The outside of Folsom Field, which will host the first CU Boulder football game of the season. (Henry Larson/CU Independent)
The University of Colorado Boulder will mandate masks in indoor spaces at Folsom Field during the first football game of the Buffs’ season on Friday, Sept. 3. The university updated public service announcements about COVID-19 around the stadium and left doors and windows open to increase airflow ahead of the game.
University spokesperson Josh Lindenstein said that due to the number of attendees, no social distancing will be present in the stands. Folsom Field, which can seat a total of 53,613 people, is expected to be at nearly full capacity for the game against Northern Colorado University.
The university said that they will not have a general vaccination requirement for those attending the game. In an email to fans, the CU Athletics Department did say that “as a campus we are strongly encouraging people to be vaccinated when they come to campus.”
The athletics department is also encouraging unvaccinated attendees to wear a mask for the full duration of the game, indoors and when seated outdoors.
The mandate comes as Boulder County’s Board of Health voted to instate a mask mandate for all public indoor spaces and offices. That mandate goes into effect at 5 p.m. on Friday, just two hours before kickoff.
Boulder County is now at a high transmission level for COVID-19, according to the county’s website. There are more than 100 detected cases for every 100,00 people in the area.
Earlier in the summer, the university mandated that all students attending classes on campus would be required to be vaccinated. A mask mandate for students was implemented a few months later.
Correction(9/7/21): An earlier version of this story said that a mask mandate was the only COVID-19 precaution in place at the football game on Sept. 3.
Contact CU Independent Senior News Editor Henry Larson at henry.larson@colorado.edu.
