POCATELLO — The Idaho State Board of Education on Thursday announced public universities could amend their spectator plans to accommodate additional fans in relation to a venue’s overall capacity.

In light of this statewide decision, Idaho State University will begin work with the Southeastern Idaho Public Health Department to review plans for spectators in Holt Arena during the spring football season.

“We’re grateful for our fans and we want to engage them as much as possible,” Athletic Director Pauline Thiros said. “So we’re very appreciative of this decision. It’s something that we’ve been watching from week-to-week to see how things unfold and give us some indication of whether or not we could have a modest number of fans. Certainly we’re happy about it, and we’ve been thinking about the different ways to get this accomplished, so the state board’s announcement is the impetus for us to act in a much more specific way in the days to come.”

Idaho State’s amended football season kicks off against Weber State on February 27, and will include three home games. The University is reviewing spectator capacity plans for Holt Arena with public health professionals. A final decision about the number of spectators inside the venue is expected to be announced early next week, according to Thiros.

When a spectator plan for Holt Arena is announced, it will include strict enforcement of face coverings and assigned seating with physical distancing.

“Every decision we have made over the last 11 months has been with our students in mind, and with health and safety in mind,” President Kevin Satterlee said. “Our mission is to educate, and we will continue to provide a campus environment that allows for the safe delivery of education. All other considerations are secondary to that mission. The University is reviewing spectator plans with public health experts, and a final decision will be made that supports the well-being of all students and our campus community.”

Earlier this week the decision was made to allow immediate families of student-athletes for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, up to 50 people, beginning February 11 with the men’s basketball game against Idaho.

Idaho State will continue with this approach for the remainder of the basketball season, which ends this month, and will continue to monitor whether or not expansion of volleyball attendance is feasible prior to the end of the season in April.

“We understand that people want to be at our games and see our Bengals compete,” Thiros said. “But our first responsibility is to our student-athletes. We have a plan in place for basketball and volleyball, and it is working well. Our primary focus is the health of our student-athletes, and protecting the opportunity for our teams to complete the conference season, participate in the Big Sky Tournament, and potentially appear in the NCAA Championships. We will not make a change that will jeopardize those priorities.”

Thiros confirmed that there will be a season-ticket program for football.

Operational plans are also being developed for spectators at softball, soccer, tennis, cross country, track and field, and golf.

All fans are encouraged to watch the Bengals compete using the free PlutoTV application. Home games are broadcast on PlutoTV channel 1061, while the channels for road games vary based on the opponent. Free online audio streaming of all football and men’s basketball games is available through the schedule pages on the athletic department’s official website, isubengals.com. Women’s sports can be heard on KISU radio.