When Palmerton Area High School kicks off its varsity football season on Sept. 25 at home against Catasauqua, it will be parents of senior Bomber players, band members and cheerleaders in the stands.

Palmerton Athletic Director Kyle Porembo outlined the district’s sports spectator policy Tuesday, given the current Pennsylvania restrictions of 25 people for an indoor event and 250 for an outdoor event.

“After we factored in players, coaches, referees, game workers, etc., we had 50 tickets we were able to give out for varsity football games,” Porembo said. “When we started thinking about who should get those, it seemed only right that the parents of seniors of our players, band members and cheerleaders should have that opportunity. None of these decisions have been easy, and as we get new guidance from the state, I think we’ll be able to change and adapt accordingly.”

Instead of having senior night for football players, band members and cheerleaders all on one evening, Palmerton is planning to split the events up over three different home games, with one group getting the spotlight each night.

Other sports

Aside from varsity football, all other outdoor Palmerton contests at the stadium such as field hockey and soccer will be able to accommodate 150 spectators. Those tickets will go to family members of home and visiting players.

There will be no spectators for indoor volleyball matches.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow but there may be some light at the end of the tunnel,” Porembo said.

Gov. Tom Wolf has until Saturday to approve or veto a House of Representatives bill that would allow individual districts to set their own maximum spectator numbers. Wolf is expected to veto the bill, but legislators figure to have the two-thirds maximum needed to override the veto.

“We have come up with a plan should that happen,” Porembo said. “We have measured out 6 feet of distance in our bleachers. If we can increase our spectator numbers, family members of players would still get first preference.”

For the limited tickets going to player families this year, an admission will not be charged.

Home varsity football games normally attract a fairly sizable crowd on cemetery property next to the stadium and Porembo is asking people who may watch games from there to be respectful.

“The district has been in touch with the owner of the cemetery and he is understanding of the situation this year with attendance,” Porembo said. “He has not formally said watching games from there will be disallowed, so we ask anyone up there to be cooperative and not leave garbage or anything like that.”

Going live

Like many Colonial League schools, Palmerton has set up a YouTube channel Athletics Pasd, where it plans to livestream athletic contests. In order to livestream events, Palmerton needed 1,000 subscribers to the channel, something it achieved in less than three days.

“I want to thank everyone who subscribed,” Porembo said. “It’s incredible how fast we got to that number. We’re still working out the kinks so we ask that everyone be patient as we get it rolling.”

A list of livestreaming options for other schools in the league will eventually be posted on the district’s website.