On Oct. 8 the SUNY Oswego Athletics Department updated the spectator policy for indoor events.
Going into effect on Oct. 13, the policy states that “all spectators (ages 5 and up) at indoor events such as Commencement ceremonies, athletic competitions, performing arts and entertainment events must show proof of having completed a full COVID-19 vaccination series OR proof of a negative COVID-19 test.” However, despite vaccination status, masks are still required for all spectators.
Head coach of the Oswego State men’s hockey team, Ed Gosek, believes that getting vaccinated and wearing a mask is the right thing to do at this time. The only problem that may impact fan attendance in his eyes is children.
“I just think the issue is with children,” Gosek said. “I’d say we average somewhere [between] 150 to 300 kids per home game and that usually brings parents with them.”
Gosek praised the fan turnouts of their first two home games of the season as he hopes “students will continue to come out, the community will continue to support us like they always have.”
According to Gosek, the unwavering support from the fans is the reason Oswego State hockey has been number two in the nation in attendance since 2007 when they moved into the Marano Campus Center Arena, now known as the Deborah F. Stanley Ice Arena. It’s also part of the reason the team has been able to continue having success year after year.
“Our fans are [a] huge support,” Gosek said. “Our team gets motivated, it helps with recruiting when we bring student-athletes in to see our facilities, to see the crowd, to see the excitement, it’s all part of the program.”
Gosek is hopeful that as the season progresses, fan attendance will also continue to increase. He noted that with the Canadian border opening on Nov. 8 the families of the Canadian-born players on the team will be able to come and support as well.
“That’s an extra 100 to 200 people right there,” Gosek said. “Between family and friends, their buddies who want to come watch them play and girlfriends and all the rest of it, so I think a lot of things are going in a positive direction that’ll help increase our attendance.”
Over the holidays when the student body leaves campus, Gosek said that the team will have to rely on the community’s support but they will work to make the best of it and are overall happy to just be back to playing, mask mandate or not.
Another aspect of indoor sports events that is facing challenges caused by the mask mandate is Auxiliary Services. Daniel Siddons, Director of Resident Dining for Auxiliary Services, has said that workers in the dining halls and concession stands have felt some struggle.
“With a face covering it can get hot and it’s also difficult to communicate with a mask on,” Siddons said. “We have the plexiglass barriers up as well, so when you have two people trying to communicate both with masks on and a plexiglass barrier between [them] it makes the job difficult and makes everyone have to talk loud.”
Siddons has noted that while some student employees have quit due to the stresses of the job, the obstacles have slowly been becoming easier to overcome.
“Even this semester we’ve kind of reduced some of those roadblocks a little bit,” Siddons said. “When we first opened in August, our staff was having to serve beverages, serve all the condiments, serve the desserts and as the semester has gone on and we’ve seen how the quarantine and isolation numbers have stayed down, we felt comfortable allowing students to serve themselves.”
With the same student employees that work in the dining halls being the ones who run the concession stands during sporting events, the stresses have been felt there as well. Initially, Siddons and Auxiliary Services thought there would be a monetary loss due to several factors.
“We figured there would be people who felt uneasy about taking their mask off to eat,” Siddons said. We thought we might have to change up the menu to be something that wouldn’t require you to be constantly eating, that you could just snack on it and put your mask back on, but what we’ve found was that nothing’s changed. I think that the fans are eager to get back to what they perceive as normal.”
Like Gosek, Siddons doesn’t see the new requirements for indoor sporting events to decrease fan attendance. He believes that no matter the requirements needed to enter the events, people’s desire to support the team’s they love is above them.
“What we’ve seen so far is that people are still willing to come, they’re wanting to support the teams that they want to get behind and it doesn’t seem to have affected attendance at all, people seem to be content to comply with the rules if they have to to be able to come and see sporting events again. They’re eager to be back in the stands.”
Kailee Montross | The Oswegonian
