The NFL is planning for 20-percent capacity at Super Bowl LV. Unless it isn’t.
Via Ben Fischer of Sports Business Daily, the NFL disputes a report from ESPN that the league anticipates having one in five seats filled at Raymond James Stadium for the annual NFL championship.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Fischer that there is “no set capacity figure at this time as we continue to monitor the ongoing pandemic with more than three months to go.”
McCarthy acknowledged that the end result of the conversations and negotiations could be 20-percent capacity, but that the outcome is far from certain at this point.
With the virus still spreading and no reason to think it will subside by early February, 20 percent seems optimistic. The final decision represents a delicate balance between the things some states are willing to do and the extent to which the NFL is willing to do the things some states are willing to let them do.