NCAA to allow full capacity stadiums for NCAA Tournament

The Florida Gators may be playing in front of a capacity crow at Florida Ballpark in the near future.

According to a report from D1Baseball founder Kendall Rogers, the NCAA is set to announce that the upcoming NCAA Softball and Baseball tournaments will be allowed to have 100-percent capacity at the host sites.

Florida softball is the No. 4 National seed, meaning they will host the Gainesville Regional and Super Regional if they advance. The Gator baseball team is currently No. 9 in the country and almost assured a Regional host, while they could still work their way into a National Seed, with the opportunity to host both a Regional and Super Regional.

Gators Territory has learned that Florida is expected to follow the new NCAA guidelines and allow full capacity at both softball and baseball for the NCAA Tournament.

The Gators baseball team opened the brand new $65 million dollar Florida Ballpark this season with six feet of social distancing mandated throughout the stadium in both the chairbacks and general admission areas. Later in the year, that distance was halved down to three feet but Florida still capped their attendance at approximately 3,000 fans.

Softball has also been limited and the Gators softball team is a National Seed, meaning they will host the Gainesville Regional starting this week, as well as a potential Super Regional should they win their Regional this weekend.

Florida is in a position to host a Regional as they head to Arkansas to finish the regular season.

On Monday the University Athletic Association announced plans to go back to full capacity starting on June 28.

"We will also resume full in-person participation in athletic and other activities on our campuses, including fan participation in stadiums and arenas," the statement said.

The release also said "NCAA guidelines currently call for a 50 percent fan capacity at NCAA Championship sites and the UAA will be following those policies for the upcoming NCAA Softball Regionals this weekend."

The decision this week is in stark contrast to what the NCAA has released just five days ago, saying that hosting sites would be limited to 50 percent capacity at stadiums.