Until the medical community says it isn’t a good idea, the National Football League is planning to play its season with fans in attendance.
Speaking on The Brian Mitchell Show, NFL executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent said the league is planning to play with full stadiums unless healthcare professionals recommend against it.
“Now remember when we’re talking—we’re talking about September, August, September,” Vincent said. “So there’s a lot that can happen here. So we’re planning for full stadiums. We also know that we have to plan for half stadiums. Three-quarters. So we’re planning for all of these different scenarios. But first and foremost, we’re making every effort, working with the medical community, if we can have those stadiums with all people until they tell us otherwise when that time comes, that’s our plan. That’s our plan of action.”
Despite what Vincent said, some teams are still preparing for the prospect of playing with no fans in attendance. The Kansas City Chiefs are one of those teams.
“First of all, we love our fans,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid. “They are the loudest in the world and it’s ridiculous how loud it gets for our opponents. On the other hand, we’ll still go play and it’ll kind of be that way. The fans, we’ll miss them if that’s where it goes, but we’ll still be able to function.”
With Memorial Day in the books and much of the U.S. still locked down in quarantine mode, it seems crazy to think that things will be normal enough for fans to return to NFL stadiums by Labor Day.
But, with the NFL set to lose billions if games are played in empty stadiums, it makes sense that the league is remaining optimistic about having fans in attendance.
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