Invoice Haisten: The 2020 soccer season had a ‘staggering’ impression on enterprise in Stillwater and Norman | OSU Sports activities Additional

What if there isn’t the usual over 80,000 for football on the OU campus?

Schemm’s terrifying statement: “Campus Corner was a ghost town.”

During a normal season, he said, “(some) Campus Corner dealers earn six to nine months’ rent for those six or seven OU home games.”

The Campus Corner is located north of the stadium and is Norman’s point of contact for food and drinks before or after the game. Before a typical OU home game, Campus Corner is not only teeming with football fans buying tickets, but also with people who want to touch the atmosphere of the game day before ducking into a bar or running home to watch the program.

In 2020, Campus Corner employees were doing only a fraction of their typical day-to-day business.

“Losing those big Saturdays – it was a killer,” said Schemm. “Our community is connected to the university and the football team, so the football season has been devastating.”

At both Norman and Stillwater, the lack of activity outside the stadiums was as oppressive as the empty seats inside.

You knew what it meant. They knew universities were losing millions in essential revenues. They knew off-campus jobs and income were affected.

“And in addition to reducing the number of people coming into town for the games, there were regulations that forced bars and restaurants to close early and limit the number of customers they could serve,” said Schemm, a former track and field athlete for Edmond Memorial and an organizational unit grad. “Everything has been done to contain the spread of the virus. Let’s try that now. We understand that these dealers were affected in several ways during the season.