USF to begin basketball season without fans

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Published Nov 19, 2020

USF to begin basketball season without fans

Russ Wood • BullsInsider

Managing Editor

@RussHoops

USF Athletics announced today plans for the 2020-21 men’s and women’s basketball seasons, presented by Tampa General Hospital, to begin without fans in attendance in the Yuengling Center.

“After consulting with university leadership and local health officials, we felt it was the right decision to begin the 2020-21 men’s and women’s basketball seasons without fans in attendance in the Yuengling Center.”

Michael Kelly

In a press released emailed to members of the media, USF Vice President of Athletics Michael Kelly said “After consulting with university leadership and local health officials, we felt it was the right decision to begin the 2020-21 men’s and women’s basketball seasons without fans in attendance in the Yuengling Center.

“We understand this decision will not be happily received by the many fans excited to see our basketball teams, but we feel it is in the best interest of our fans and broader university and Bay area communities, as well as in line with our priority for the health and safety of our student-athletes and coaches as they begin to compete for conference championships with an eye toward postseason play. We will continue to closely monitor the situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and consult local, state and university health officials as we assess attendance policies throughout the season.”

USF is yet to release its non-conference basketball schedule for the 2020-21 season and The American has not released the 20-game conference schedule for the 2020-21 season.

According to reports USF is scheduled to play Rhode Island (Nov. 28) and Virginia Tech (Nov. 29) at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville,CT in the 2020 Air Force Reserve Tip-Off Tournament. The Bulls were also scheduled to face UMASS (Dec. 1) but that game is one of several that UMASS has removed from its schedule due to a Covid outbreak. The Bulls are also slated to face Stetson in the Yuengling Center (Dec. 8) and LSU (Dec. 12) in Atlanta.

BullsInsider.com expects USF to play at least two and possibly three AAC games in December.

Below is the remainder of the USF Athletics press release:

USF will not have fan attendance in the Yuengling Center when the Bulls open play and will continue that policy through the nonconference season slated to run through at least Dec. 15. Athletics and the university will continue to review fan attendance policies for the remainder of the 2020-21 basketball season to evaluate the possibility of limited fan attendance of future home dates if deemed appropriate by state, local and university officials. A limited number of players’ and coaches’ family members will be admitted via pass list to attend home games in person.

The American Athletic Conference and ESPN begin a new 12-year television rights agreement this season that will see nearly all men’s and women’s games available for viewing either via traditional linear networks or digitally through ESPN+. Subscriptions for the ESPN+ app are $5.99 monthly or $49.99 annually and can be packaged with Hulu and Disney+ streaming services.

A step-by-step guide for subscribing to ESPN+ is located here.

Men’s and women’s basketball season ticket members will have three options similar to football season ticket members who were unable to use their tickets. Members may: 1) defer their payment for 2020-21 season tickets toward tickets for the 2021-22 season, 2) donate their 2020-21 ticket purchase to the Bulls Club or 3) request a full refund of their 2020-21 season ticket payment. All season ticket members will be contacted directly with details. Fans with questions may contact the USF ticket office at 1-800-GoBulls.

If attendance at USF men’s and women’s basketball home games becomes possible, current season ticket members will be given first priority to purchase tickets and select seating locations in a limited capacity configuration in the Yuengling Center. All games in which fan attendance becomes possible will be ticketed on a single-game basis with tickets purchased by calling 1-800-Go-Bulls or visiting USFBullsTix.com.

USF has moved to all mobile ticketing this year with the USF Bulls app. The app can be downloaded for free in the app store.

Food and beverage packages for the Yuengling Center’s Fifth Third Bank Club and Meyer Family Hardwood Club will not be available for the 2020-21 season.

Under NCAA guidelines, the first date of competition for the 2020-21 season is Nov. 25. USF’s men’s and women’s basketball schedules for the 2020-21 are expected to be announced soon.