A month ago, Texas Longhorns athletics director Chris Del Conte was still publicly optimistic about the possibility of 100-percent capacity at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium this fall as Texas governor Greg Abbott met with Del Conte and his colleagues to discuss playing games with half-full stadiums.
When Abbott held that meeting, he was continuing his aggressive push to fully reopen the state, which had avoided an outbreak like the one suffered in New York City that threatened to overwhelm hospitals. In the weeks since, however, Abbott had to shut down bars once again as cases spiked in Texas, along with states like Arizona and Florida.