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In January the NCAA announced that the 2021 NCAA Tournament would take place in the state of Indiana, but that initial announcement didn’t address whether or not fans would be allowed to attend any of the games. On Friday, the NCAA addressed that situation announcing that fans, albeit a limited number of them, will be able to attend games.
The NCAA will allow a limited number of fans at the 2021 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, including all rounds and the Final Four. The decision to allow up to 25% capacity with physical distancing was made in conjunction with state and local health authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event capacity will include all participants, essential staff and family members of each participating team’s student-athletes and coaches and a reduced number of fans.
All fans in attendance will be required to wear face coverings and practice social distancing.
The COVID-19 protocols that will be implemented at the tournament include testing, face coverings, physical distancing, and contact tracing requirements before teams arrive and throughout their stay in the tournament.
As for the location of the games being played, contests will be played on two courts inside Lucas Oil Stadium, as well as Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Purdue’s Mackey Arena, and Indiana University’s Assembly Hall. Indianapolis was already scheduled to host the Final Four this year.
After March Madness was canceled in 2020, college basketball fans and sports fans in general are extremely excited about the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and it’ll be nice to see arenas at least one-quarter full throughout the tournament.