MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Fans who plan on attending WVU’s first home game of the 2017 season will be the first subject to the new ‘clear-bag’ policy at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The new policy WVU implemented for all of their sporting events this year means all items being brought into the stadium must be in a clear bag. The only exceptions that are being made are for small clutch bags and for medically necessary items.
WVU Associate Athletic Director April Messerly said on Metronews “Sportsline” Wednesday the reasoning for the new policy is strictly for security reasons.
“The intention is a safer and more efficient screening of bags that come in,” she said.
In order to get inside the stadium with a bag, the bag must be a clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC bag that’s no larger than 12 inches long and 6 inches deep. Messerly said clear bags and their sizes will make the screening process that much easier for staff.
“If I have a large handbag and all those things are in the handbag, then that’s a very different search then if I see a visual through the bag and see the contents,” she said.
For those who remain unaware of the change in policy, minor accommodations will be made allowing for entrance into the stadium. But Athletics Director Shane Lyons said that still means using a clear bag.
“We have clear bags at the gate, you know baggies that they can put their stuff in from their bag,” Lyons said. “They won’t be allowed to carry that bag into the game so they would have to go back to the car or their vehicle and put it back in there.”
Anyone who tries to enter the game with any unclear bag such as a purse, diaper bag, cooler or a backpack will be given the replacement bag option.
WVU is not the first major program to have a clear bag policy. The NFL implemented a similar policy back in 2013.
“What we did is we looked at what others had and made it as comprehensive as possible,” Messerly said.
WVU will be the seventh Big 12 school to implement the policy.