What a Clemson football road trip will look like in the COVID-19 era
Traveling in more buses, coaches serving food at the hotel and creating a movie theater will be a part of Clemson’s first road trip of the 2020 season when the Tigers travel to face Wake Forest for Saturday’s season opener.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney constantly preaches about sticking to a routine, but that routine will be much different this season than in years past due to COVID-19.
“Big changes. We’ve tried to make everything as normal as possible but just major changes,” Swinney said. “I mean our Friday routine as far as our game prep and how we do our meetings and stuff, that part will be the same. And we’ll go to the stadium and kind of do what we do there. But all the other stuff is very, very different.”
Before beginning its road trip on Friday, Clemson players and staff members will be tested for COVID-19. The Tigers are currently tested three times a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Clemson will allow players to travel based off of the results of Wednesday’s tests. Clemson will then receive the results of Friday’s tests on Saturday and will send home any players who test positive, as well as their close contacts, at that time.
Clemson is taking a short flight to Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Friday for Saturday’s game, and everyone making the trip must wear a face mask and shield on both the plane and the bus. There is usually food on the plane, but not this year.
Clemson will also travel on nine buses to and from the airport and to the game this weekend, as opposed to five or six in the past, in order to allow for social distancing.
“We can only have a max of 17 or 18 per bus. So we have to spend a lot of time with how we seat people on the bus,” Swinney said. “There’s a lot of detail that goes into that, because we have to mitigate the close contact, the mask, the shield and all that for the buses and the plane.”
Roommates and those who are regularly in close contact will allowed to be within six feet on the buses but otherwise social distancing will be practiced.
Clemson will also operate in a different manner while in Winston-Salem and when at the team hotel.
The team normally goes to the movies the Friday night before games, but that entertainment option will be a little different this year. Meals will be different as well.
“All of us coaches and staff, we have to serve our players, because we can’t have the hotel staff do that right now up there. It’s different wherever you go. So we will serve our players all our food and snacks and those types of things. So just do what we gotta do,” Swinney said.
“We won’t go to the movie theater up there. We’ll create our own movie theater and make our own popcorn. So there’s just some different logistics, a little more work on everybody’s part in how we do certain things. But hey, we’re happy to do it. That’s what it takes to be able to play.”
Clemson vs. Wake Forest game, TV details
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Truist Field in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
TV: ABC
Line: Clemson by 34
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 2:04 PM with the headline "What a Clemson football road trip will look like in the COVID-19 era."
