Will The New COVID-19 Restrictions Affect Sporting Events?

This is a really good question with high school fall sports coming to an end and winter sports starting up very soon and even hockey going on right now.

If you don't know the Gallatin County Health Board instituted more restrictions due to the surge of cases of COVID-19 cases not only in our county but throughout the state of Montana. So they have responded with some new rules that will be followed immediately.

The thing they don't talk about sporting events in any of these aspects. High school winter sports such as boys and girls basketball and wrestling won't start till January but rec league hockey has already started and MSU basketball will be starting up soon. So what does that mean for attendance for these sporting events?

Right now the Gallatin County Health Board will only allow two spectators per athlete and they have no signs of changing that aspect any time soon. If cases stay steady they might only allow twenty to thirty fans at basketball games or wrestling matches which would be heartbreaking for many students who want to go support their school at a game. Plus, this is just for high school sporting events. We haven't even talked about what will happen with Montana State Bobcat basketball games when they start back up.

That's a whole other conversation and the university hasn't really said anything about it either. Hopefully we will get some clarity on what will be the guidelines for upcoming sporting events but for now we have nothing for details.