Putnam and Amherst’s season-opening football game has been rescheduled and will be played without fans due to a social media threat, according to a MassLive report.

Seth Keevaenthal, media and climate specialist for the Amherst Regional School District, would not confirm the existence of a social media threat and referenced an ongoing investigation when speaking with The Daily Hampshire Gazette on Friday.

The opener for both teams was initially scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. at John J. Duggan High School field in Springfield, but has been rescheduled to Saturday at 2 p.m.

The decision was made on Wednesday after conversations between Springfield Public Schools athletic director Dwayne Early and Amherst athletic director Victoria Dawson. Keevaenthal said a press release was sent out to parents 20 minutes after the decision was made.

“There was a safety concern that we were made aware of that afternoon,” Keevaenthal said. “The situation is being handled by Amherst and Springfield Police.”

The decision to reschedule the game and hold it without fans was made due to a recommendation from Springfield Police, Keevaenthal said. The school district contacted Amherst Police to investigate the matter, according to a reminder sent to parents on Friday. Amherst superintendent Dr. E. Xiomara Herman spoke with Dawson to make the decision.

“Safety is my number one priority, and we will do everything we can to ensure the safety of our students and staff,” Herman said in the reminder.

The game was initially rescheduled for Saturday morning, before being moved to 2 p.m.

“Restricting fans and moving the game to daylight hours would be the best call to address all the safety concerns,” Keevaenthal said.

Keevaenthal would not comment on whether police recommended the game be canceled, and said Early and Dawson wanted to keep the game going.

“We didn’t want this safety concern, which is being handled by police, to impact the players who have practiced and tried so hard for this game,” Keevaenthal said.

The decision to move the game from 7 p.m. on Friday to 2 p.m. on Saturday was “due to police availability and to increase police ability to see past the immediate of the field,” Keevaenthal said. Springfield Police will be present at the game.

When reached on Friday, Dawson and Amherst head coach Vinnie Guiel only cited safety reasons and referred comment to Keevaenthal.

Early said to MassLive on Friday morning that “SPS is acting out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of all involved.”

Keevaenthal said future Amherst home games are not expected to be impacted, and they will be played with fans.

“We have no reason to think this will be an ongoing problem, based on the information we have from police,” Keevaenthal said.

 After Saturday’s game, Amherst travels to Westfield on Friday, Sept. 20 for a 7 p.m. game before playing their home opener at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 against Barnstable. The Hurricanes don’t travel to another school in the Springfield district for the rest of the season. Their first night home game is Friday, Oct. 11 against Northampton.