Notes from Thursday's Gary Barta Presser

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Interesting.

I reads tweets of the press conference from a different source and thought let’s go Barta! Kinnick will be open and the hope is to get to 100% capacity. Tailgating will go on.

Kind of a different vibe here but I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.

Go hawks!
 
I'm working on a full transcript with complete audio from the presser because I think it answers a lot of topics we've been discussing on the boards.

From a stadium standpoint, Gary said fans that feel safe attending games can. Those fans that don't, won't have to. It's a personal choice.
 
Chad L. Has a good article up. I am really interested in what Rob will put together. Would enjoy some personal reactions from Rob as well as straight info. He has a gift for communicating perspectives, imho.
 
I literally laughed out loud when I read about Barta's presser today where he was claiming the UI athletic dept is well positioned and fully capable of managing any C-19 cases when athletes and staff start testing positive. Leaving factual examples of his past administrative incompetence aside, he hasn't even been able to fashion a reasonable, consistent policy for football season ticket holders! For the past 3 months the UI policy was if season ticket holders don't reup for the 2020 season because of C-19 they cannot be guaranteed their same seats they've had for years, in 2021. It's a stupid policy -- Iowa St. got it right -- but if I wanted to keep my seats for 2021 I had to buy 2020 season tickets. So, today, one day before the deadline to reup, at 10:30 am, reluctantly, I did. Then 45 min later I received an email from Barta (to all season tix holders, I assume), saying that if there is a reduction in seating for any game at Kinnick during the 2020 season, then I'm guaranteed 1st shot at my long-time seats in 2021, even if I DON'T buy 2020 season tickets. So, I called back the UI ticket office -- their ticket people were apparently not notified of the change in policy until well AFTER the email was sent out to probably thousands -- (great example of competent administration there!), but the ticket person confirmed the new policy so a couple hours after buying my tix I cancelled my tix purchase -- betting that Kinnick will not be at 100% this year for at least one game. It's still a bogus policy and they just should have adopted what Pollard did at ISU. But yea, I laughed out loud.
 
I literally laughed out loud when I read about Barta's presser today where he was claiming the UI athletic dept is well positioned and fully capable of managing any C-19 cases when athletes and staff start testing positive. Leaving factual examples of his past administrative incompetence aside, he hasn't even been able to fashion a reasonable, consistent policy for football season ticket holders! For the past 3 months the UI policy was if season ticket holders don't reup for the 2020 season because of C-19 they cannot be guaranteed their same seats they've had for years, in 2021. It's a stupid policy -- Iowa St. got it right -- but if I wanted to keep my seats for 2021 I had to buy 2020 season tickets. So, today, one day before the deadline to reup, at 10:30 am, reluctantly, I did. Then 45 min later I received an email from Barta (to all season tix holders, I assume), saying that if there is a reduction in seating for any game at Kinnick during the 2020 season, then I'm guaranteed 1st shot at my long-time seats in 2021, even if I DON'T buy 2020 season tickets. So, I called back the UI ticket office -- their ticket people were apparently not notified of the change in policy until well AFTER the email was sent out to probably thousands -- (great example of competent administration there!), but the ticket person confirmed the new policy so a couple hours after buying my tix I cancelled my tix purchase -- betting that Kinnick will not be at 100% this year for at least one game. It's still a bogus policy and they just should have adopted what Pollard did at ISU. But yea, I laughed out loud.
 
Fine. Laugh. If you have the balls to take responsibility for decisions made by Barta and the large number of people around him, I will be more than happy to listen to you. Until then, you are just another of the population who loves to Monday morning QB.
The second guessing and criticism of the athletic department’s decisions will occur. When you look at the length alone of this transcript, consider the institutional risk/reward considerations, the vast number of unknowns, the purely human elements, the pressures from a huge number of sources, political, medical, social, monetary, and beyond, the blame game will have a field day.
I hope most of us will be smart enough to place their trust in those who know a hell of a lot more than we do. Yeah, I know. Probably a pipe dream on my part. But to mix a metaphor, I will continue to joust with windmills on this one.
 
Football is the engine that funds the entire athletic department so, of course, Barta is going to plan to have fans in the stands.

As stated a lot can change between now and September regarding the virus. At this point, who knows. I would jsut say this, as things stand now do yyou see yourself putting yourself at risk going into a full stadium?

Personally I see myself watching all game on TV.....................
 
It feels like there has been a sea change the last few weeks on COVID. The attitude seems to be: inform everyone of the serious risks, and let folks make their own risk assessment and choices unless the hospital systems look to be over run.

IF that is the general thinking of decision-makers, then some people will come to games, some will come in masks and gloves, and some will choose not to take the risk at all.
 
Idk, I thought it was excellent given that they are dealing with something they have never had to deal with before.
Yeah there's no playbook for any of this. Hard to criticize too much for anyone doing what they decide to do. No matter how drastic either way frankly. Heck if I know from where I live in the sticks of TN. I just want sports back selfishly. That's it.
 
I think if fans are going to be allowed in, Iowa would be wise to invest in some kick ass gold and black face masks with tiger hawks. It would be a cool way to encourage responsible social interactions and kind of have the feel of a black out. Imagine a crowd shot where everyone had matching masks on.
 
It feels like there has been a sea change the last few weeks on COVID. The attitude seems to be: inform everyone of the serious risks, and let folks make their own risk assessment and choices unless the hospital systems look to be over run.

IF that is the general thinking of decision-makers, then some people will come to games, some will come in masks and gloves, and some will choose not to take the risk at all.

I think you're dead on. In the beginning, no one knew what to expect and the fear was that hospitals were going to get over-run and there would be mass chaos. Now that we've had 90 days or so to see how this thing operates, we know that unless you're 65 or older, there's no major threat and hospitals have more than enough capacity to handle. So we're down to social distancing and hand washing and maybe (depending on if you're looking at the CDC or WHO) masks. We're still further out from kickoff on Sep 5 (about 100 days) than we are from when the pandemic was issued (79 days). A lot can happen in that time.
 
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