Manny Diaz discusses possibility of Miami football without fans

One of the topics of discussion that came up during an appearance by Manny Diaz on the Hochman and Crowder Show on WQAM Thursday is the possibility of the Miami football team playing the 2020 season without fans.

There have been a few scenarios discussed in relation to the 2020 college football season. One of those has been the possibility of playing the 2020 season without fans. Head coach Manny Diaz discussed what the Miami football season could look like without fans in the stands to cheer on the Hurricanes.

Diaz acknowledged the bizarreness that that 2020 college football season would take on without fans. The Hurricanes head coach also went into detail about the advantages it could hold for coaches. Without crowd noise, coaches would be able to communicate to players better before a play and hear what is going on better.

Diaz acknowledged that he and the Miami football team want to play in front of fans but that college football has to consider all the alternatives in order to have a season. There are so many different possibilities of how the 2020 college football season will be played that coaches have to accept whatever happens.

Diaz has been clear focusing on what he and the Miami football program can control. The Hurricanes are aware of multiple contingencies and Diaz is following the lead of University of Miami President Julio Frenk and athletic director Blake James. Frenk is a global expert on pandemics.

"“It would be bizarre. Look: We want to play football and obviously we want to play football with our fans, but everybody understands that, to your point, we have to consider all alternatives. It’d be strange.Just the things that you’d be able to hear, the ability for the coaches to talk to the players before a play — there would be some dramatically different things. It would change, obviously. Home field advantage would be such a different thing, but who knows? The one thing: We would all be on a level playing field and I know we all want content.I know we all want sports back and whether that’s the NBA around the corner, that’s Major League Baseball starting up, that’s European soccer leagues finishing their season — I know we all can’t wait to be able to watch sports again.We have to do it in a way that’s safe for the participants in the sport and then it’ll go outside for the fans to get to attend from there.”"

While most attribute a homefield advantage to the fans, and they are a huge part, teams would still have the comforts of playing in their own stadiums and not having to travel for a road game for half the schedule. There would still be an inherent advantage for the Miami football team at Hard Rock Stadium.

Playing in cavernous stadiums like Hard Rock and Spartan Stadium if Miami still plays at Michigan State in September would certainly take on a much different aura than in front of 60,000-70,000 fans. The various contingencies for the 2020 college football season are still a long way from being determined how it will play out.