FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is expected to play in front of its largest crowd of the season when the Razorbacks travel to No. 8 Texas A&M on Saturday.
The Aggies (3-1) drew an announced attendance of 24,709 for their last game at Kyle Field, which was a 41-38 victory over Florida on Oct. 10. That was the largest announced attendance for any SEC game this season.
The second-largest announced attendance at an SEC stadium this year was 24,073 for the Aggies' 17-12 home victory over Vanderbilt on Sept. 26. Texas A&M's two home games have also constituted the SEC's two largest percentages of stadium capacity this year.
Kyle Field has a capacity of 102,733, not counting standing-room only areas.
Some have speculated the announced attendance was less than the actual number of fans at the Aggies' game against Florida. ESPN’s cameras showed multiple crowd shots of fans gathered closely together, and multiple coaches and players remarked after the game about the crowd.
“The section behind our bench, I didn’t see an empty seat,” Florida coach Dan Mullen said afterward. “It was packed, the entire student section. There must have been 50,000 people behind our bench going crazy.”
Mullen said the Aggies’ crowd made a difference the same week multiple SEC coaches — including Arkansas’ Sam Pittman — said home-field advantage is not as prevalent this year due to reduced capacities.
The Razorbacks (2-2) won 21-14 at Mississippi State on Oct. 3 and lost 30-28 at Auburn a week later.
“The opponents didn’t cause us a whole lot of problems on the road, Mississippi State or Auburn, noise-wise,” Pittman said Oct. 14. “Mississippi State a little more with the cowbells.”
Pittman said Monday he expects “at least 50,000 people, probably” in attendance at Kyle Field this weekend.
“We are cranking up the volume and we are going inside today,” Pittman said of simulating crowd noise. “As far as past that, I don’t know. We can still crank up the volume outside, as well, but we’re going to go inside today and crank it up.”
Before the season Texas A&M announced it would limit attendance to approximately 25% of its listed capacity at Kyle Field, but said that number was subject to change based on local and state recommendations. The exact capacity percentage is determined based on the number of season-ticket holders and student passes sold, according to the Texas A&M athletics department.
Individual schools are allowed to determine their own capacity caps this year in accordance with state capacity guidelines. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order in June that allows sporting venues in the state to operate at up to 50% capacity during the coronavirus pandemic.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told the Orlando Sentinel earlier this month that it appeared Texas A&M adhered to its own attendance protocols during the Florida game.
“I have to take what’s reported to me and we’ve followed up on that, but I’m not the attendance monitor,” Sankey told the Sentinel.
SEC Attendance
Every SEC team has significantly reduced the number of fans it is allowing at football games this season. Below is a look at the largest attendance at each stadium through the first month of the season.
Team, Attendance - % of stadium capacity
Alabama, 19,424 - 19.1%
Arkansas, 16,500 - 21.6%
Auburn, 17,490 - 20.0%
Florida, 15,120 - 17.1%
Georgia, 20,524 - 22.1%
Kentucky, 12,000 - 19.7%
LSU, 21,855 - 21.4%
Ole Miss 15,037 - 23.5%
Mississippi State 13,564 - 22.1%
Missouri 11,738 - 18.7%
South Carolina 15,766 - 19.6%
Tennessee 23,394 - 22.8%
Texas A&M 24,709 - 24.1%
Vanderbilt 2,000 - 5.0%