SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – This year’s season for Syracuse Men’s Basketball is coming up rather quickly, but our eyes aren’t just on the roster; they’re also on the re-addition of fans into the nation’s largest college basketball stadium post-COVID-19.
The Carrier Dome is a sacred place for Syracuse students of all types. Whether you’re in the band, a student athlete, or a proud season ticket-holder (like myself), everyone has a place in the arena. In the last academic year, due to the prevalence of COVID-19, the Dome has not been open to fans, but rather, open to campus-wide COVID-19 testing.
Max Schobel, one of the basketball managers, has witnessed the team function both in and out of a pandemic. He says the Dome is vastly different without the fans.
Even when we’re just in there for practices and it’s empty, it’s a very strange place to play basketball.
The Dome seats about 35,000 people, and although the students are a big part of the “Loud House,” they only fill a fraction of the stadium. The student section also does not have room for every single student to attend the game, without going into “overflow.” The remainder of the stadium is filled with Syracuse fans primarily from central New York. Schobel says central New York makes the crowd whole.
You can’t fill the dome with just the students in this university. You need the support of the community too.
The home opening game is on Nov. 9th. The student section will be up and running, but not without the support of local Syracuse fans.
