NFL attendance will be determined “state-by-state, county-by-county”

Posted by Mike Florio on June 23, 2020, 8:34 PM EDT
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Money trumps competitive balance.

With the NFL facing significant financial losses from games played without fans, the NFL will not be implemented a game-day approach that is identical for all teams, when it comes to attendance.

“Attendance will be a state-by-state, county-by-county thing,” an unnamed NFL source told Daniel Kaplan of TheAthletic.com. “It will not be a one size fits all.”

Which means that in some states, fans will be present for games. In others, not. And even though this will create inequities when it comes to crowd noise, that apparently will be acceptable because a one size fits all approach to attendance will result in no fans being present, for any NFL games.

The NFL remains highly optimistic that the season will be played in full. In some cities, there should be or eventually could be optimism that fans will be present to watch.

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36 responses to “NFL attendance will be determined “state-by-state, county-by-county””

  1. It worked out good with donald dump’s covid testing.

    No wonder public relations specialist roger goodell
    has been subtly angling for replacement.

    Good luck, nfl.

  2. Why play home games in an empty stadium when you can play in front of fans elsewhere

  3. Just saw that Arizona is spiking and people are waiting 10 hours to get tested. Training camp is just a few weeks away so hard to be optimistic if at this late stage an entire state still does not have enough tests for its residents. How are they supposed to feel confident enough to attend a football game?

  5. There’s absolutely no reason why fans cannot attend. There might be increased sanitation and social distancing, particularly in the indoor venues. We should also have warnings for people who might be vulnerable that it might not be the best idea to attend any crowded event. Let the rest of us go to the games. I would go to an open air stadium right now. Do temp checks. I’m there. There are any number of things you can do, including only selling a third or a half of the seats every other seat for the short term.

  6. Kansas City is a step up from the bottom of new virus cases daily at this point. I would guess they can go one third of stadium capacity. That would be about 24,000 fans. That might work. They could sell out the parking lot and have tailgating to.

  7. I am sure a lot of people will gladly sign a letter saying not to sue in order to watch live sports and live their lives.

  8. The genius governor of Texas has declared that sports stadiums only have 50% attendance. That will cause a huge spike.
    More people will get sick at Cowboy games than anywhere else.

  10. It makes business-sense. They have revenue sharing across the league. Might as well play with fans at as much capacity as each stadium is permitted rather than shut down all attendance at all games because one or two teams are prohibited from having fans in the stands.

  12. I’ve been going out to restaurants, they are deserted. Some people are scared, some are broke. Some, probably both. Attendance at NFL games was already dropping due to the proliferation of cheap widescreen TV’s, now watch attendance drop like a rock. People are in survival mode now and don’t care about going to pro football games.

  13. That’s going to be a tough thing. So possibly no fans for games in Florida,Texas, and Los Angeles? But other cities might have 1/2 an audience. I think that’s going to upset a few owners to say the least.

  15. You really think the NFL was going to keep people out of stadiums if the local government doesn’t stop them? I wish they’d do something like only sell tickets to 1/3 or 1/2 of the seats in the stadium to help enable social distancing, but that doesn’t sound like something the NFL would do unless a local government tells them they must.

  16. One size fits all is usually a terrible idea. I’m glad they have the sense to do it this way.

  17. Nfl attendance will be determined by how many smart people there is and how dumb people there is.

  18. Won’t matter for me , the NFL is so money grubbing hungry that they won’t put a team in my state because it wouldn’t make them millions but only hundred of thousands but you know not everyone deserves a team to root for …. always feels like I’m on the outside looking in.

  20. There isn’t a single owner in the league that will prioritize safety over profits. Teams are going to be pushing local governments to let them operate at capacity, and most municipalities will fold, just like they always do when it comes time to buy a new stadium.

  22. This is not going to end well. Camps are going to open in the next month and as long as the case and hospitalization rates are rising (or NOT DECLINING), COVID is going to hit the teams. You’ve already seen it with The college teams that have been working out together. Sure, players may be asymptomatic and/or will recover but it’s the broader, downstream impacts on the people THEY come in contact with-coaches, staff, support, others, and THEY come in contact with, that is the issue.

  24. Fundamentally unfair. Some teams will have a home crowd advantage, others won’t.

  25. I get the impression that the NFL is posturing now in lead up to do whatever turns out to be PC so that that dollars are maximized with little real interest in fan safety. Sounds like the stadium game day experience will remain very expensive and be a major hassle to attend. My desire level to attend games is lowering rapidly.

  27. Everyday at work someone takes my temperature and makes sure I wear a mask. No reason that can’t be done before a football game.

  28. I get the impression that the NFL is posturing now in lead up to do whatever turns out to be PC so that that dollars are maximized with little real interest in fan safety.
    ——————-
    Exactly. Same as what many stores across the country are doing. Saying they are safe when in reality they are doing nothing to prevent you from COVID and just want your money

  29. My Chargers were just ahead of the game, they’ve been preparing for covid years now. Can’t fill a stadium, if they do it’s with opposing fans. Whose laughing now people???

  30. outdoor stadium, full masking, some spacing..the risk could be mitigated. But the problem is the exact places where going to football games would be allowed are the places where public acceptance of social distancing is the lowest. Not sure what the air flow in indoor stadiums is, they are pretty large spaces, but hard to believe infections would not occur.
    Sooner or later this will hit home…it will affect people’s parents, grandparents, friends…then we will see what happens. When i look at Florida and texas and the south these days, its hard to believe that unless they start really clamping down soon, the health care systems will be over run. It takes several weeks for social distancing measures to take effect…

  31. “I am sure a lot of people will gladly sign a letter saying not to sue in order to watch live sports and live their lives.”
    __________________

    And will you have every person they encounter also sign a waiver? Because it’s not just about the people attending catching it, a much larger concern is who all they’ll pass it along to afterwards.

  32. I go out in public daily. Where the Cornoa is everywhere. Myself personally, cannot wait to go to an NFL game. Lets get on with life. The Corona has weakened to the point of little concern. If you are still scared, please just stay home. Most of us have to get back to work and normal life. Both of which have corona and always have.

  34. Well if it’s ok for the players to slam into each other for three hours, exchanging all manner of bodily fluids in the process, it should be ok for fans to sit socially-distanced in the stands.

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