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Fan attendance at fall sporting events is going to look drastically different than what we’re used to.
Case in point is the Baltimore Ravens announcing they are reducing stadium capacity limits to just around 14,000 people this fall at M&T Bank Stadium, which has a normal capacity of around 71,000 fans. They become the first NFL team to officially declare reduced stadium fan attendance for the 2020 season, but they won’t be the last.
On the college side, KSR reported earlier this week that UK was looking at potentially having just around 50% of stadium capacity at Kroger Field this fall.
Now, South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner says that the Gamecocks may have around 15,000 fans at games this fall.
Ray Tanner on 107.5 re: Williams-Brice capacity: "Probably 15,000 would be a number I would throw out. I’ve had some people who have studied that. It might get as high as 20. It might be no fans. We still have some time but not as much as we once did." @TheAthleticCFB
— Josh Kendall (@JoshTheAthletic) July 8, 2020
There’s still a very real chance that fans aren’t allowed into games at all if football seasons take place this fall. However, there’s a chance the NFL and/or college seasons get delayed to a later date when it’s safer for fans to attend games.
At this point, it feels like everything is on the table except for football stadiums at full capacity in 2020. The coronavirus has simply been too devastating to allow stadiums to be at max capacity for the foreseeable future.