AAC commish Mike Aresco hopeful for full football stadiums

While the COVID-19 pandemic took a lot of the hop out of UCF’s Bounce House last season, there is hope for a return to full capacity at football stadiums across the country.

American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco is optimistic, but much of that hinges on the COVID-19 vaccines, and getting more people vaccinated heading into the fall.

“I think there’s a reasonable chance,” Aresco told the Orlando Sentinel Monday. “If the level of vaccination continues to go up ... I think there’s a reasonable chance that we’ll be close to capacity.

“I suspect there’s a chance but it’s not for sure because a lot of it’s going to be up to the states.”

The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have 34% of the country (115,530,780) fully vaccinated, and another 46% of the people (152,819,904) have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

This progress has led the CDC to relax some of its public guidelines, including allowing fully vaccinated people to participate in outdoor activities without a mask, except in certain crowded settings and venues.

Most professional sports leagues and college conferences like the AAC have deferred to the CDC, along with state and local health officials as it pertains to the capacity of sporting events during the pandemic. In turn, most of those venues featured limited attendance.

Schools like UCF, FSU and UF featured limited capacity at their football games last season, with limits of 20-to-25% in some cases.

With new COVID cases decreasing and more people vaccinated, some states are allowing more people to attend events. The Texas Rangers were one of the first professional teams to allow 100% capacity at its games this season with mask mandates in place.

In Florida, there have been 9,311,399 residents who have received at least their first dose with 7,088,055 people completing the process.

Florida has not had an outdoor mask mandate but some individual counties and cities have had one in place during the pandemic.

Some stadiums across the country have started asking fans to present a vaccine passport or digital proof of vaccination before being allowed to enter the venue. In Florida, Gov. DeSantis has issued an executive order banning businesses or government-run entities from requiring vaccine passports or proof of vaccine.

Aresco said the league hasn’t had discussions about requiring proof of vaccination to enter stadiums citing concerns over fraud as one reason against it. But when AAC athletic directors and school presidents meet virtually over the next few weeks, one point of order will be about getting more athletes vaccinated.

“The issue for us is the vaccination of our student-athletes because our protocol right now is if you’ve been fully vaccinated, you don’t have to be tested and you don’t have to quarantine if you’ve had a COVID contact,” Aresco explained. “That’s a real incentive for guys to get vaccinated.”

Football players were tested for COVID multiple times a week during the season. Anybody who tested positive was quarantined for up to 14 days.

“We haven’t decided yet what our protocols will be if you haven’t been vaccinated,” added Aresco. “Can you go to team meetings? Can you even play? I don’t suppose we’ll be that Draconian but the point is, we’re putting a big push and all of our schools are putting a big push to get their student-athletes vaccinated.

“We’re working hard on it.”

The Pfizer vaccine is available to people age 12 and older while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available to people who are 18-and-older. In Florida, more than 54% of residents 18-and-older have received at least one dose of the vaccine according to the CDC.

The conference is also hoping to get as many staff members as possible vaccinated.

“There’s a big push around the conference to get everyone vaccinated,” said Aresco. “You can’t force people but you can incentivize them.”

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, there are 327 institutions and universities across the country that are requiring students or employees to be vaccinated. None of which are in Florida.

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.