Football Fans Return to Auburn in a Limited Capacity

Fans Were Happy to be Watching Football Again

Virus.

As the pandemic continues -- the s-e-c officially kicked off the 20-20 season.

Waay 31's max cohan reports from auburn after talking to fans about the tigers' unusual season opener.

Today at jordan-hare stadium the tigers hosted the kentucky wildcats -- opening a season many thought would never get played.

But even with capacity limited to about 20 percent -- fans said saturday's game was amazing.

Nats "way louder than i was expecting, i mean you couldn't tell that it was that big of a difference from last year, not at all."

For auburn fans -- saturday brought happiness, not just because the team won -- but just the fact that they were playing at all.

"yeah, if you had told me three months ago that we'd get to be here i would have said 'no way' but it's awesome to be back."

Auburn students like casey barham and fulton carmichael made up a significant portion of those in attendance saturday -- with the university reserving nearly all of the general admission tickets for students.

Some attribute the significant level of crowd noise to them.

"yeah, it was very loud, very loud.

It was awesome."

Among the differences fans noticed on saturday were the masks and cushioned seats -- which were spaced out to represent social distancing.

Many said it also made the experience more comfortable.

"and we a lot of room to just kinda lean back, yeah, lean back just a little bit, so they were nice.

We're not all scrunched up."

Fans also said the smaller crowd make it easier to enter the stadium and cut down lines for things like concessions and restrooms. and while the experience was undoubtedly different -- fans said the university made a strong effort to make sure they got the full experience.

"they would play videos throughout the game, where like -- from last year, when everybody was there and like dancing and all together so it was kind of nice to like also get to see that and remember how things were a year ago."

Fans said ultimately the precautions couldn't stop them from having fun and they all hope to be back for the next game.

The tigers defeated the wildcats 29-13 and we'll have highlights coming up later in the show.

Reporting in auburn,