RAYTOWN, Mo. — A month ago, many people didn't believe Friday night football could happen, but games in Missouri are underway.
“If you would have asked me this a couple of months ago, I would have not thought this would be possible," said Travis Hux, assistant superintendent of support services with the Raytown School District.
As football makes a comeback, Hux told 41 Action News it was a long and ever-changing process to get to this point.
“Challenging is not the right word, I don’t know exactly what the right word is, but that’s not a strong enough word," Hux said.
As plans changed, so did the protocols. Only 100 people will be allowed inside the stadium, per the Jackson County Health Department's order.
“Last thing I would want to do is violate that rule and shut down a football game. That’s going to hurt the kids," Hux said.
This season, it's not just the players following specific guidelines but the fans, too.
“They’ll have temperature checks just like the players. They’ll be asked the health assessment questions just like the players. We’ll check list to make sure they’re supposed to be here. They’ll come to an assigned seating area and have to stay there with their group to social distance the entire time," Hux said.
Each Raytown High School football player was given one ticket to Friday nights game. The rest of the capacity limit will be filled by administrative staff and security personnel required to be at the game.
Raytown's stadium can hold nearly 4,000 people. With plenty of space to properly social distance, Hux said he's hopeful fans will comply.
“Somebody is not compliant, we’re going to ask them to comply," Hux said. "We’re going to hope that they want to stay here and be here, because if they can’t comply, we’ll ask them to leave."
Signs have been posted around the stadium to remind fans of the protocols. Cones will be set up on the sidelines of each game to keep players 6 feet apart.
