Will there be fans in the stands at home Bison football, UND hockey games this year?

 

Like other sports fans across North Dakota, Governor Doug Burgum is hopeful that sports teams like the NDSU football team and UND hockey team are back in their arenas playing games for fans this fall. But, the likelihood of those chances all depend on the trends of the Coronavirus pandemic, which continues to wreck havoc on all aspects of collegiate athletics, such as the cancellation of the NDSU versus Oregon football game this fall.

Burgum says the chances of coming back to the arenas this fall all fall back on the community spread. Currently, as of Friday morning, 1,690 of North Dakota’s 4,668 positive COVID-19 cases are due to community spread.

“We should take seriously that we, as a state, could end up rebounding like some other states have,” Burgum says.

It all comes down to how North Dakota smart people are.

“The smarter we are, the more precautions we take, the more people who practice good hygiene and social distancing, doing that now, the better chance we have low numbers and we will be back in those arenas this fall,” Burgum says.

The governor also says he would like to see the number of active cases down in the state. Earlier this week, North Dakota’s active cases reached a pandemic-high of 783 active cases, a trend that has risen from 210 active cases less than one month ago.

TO LISTEN TO BURGUM'S FULL ANSWER, CLICK HERE