In our community here on Long Island, a Friday night or Saturday afternoon in the fall includes 3,000 people jamming into the bleachers and/or stand behind the fence watching the MacArthur High School varsity football team take the field. The makeup of the crowd could include parents, family members and friends of the student-athletes, students from the high school, alumni and the junior varsity players who will someday hopefully hear the roar of the crowd when they make the move up to varsity.

Many people who attend the game will visit the concession stands for food, drinks or even school apparel like t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats with the proceeds serving as a fundraiser for the program. We even have one night when the community comes together for the annual “pink out” with sales of food, shirts and raffle prizes that raise money for breast cancer awareness.  People from other towns on Long Island that come to a game are amazed when they see firsthand how much our community is a “football town”.   

But this past fall, the sounds of the hitting on the field, the fans screaming, the cheerleaders doing their cheers, the marching band playing after a touchdown, and the music blasting from the loudspeakers were all silenced because of the coronavirus pandemic. The fall sports season in our school district, along with the rest of Long Island and much of New York State was postponed and now what was supposed to be the 2020 football season is going to start on March 1st. 

But while the games will take place, we’re just not sure yet if there will be any spectators allowed. It’s the hope that, at the very least, each student-athlete will be allowed to have two guests at the game, but what we know for sure that when the football team hits the field that the sounds are going to be different than normal because there won’t be a full house of 3,000 people cheering on the Generals.  

It’s just not possible at this time because of the circumstances.  

But without the fans at the game, the fundraising efforts shouldn’t have to stop. There are ways to do it virtually and safely so that while things aren’t normal for the time being, the fundraising can still go on. The school can still sell the apparel online and the items can either be picked up in a socially distant fashion or shipped to their home. USA Football even has partners that make fundraising easy and are completely online.

 My son Bradley came home from school the other day with raffle tickets to sell to help raise money for the lacrosse team that will play this spring. That’s something that could be done with any of the other teams.

And events like the “pink out”?

The shirts and raffle tickets could still be sold and since the games are all expected to be streamed live on the internet for family and friends to see. Perhaps there could be a “virtual” pink out where people wear the apparel at home and there could be festivities and drawings done online.

The bottom line is that there is a happiness about the kids being able to play during the winter and spring. Regardless of which sport it is, being able to play is, for them, a sense of normalcy. The cheering and the other sounds of normal will return at some point but for the time being there are ways to try and keep the games as normal as possible in these not-so-normal times. The fundraising for the athletic programs doesn’t have to stop because of COVID-19.  

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network and WFAN Radio in New York.  His son Bradley is a freshman in high school and is a participant in the U.S. National Team program while his younger son Jared enjoys playing flag football.   Peter, his wife Sheryl and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets when they’re not at a high school or flag football field.