Spectators Permitted At Montco HS Sports Games, With Safety Plans

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Montgomery County officials say that spectators are still permitted at high school football games, and that all large events will be evaluated on a case by case basis, following a recent federal court ruling upholding Gov. Wolf's crowd restrictions.

Meanwhile, individual school districts can still choose to allow limited spectators or disallow crowds altogether on their own. Gov. Wolf's guidelines limit crowd sizes to 25 people indoors and 250 people outdoors, but the county said they would consider special circumstances allowing for larger groups.

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"The County is adhering to the Governor’s guidelines regarding crowd sizes," a spokesperson for the county told Patch. "However, we are evaluating these types of requests (for increased capacity) on a case by case basis and will require organizations to show our DOH a safety plan that will mitigate the spread of COVID-19."

The Wolf administration's restrictions on crowd sizes have been the subject of intense partisan controversy for months now, with a back and forth federal court battle resulting in the restrictions being ruled unconstitutional before that ruling was ultimately overturned.

The news comes ahead of a busy Friday night for many football teams around the area, or at least those who are actually playing this season. In nearby Bucks County, Central Bucks High School announced Friday that no spectators would be permitted at the upcoming games.

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That's just at the county level. With conferences like Suburban One also choosing to leave specifics up to the school districts, so long as they fall within these established guidelines, many districts have already laid out intricate plans.

At North Penn, the school board determined that athletes can give away a certain number of tickets to family or friends, but further spectators are not allowed.

At other schools, like Wissahickon, no visiting spectators are allowed. Student-athletes are allowed to give away two tickets to family and friends, until the 250-person limit is reached.

The county is empowered by their current code to regulate any event that is outdoors or in a temporary structure, and any event that is at a school, including sporting events. The health code give officials some leeway in determining how they can limit gatherings during the pandemic. It includes a "prohibition on mass gatherings which may endanger public health," according to Montgomery County Solicitor Josh Stein. That's something that can be interpreted widely.

Officials have already broken up a large crowd that did not follow an established safety plan during a major wrestling tournament at Oaks Expo Center in September.