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9 Sep 2020
With the beginning of September comes one of the most exciting times of the year, the kick off of the NFL season. This professional season will look drastically different with the ongoing pandemic, but none the less, players will be hitting the gridiron across the nation this Fall. The main difference will obviously be empty stadiums, but some teams are hoping to find ways to get fans into stadiums safely.
The decision on whether fans should be allowed into NFL stadiums has been placed solely in the hands of the owners and the cities/states in which the teams reside. Each individual team can decide on a game by game basis whether fans will be allowed to attend their home games. For instance, teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Indianapolis Colts will have limited attendance right from the start of the season. These stadiums will most likely allow 22% capacity, which will average around 15,000 fans for each stadium. However, Indianapolis has approached this a little differently, by offering their fans two ticket plans containing 4 games each to their season ticket holders to limit the attendance. The other teams allowing fans will most likely limit tickets to groups less than ten, and the groups will have to contain either families or people within the same social circle.
Many other teams are choosing to wait until a month into the season to decide on fan attendance. Teams like the Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Seattle Seahawks will not have fans for their home openers or possibly their second and third games. These teams will reevaluate the situation at the beginning of October, and possibly move to have limited attendance. Many of the teams choosing to wait have given their season ticket holders a choice on whether they would like to attend limited capacity games or to put their season ticket funds toward the 2021 season.
There are still several teams who have no clear start date in mind for fans, and some have already stated there may be no fans in attendance for this year. These teams tend to be in heavily populated areas or cities that were hit especially hard by the pandemic. Both teams in Los Angeles and New York will have no fans for the foreseeable future and told their fans to wait until further notice. Recently, on August 31st, the Las Vegas Raiders emailed their season ticket holders to say that no fans will be allowed to attend home games this season in their brand new $1.9 billion stadium right off the Vegas Strip, Allegiant Stadium. According to ESPN, the Raiders owner, Mark Davis, even stated that he will not attend home games himself if no fans are allowed.
Obviously, this season will be unlike any other in the NFL. Fans who are able to attend games this year should expect a different experience. Teams have been working on their own safety protocols this off-season to keep fans safe. Many of these protocols include contactless entry into the stadium and at concessions, spaced out lines for restrooms and concessions, clustered seating within the stadium bowl, assigned gates for entry, and requiring masks to be worn at all times. Football will not look and sound normal this year, but it will be a welcome sight for many people from the comfort of their couches.