I believe that people should be allowed to attend sporting events in person.Mercyhurst has twenty-five collegiate teams, two compete at the NCAA Division I level and the other twenty-three compete at the Division II level. After last year, when fans were only allowed to watch games online, it is time for fans to be allowed back into sporting events as spectators.Now, I do not play a sport at the college level, but I did play sports since I was three years old through high school.

Some of the most exciting games to play were the ones where there was a large crowd and they were cheering for your team. For example, the Mercyhurst football team this year won their first game when there was a packed stadium and had people cheering and chanting for them. But this past weekend, there were significantly fewer fans there to cheer on the Lakers, and Mercyhurst lost the game by a lot. Now, I am not saying that the lack of fans is what caused the team to lose, but I do think there could be something said for having a lot of fans there and trying to keep the stadium’s energy high and encourage the team to do well.There is just something unmatched about the energy that fans provide when they are actually present in the game.

I know with COVID at first people were not allowed in any sporting games, but then fans were allowed into professional games at a limited capacity and those games were so much more exciting because there were people there who could cheer.I recall seeing the vaccination rates for faculty/staff and students and while I cannot remember the exact number, I think if the two groups are combined, then our campus had over a 90% vaccination rate. Which, I believe, is high enough to safely have fans attend sporting events. I know personally, I feel completely safe attending sporting events with that high of a vaccination rate. If someone is not comfortable attending an in person sporting event, then they can still watch the games on the live stream, but I think since we do have such a high vaccination rate that the option to attend sporting events should definitely exist for those who want to attend.