NC governor’s office rejects bid to allow parents to attend UNC’s football opener
Jessica Alford said she hasn’t seen her son, North Carolina linebacker Jeremiah Gemmell, since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She had planned on making the trip from Georgia to watch him play as the Tar Heels take on Syracuse Saturday in Kenan Stadium in the season opener at noon. She’s making other plans now.
Gov. Roy Cooper’s office is sticking by its Phase 2.5 plan, which allows only 50 people in an outdoor arena. Kenan Stadium seats 50,000-plus, but because Orange County has been hit harder with coronavirus cases than other areas, attendance will be limited to 25 people under the county’s policy.
MORE UNC COVERAGE: SAM HOWELL DOESN’T CARE ABOUT HIGH EXPECTATIONS
“We were all very disappointed today to learn the answer was no and there was no offer for any kind of adjustment or modification or anything,” Shannon Jones, the mother of sophomore linebacker Dilan Gonzalez, told The News & Observer. Jones is the president of the Tar Heel Football Parents.
It’s not just the Tar Heel parents who will be on the outside looking in. The same policy applies throughout the state for all other football programs. That’s why chancellors, presidents and athletic directors from six NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools in the state — Appalachian State, Charlotte, East Carolina, N.C. State, UNC and Wake Forest — all signed a letter addressed to Cooper asking that the policy be re-evaluated. (Duke did not join the group because it previously announced it would not allow fan attendance to its home games.)
The state did its due diligence inquiring about in-game services like concessions and alcohol sales. They even asked if tickets would be sold to the parents. At UNC, the plan was to only have restrooms open, and all parents would be admitted for free.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services, had a conference call with officials from the six schools on Thursday. A person with knowledge of the call requesting anonymity said the policy would remain in place through September, but they would continue to evaluate it.
That’s hard for Jackie Ruggles to accept. UNC has one other home game in September against Charlotte on the 19th. But her son Noah is a fourth-year junior, who could be in his final season of play. She’d like to attend every game possible and doesn’t believe the policy makes much sense in this situation.
“The whole idea for closing down in the beginning was to, you know, flatten the curve, right?” Ruggles said. “If we’re still using that as a measure, then I would like to know how going into a stadium with a couple hundred parents being several hundred feet apart, and everybody wearing a mask — because masks are still protective, correct? How then, are we potentially spreading COVID by doing that? It’s very difficult for me to understand.”
That sentiment was echoed by many parents. Alford, who is a nurse, said she had a bout with the coronavirus in March. She fully gets the seriousness of adhering to the policy, but she questions the state’s uneven application of it. If restaurants in a closed environment can be opened to a limited capacity, why can’t an open-air stadium like Kenan?
Jones said she moved to the area from Denver, Colo., just to be able to see her son play. She said a large number of parents are still coming to town on Saturday, and their football group was in the process of trying to secure a place big enough for everyone to watch the game while still abiding by social distancing protocols.
The cause is slowly being picked up by some in the political sphere. U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, a Republican from Greensboro, sent a letter to Cooper on Thursday in support of creating an exception. Walker called the application of the restriction for Kenan Stadium, “illogical, ridiculous and a gross mismanagement of policies supposedly put in place for our state’s safety.”
UNC coach Mack Brown advocated for the parents during his weekly media sessions and also behind the scenes with state officials. UNC linebacker Chazz Surratt said Brown has been preparing the players all along just how different this season is going to be because of the pandemic.
“I don’t think my parents missed any of my games throughout college or high school, middle school or Pop Warner,” Surratt told reporters on a video call. “I know a lot of the guys want our parents there. Hopefully we get that done. You know to be able to see your family in the stands, that’d be a good feeling.”
A feeling that Surratt and other players throughout the state don’t know when they will experience again.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 6:42 PM.