Dear Trojan Family,
Thank you to everyone who attended our football home opener against San Jose State! It was wonderful to see the Trojan Family in the Coliseum after so many months apart. Your energy plays a critical role in creating a competitive and electric environment for our student-athletes. We are excited to host our first conference game of the season against Stanford, and we hope you’ll join us at the Coliseum this Saturday night. The atmosphere in the Coliseum is even more special under the lights!
I’m pleased to share that we will welcome tailgating back to campus but on a significantly limited scale in order to safeguard the health and safety of our campus community. Following consultation with medical experts, the university will reduce campus tailgating density for this Saturday to about 25 percent of a typical game day by limiting activities to those who have been permitted through our tailgating reservation system.
A number of campus protocols and access restrictions will remain in place in order to protect our students, faculty, and staff, and the university’s core mission of education, research, and service:
- There will be no walk-up tailgating on campus; if you are not attending a registered tailgate, we respectfully ask that you find another location for your pre-game celebration.
- Campus will open for permitted tailgating beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday; no tailgating activities, including set-up, will be allowed before that time.
- To enter campus, all guests must comply with TrojanCheck and may be asked to show proof of attending a permitted tailgate or valid game ticket.
- There are no changes to pre-game activities at the Coliseum or Exposition Park.
- Students, faculty, and staff who need to access campus that day for work, study or classes must complete TrojanCheck as usual.
All these requirements will be strictly enforced. We encourage you to plan ahead, as there may be increased wait times to access campus on game day. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. Our goal is to maximize the game day traditions and experiences we all love, while also continuing to protect the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, extended Trojan Family, and local community.
As a reminder, due to an order from the LA County Department of Public Health, all fans will be required to wear a face covering, regardless of vaccination status, at on-campus tailgate activities and at the Coliseum for the game. Facial coverings may be briefly removed while actively eating or drinking. This is a requirement for all events and venues in Los Angeles with more than 10,000 attendees, so we respectfully ask for your compliance.
We will continue to consult with medical experts and assess the public health situation as we make decisions about future game day activities. As we have during the past few weeks, we will provide updates as decisions are made for remaining game days this season. Thank you for your incredible support of USC, and we look forward to seeing you at the Coliseum this weekend!
Fight On!
Mike Bohn
Charles Griffin Cale Director of Athletics’ Chair