It’s still unclear how many fans will be allowed to attend NFL games in person this season – or if they will be allowed at all – but if it were up to Jamal Adams, there would be fans in the seats in 2020.
“Not having fans in stadiums would be beyond wack,” Adams tweeted Friday afternoon. “Let fans decide if they want to show up & support. Have them sign a waiver, & require masks!”
The NFL hasn’t made any kind of formal announcement as to whether or not (or how many) fans will be able to attend games this fall, but it will ultimately be decided by local and state social distancing guidelines.
As of late June, commissioner Roger Goodell maintained that the league is still planning on having fans in attendance this season. Of course, he could be referring to a very limited number of fans as opposed to overcrowded stadiums.
Some teams have already gotten out ahead of things, as the Jacksonville Jaguars announced earlier this week that they expect no more than 20 percent of their stadium capacity for home games. The Baltimore Ravens also announced that no more than 14,000 fans will be allowed to attend home games this season.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy was a guest on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Friday morning, and was asked about the possibility of having fans in the seats at MetLife Stadium this season.
“We’d need to be involved because this is a public health matter, so we couldn’t put people in close contact with each other unless we thought that was a responsible step to take,” Gov. Murphy said. “That’s the big nut that we still have yet to crack, I would say.
“Whether they go the European soccer route where they’re playing the games with no fans or whether or not there’s some amount of fans they can have in there, that’s a decision we have to make together.”
From a scheduling standpoint, the league has already reportedly decided to cut the preseason in half from four games to two, though it could end up eliminating the preseason schedule all together in an effort to focus on player safety.