The highly anticipated Arizona high school football season begins later this week, but not everybody will be able to soak in the return amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Crowd restrictions will be in place, with each school coming up with their own limits and protocols to try to assure safety at games.

Scottsdale rivals Chaparral and Saguaro will be opening Friday night at Saguaro High School. That usually draws one of the largest crowds in the state. Saguaro has one of the state’s largest home-side stands in Arizona, but fans will be limited.

Scottsdale Unified School District is making pre-sale tickets available for family members only, limited to two per player, Saguaro Athletic Director Matt Harris said.

Tickets will not be available at the gate for home football games. Masks are mandatory for everyone as soon as they exit their vehicles, and must be worn until they re-enter their vehicle. Social distancing needs to be observed, with space on all sides and in front/back of all spectators, according to the district.

Fans also are asked to bring plenty of water, because drinks and food cannot be brought in to game sites and concession stands will not be open.

Spectators must stay in the stands unless they need to use the restroom, and they must exit the facility immediately after the game, the district mandates.

These will be the SUSD protocols until further notice, Harris said.

Saguaro’s other home football games are Oct 23 against Chandler Hamilton, Gilbert on Oct. 20 and Notre Dame Prep on Nov.13.

The district also includes teams at Arcadia, Coronado and Desert Mountain high schools.

Here is a look at other schools’ restrictions and protocols for for various districts that responded to The Arizona Republic’s inquiry:

Glendale Union

Each athlete on the roster will get two tickets for the home and the visiting teams. Each coach will get two tickets. Each cheerleader will get two tickets, along with each band member. No fans will be admitted without a school-distributed ticket.

Glendale district schools comprise of Glendale, Phoenix Sunnyslope, Phoenix Greenway, Phoenix Moon Valley, Phoenix Thunderbird, Glendale Apollo, Phoenix Cortez, Phoenix Washington, Glendale Independence.

All tickets, both home and visiting schools, are for adults only, ages 18-plus, or family members who are current high-school students.

Fans must wear masks, covering mouth and nose, at all times while in the venue. Social distancing is an expectation for fans.

Chandler Unified

District Athletic Director Marcus Williams said that each site varies.

This district is home of the four-time defending state champion Chandler Wolves and also includes Hamilton, Perry, Basha, Casteel, Arizona College Prep.

Chandler High will operate at 25% capacity for spectators to begin the season, CHS Athletics tweeted. Same with Hamilton, which had almost all of its tickets sold out for Friday’s home opener against Peoria Centennial on Monday.

Fans are expected to leave right after the game. There will be no in-person ticket sales. All ticket sales will go through GoFan online tickets.

Adult tickets are limited to four for football, including cheer, pom line and marching band.

Mesa Public Schools

These schools include Mesa, Mountain View, Skyline, Westwood, Dobson and Red Mountain.

Through the fall break, the district will re-evaluate crowd restrictions, but for now, crowds are limited to four tickets per athlete for football and for spirit line. There will be no bands and no concessions. Mask are required, along with social distancing.

Tempe Union

There is no in-person learning until Oct. 13, so, for now, there will be students permitted at home football games for the Tempe Union High School District schools, which comprise Tempe, Corona del Sol, Mountain Pointe, Desert Vista, Marcos de Niza and McClintock, district AD Dave Huffine said.

Huffine said that two tickets per participant will be made available.

“We hope to open up to more as we get into the season, provided that the COVID numbers continue to decline,” Huffine said.

Gilbert Public Schools

The high schools that have football are Gilbert, Highland, Mesa Desert Ridge and Mesquite.

All GPS schools will hold games with 25% capacity with masks required. Families may sit together but socially distanced from other families.

Paradise Valley schools

These comprise of Paradise Valley, Phoenix Horizon, Phoenix Pinnacle, Phoenix North Canyon and Phoenix Shadow Mountain. The district announced on social media that it will start off the season with allowing two tickets per participant.

Flagstaff Unified

Flagstaff and Coconino will be allowing limited fans with 10% of the spectator capacity at Coconio’s Cromer Stadium and Flagstaff’s field, the district said. This occupancy  occupancy level would not include the teams, cheerleaders, game workers, or coaches who will be required to follow all AIA protocols.

Cromer Stadium seats approximately 2,600 people and has a 10% occupancy rate of 260 spectators. The Flagstaff High School football field seats approximately 770 and has a 10% occupancy rate of 77 spectators. That will be used for freshman and JV homes games only. Flagstaff’s varsity will use Cromer Stadium for all home games with Northern Arizona University’s Walkup Dome unavailable.

With the exception of the FHS football field, the plan will allow two tickets per player.   Prior to the season, student-athletes would designate who would use the tickets and provide contact information for each spectator, according to the district.

Student-athletes would have to notify the school athletic director prior to transferring their tickets to another spectator.  Visiting teams would receive 50 tickets that would be distributed according to their internal processes, the district said.

Each spectator, coach, game administrator and game worker will be required to wear masks during the events and no concessions will be allowed on or off site.

At Cromer Stadium, half of the spectators will be directed per their ticket to park in designated parking lots to create multiple points of facility access, the district said.  Spectators will exit the stadium through the same location they enter and will not be able to re-enter the event upon exiting. 

For those who don’t come with a mask, masks will be made available at the gates.

Hand sanitizing stations will be provided throughout the facilities, along with port-o-johns with hand washing stations on both sides of the stadium field.

Temperature checks of spectators will be completed prior to admission.

Agua Fria district

Superintendent Dennis Runyan said the district currently is reviewing what to do for visiting crowds. As of now, no spectators allowed for visiting teams. But he said that could change by Wednesday. There will be two family tickets per player on the roster allotted. Masks required.

Florence district

Two tickets per player, cheer and band member. The visiting team will be given two tickets per player, cheer and band member.

Paradise Honors

This 3A Surprise school will not allow any visiting fans for home football games at this point, Athletic Director Ben Clark said, but his school will allow two spectators per player. “We will be watching the COVID numbers in Surprise and if they continue to improve we may allow more fans per athlete,” Clark said.

Anderson Auto Group Field House

This state-of-the-art Bullhead City facility that opened last year is shared by Mohave and River Valley.

It is allowing for 800 total tickets, which is 25% of the seating, River Valley AD Dorn Wilcox said. Tickets are sold in pairs and seats are six feet apart. Varsity football games are double-headers, so the field house will be cleared between games and sanitized.

Surprise Valley Vista

VV is part of the Dysart district. AD Brad Larremore said each player, band member, spirit line member, along with opposing athletes, will be allowed four tickets per game. “Links for signing up have been sent out to visiting teams as well, so names will be provided for guests as well as the home team,” Larremore said. “Social distancing and masks required.”

Yuma Union

Yuma Union High School District, comprising Kofa and Yuma, backtracked on its original plan to have no spectators for home games. Behind Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls’ backing, it has decided to allow two spectators per player.

“The spectators must be selected prior to the start of the season and will be required to complete a COVID-19 visitor’s waiver electronically via BlueInk,” Yuma district spokesman Eric Patton said. “All fans in attendance will still need to pay an entrance fee. The district expects to re-evaluate the plan during the week of Oct. 19.”

Elfrida Valley Union

AD Jeff Baker said that Valley Union is allowing four fans per players for the home team and two fans per player on the visiting side. “Fans are allowed to bring chairs, etc, to social distance around the track,” Baker said. “Masks are required.  We don’t have a final word on concessions yet.”

St. Johns

St. Johns AD David Bradshaw said that as of now there are no restrictions on fans wanting to attend home games.

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