By Sarah Pinkerton | Staff Writer, Video by Grace Smith | Broadcast Reporter

As the Homecoming game approaches on October 17th, new guidelines will be put into place for the student section to maintain COVID-19 guidelines.

Matt Burchett, director of Student Activities, said that the first major change is a transition from groups of four and six in the bleachers to groups of 10.

“I think [this] will add less complexity to the student section,” Burchett said. “I think we added way too much moving parts to try and effectively manage it.”

In addition, they will be marking off the different sections with flags, rather than stickers on the bleachers, to make them more prominent.

“And then we’re simplifying,” Burchett said. “So it will be one row of 10, two rows marked off, one row of 10, two rows marked off.”

There will also be a center aisle created in the middle of each section for staff to be able to walk around and better ensure compliance.