J.D. and Alice Butler Stadium will be operating at approximately 16% capacity for the upcoming varsity and junior varsity football seasons. Butler Stadium has a 5,000-spectator capacity, where 3,000 people can sit on the home sideline bleachers, and 2,000 on the visitors’ side. The capacity for the 2020 season will be 775, according to Deerfield Beach High’s Assistant Athletic Director Joshua Philpart.
Fans look on anxiously as Deerfield Beach quarterback Michael Pratt delivers a sizzling strike across the middle of the field during a regional final playoff matchup at Vero Beach High on Nov. 22, 2019. Looking to the background, seeing all those spectators enjoying the game seems like something out of an alternative universe given the current circumstances.
As expected, masks will be required for all fans and personnel throughout their time in the stadium. Fans will be socially distanced into groups (or pods) of four people or less. The pods have been instructed to stay together and not mingle with other pods. The pod system has also been utilized during team workouts for all fall sports but were limited to 10 athletes or less. The bleachers themselves will be marked to show where fans can and cannot sit.
Additional screening procedures will be conducted for all fans who enter the facility on game day. This includes health screenings for temperature, heart rate, and blood-oxygen levels. Fans will also have to verbally answer an 18-inquiry long questionnaire regarding their personal health and potential contact with COVID-19. Also of note, the concession stand will not be open for business.
Following the postponement of Friday night’s season opener against Stranahan, the game was moved from the Inter Miami CF facility in Ft. Lauderdale to Butler Stadium and will be played on Monday Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. The Bucks will also play host to four additional games this season, two each for the varsity and junior varsity squads. The JV team will face McArthur on Nov. 4 and Monarch on Nov. 10. The two additional varsity home games will take place on Nov. 14 against Blanche Ely and Nov. 20 against McArthur.
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