Football games can't have crowds in New York. Except at Army.
Jon CampbellWhen Army takes the field Saturday for its season opener at West Point, it will have an advantage afforded to no other football team in the state of New York.
A crowd.
About 4,400 Army cadets are expected to attend the 1:30 p.m. game against Middle Tennessee State at Michie Stadium, a 40,000-seat facility overlooking a reservoir on the iconic West Point campus in the Hudson Valley, about an hour north of Manhattan.
It promises to be one of the largest crowds for a single event in New York since the state implemented severe COVID-19 restrictions in mid-March, limiting the size of gatherings in hopes of stopping the torrid spread of the infectious respiratory disease.
And it comes as other colleges and all professional teams remain prohibited from having crowds of any size for their games in New York, which will keep fans from attending Syracuse University and Buffalo Bills football games at least in the early part of the season.
The U.S. Military Academy, however, is federal property under federal jurisdiction, granting it the latitude to allow cadets to take to the stands for Army's home games in spite of state restrictions.
The crowd, which will not include any fans from outside the insular West Point campus, will amount to about 12% of Michie Stadium's total capacity.
The cadets, who live at West Point and are not permitted to leave during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be spaced apart in a socially distant manner, according to the academy. They will not be seated behind the visiting team.
“We are taking prudent measures to limit COVID-19’s spread, and all cadets will be tested, and protocols are in place to safely play the season," Lt. Col. Chris Ophardt, West Point's director of communications, said in a statement.
New York has limited gatherings since March
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo limited the size of gatherings in mid-March, first limiting them to 500 or more people before banning them all together as the coronavirus hit the state harder than any other in the country.
As the state's infection rate cooled in recent months, Cuomo gradually lifted the attendance cap, first to 10 people in May, then to 25 people in June before settling on the current limit of 50 people.
More:West Point Class of 2024 arrives amid coronavirus concerns, with COVID cases
For major sporting events, the limit is even more strict: No fans whatsoever.
Last week, the Buffalo Bills announced no fans would be allowed to attend their first two September home games, though the team expressed hope the state may relax the limit going forward. The New York Mets and Yankees have been playing without fans in the state, though the same can be said of all Major League Baseball teams.
West Point has its own laboratory
At Army, cadets who attend West Point have been kept in something of a bubble atmosphere since arriving at campus in July.
All cadets were tested for COVID-19 upon their arrival, with those who tested positive placed in isolation or quarantine. The Military Academy has its own laboratory that can process rapid tests on campus, and about 1,400 members of the West Point community are tested each month, according to the academy.
Officials with the state Department of Health noted West Point is federal property, suggesting it is not subject to the state's COVID-19 restrictions.
But the state agency urged the campus to follow the state's guidelines, which have helped to slow the spread of the virus to more manageable levels in recent months.
"West Point is operated by the federal government, but every New Yorker should continue to practice the behaviors that have allowed New York to successfully flatten the curve — washing hands, socially distancing, limiting non-essential gatherings, and wearing masks," said Jonah Bruno, a Health Department spokesman.
"These steps have been shown to make an enormous difference in our capacity to slow the spread of COVID-19 and we encourage West Point to ensure adherence to these requirements."
West Point put together its plans for the football season with CDC and state reopening guidelines in mind and consulted with officials from the Army's Office of the Surgeon General, according to a statement issued by the West Point Public Affairs Office.
"West Point officials briefed the governor’s office and described in detail our current protection measures and how we are complying with NCAA guidelines," according to the statement.
In an email last month to ticketholders, West Point's athletics department said attendance would be limited to the Corps of Cadets for the first two home games, but left the door open for fans to potentially attend later games.
"Decisions on fan attendance at future home games will be determined at a later date and communicated as soon as possible," the email read.
West Point hosted president in June
Saturday's football game will not be the first major event held by West Point since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, or even the largest.
In June, President Donald Trump spoke to the graduating class of 1,100 cadets at the Hudson Valley campus, marking his first commencement address at West Point.
The cadets, wearing their traditional gray uniforms, wore white face masks as they watched the ceremony on chairs spaced six feet apart. Diplomas were handed out in advance.
Fort Drum, in New York's North Country, is also under federal jurisdiction.
The military base opened up barber shops and gyms in May, before New York state lifted restrictions on such facilities in the rest of the state.
Many New York-based college football teams, meanwhile, will not be playing games this fall.
Of the three New York schools in Division I FBS, the highest level, Army and Syracuse are competing while Buffalo is not.
None of the nine New York schools competing in Division I FCS — the next highest level — are playing games this fall, according to the Buffalo News, which has extensively tracked college athletic programs in COVID-19 era.
More:West Point Class of 2024 arrives amid coronavirus concerns, with COVID cases
Jon Campbell is a New York state government reporter for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at JCAMPBELL1@Gannett.com or on Twitter at @JonCampbellGAN.
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