games, I felt safe.

So, all that will go to hell on Saturday. We will still go and I will find a more comfortable N95 mask (my friend says she has one). But I feel a sense of trepidation. I am positive that if I get Omicron I will be okay, but honestly, I just don’t want to get it.

Many of my friends think I am stupid to go to the games. I might be.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Last night was an interesting experience. I had flown on Tuesday, wearing an N95, which I had never done before. It killed my nose. Ugh. My daughter and I wore them again to the game. Mask 2, nose 0. The man in front of me who never wears a mask wore one. The usher constantly was checking the crowd and would signal to people. Sometimes he had to go over to them. As far as I could tell, no one was drunk. It was weird, and kind of nice.

We had a decent crowd and people paid attention and cheered consistently. The lack of students and band is just terrible. The “music” they played instead was beyond terrible. But for the first time at one of these games, I felt safe.

So, all that will go to hell on Saturday. We will still go and I will find a more comfortable N95 mask (my friend says she has one). But I feel a sense of trepidation. I am positive that if I get Omicron I will be okay, but honestly, I just don’t want to get it.

Many of my friends think I am stupid to go to the games. I might be.

Normally SU would get the Baldwinsville HS band to fill in over Christmas break, but that's off the table with the Covid now.

 

[bballbeadle]

Normally SU would get the Baldwinsville HS band to fill in over Christmas break, but that's off the table with the Covid now.

I know! I love those guys!

 

[bballbeadle]

I wonder what tonight will be like? Our poor usher will probably just give up, like he has every other game except Wednesday’s.