The novel coronavirus pandemic has brought on nothing but changes to everyday life since it first came about last March. From facial coverings being required to be worn in public places to restaurants only allowing a certain capacity, nothing has been the same due to COVID-19 – and that has certainly been the case with WKU Athletics and how it operates on game days.
WKU’s 2021 football season was played with fans in the stands for home games at Houchens-Smith Stadium, as there was a 20% capacity which allowed nearly 5,000 fans to attend – including 1,000 seats for WKU students.
For WKU’s men’s and women’s basketball home games at E.A. Diddle Arena this season, there is a 15% capacity which allows nearly 1,200 fans to attend – including 150 tickets for student section seating.
“A lot of factors went into the implementation of our game day setup for this season,” said Les Forsythe, WKU’s assistant athletic director for facilities. “We collaborated with Kentucky and Louisville’s athletic departments and also received feedback and direction from the Kentucky Governor’s office. There was also many meetings and collaboration with the athletic facilities, athletic marketing and sports information department.
“We started to plan for basketball season right after our first home football game of the season.”
It took more time to plan for the basketball season than it did football, simply due to basketball taking place indoors as compared to football being outside.
In addition to just 1,200 fans allowed to attend games at Diddle Arena, the overall look of game days has drastically changed, as there isn’t any seats near the court, including the typical courtside setup, there is now a double-decker seating arrangement for game day personnel and media members, the team benches are spaced out throughout the baselines and end zones and only the teams and workers can be on the court at all times.
It’s a never-before-seen setup, but one that WKU had no choice but to implement for this season.
“I am very satisfied with how the sports season has gone so far in Diddle Arena,” Forsythe said. “We have – to date – played about 85% of the basketball schedule. I feel like we have created an environment that is safe, both for our student-athletes and the fans who are able to attend games in person. I feel like after we had our first two home basketball games, we were able to make some tweaks and modifications to our setup, and we have been pretty consistent with the setup ever since.”
While WKU Athletics’ facilities team has had to make their fair share of changes, the Hilltopper Sports Properties group, which controls all sponsorships for sports, has also had to implement new ways to bring money to the athletics department during the unprecedented pandemic.
Daniel Langdon, business development manager for Hilltopper Sports Properties, said he and his team have tried to stay as positive as they can navigating through the new-look basketball season inside Diddle Arena.
“Since attendance capacity is lower than usual, we focused more on assets out of the venue like radio, TV and signage that is visible on TV,” Langdon said. “We tarped the lower seats with partner logos, along with putting up a curtain on one of the baselines so they could be visible on TV. We also reconfigured how our courtside LED tables were set up. We called it the ‘double-decker’ with one table behind the other one on risers so they were both visible.”
It’s been a year unlike any other, but WKU Athletics feels like its overall adjustment has been successful.
“Even with the hurdles COVID-19 brought upon us, I think this year has went very well as a whole,” Langdon said. “When something new came up, the Hilltopper Sports Properties team worked together to come up with a solution. We’ll be able to use these new best practices in a lot of ways going into a new year without COVID-19.”
– Follow InsideHilltopperSports.com managing editor Tyler Mansfield on Twitter at @RivalsMansfield. –
