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Colorado football team goes on 100-player hike; ops director ticketed

College Football, Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado director of football operations Bryan McGinnis has been issued a ticket for a 100-player hike on a Colorado mountain trail, Boulder officials told the Boulder Daily Camera on Friday.

McGinnis was ticketed for violating a public health order and failure to obtain a large group permit, which was needed to have more than 24 people to gather.

Park rangers told the newspaper that 108 people were in the Buffaloes group Thursday and that many were not wearing masks or social distancing from others on the trail.

Colorado athletic director Rick George noted in a statement that players involved had tested negative for COVID-19 but also noted the team's error.

"We acknowledge the lapse in judgment and apologize for our football team partaking in a group activity like this on public open space amid the current COVID-19 climate," George said. "We share in the community's concern and anxiety about the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, and we do not tolerate actions that are contrary to public health orders. We will address this with our football program, and continue to educate our coaches, staff and student-athletes about the importance of complying with public health orders, including wearing masks and physical distancing at all times while in public."

In a statement to the Daily Camera, Boulder officials said they would prefer to prioritize education over citations, but "law enforcement officers will issue citations for especially egregious behaviors like what occurred during this recent hike."

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