The Salt Bowl rivalry game between Benton and Bryant is scheduled to take place this season, but the crowd at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium will not be as big as previous years.
The Salt Bowl will be limited to 12,000 fans on Saturday, Aug. 29, according to a news release from the Salt Bowl committee Tuesday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
The committee -- which includes founder Shane Broadway, and athletic directors Mike Lee (Bryant) and Scott Neathery (Benton) -- met with the Arkansas Department of Health and other state agencies, and they determined to reduce capacity because of the coronavirus pandemic. High school football stadiums will have capacity limited to no more than 66%, according to health department guidelines.
This year's Salt Bowl features two of the state's top teams entering the season. Bryant is the two-time defending Class 7A state champion, while Benton has played in the past two Class 6A state championship games.
"I'm just excited to see anybody play at this point," Broadway said. "Both of these teams have a shot to win. They both have a shot to play at War Memorial again in December [at the state championship games]."
The 12,000-spectator limit for the Salt Bowl is just over 22% of the stadium's 54,120 capacity. Seating will be allowed in every other row in the venue, with families sitting together and being at least 6 feet apart from other families and groups.
Tickets are $10 and will be available only at Big Red store locations in Benton and Bryant. Broadway said an allotment of 2,000 tickets (1,000 for each school) will be available for parents of the players, cheerleaders, dance team and the band members, with any leftover tickets going to Big Red stores. No game-day tickets will be sold.
Gates will open at 5:30 p.m., two hours before the game.
A pay-per-view broadcast will be available for $50 on the Salt Bowl's website, saltbowlar.com. After purchasing the game, a link and password will be sent by email. Broadway said the proceeds will go to the Benton and Bryant school districts to help their athletic department budgets.
Broadway also said that the game will be broadcast live on KABZ-FM, 103.7 in Little Rock.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson will conduct this year's coin toss. Honorary captains will include Arkansas Department of Education Secretary Johnny Key for Bryant and Eddie Schmeckenbecher, Hutchinson's sign-language interpreter, for Benton.
At halftime, both bands will perform from their own end zones. Bryant's band will be seated in the north end zone, and the Benton band will be in the south end zone to help with social distancing, Broadway said.
Bryant leads the all-time series 26-19-2 and is 13-0-1 since 2006. Bryant won last year's game 42-14 in front of an announced crowd of 26,178.