The NFL has made it clear many times by now. Despite the presence of COVID-19 and the lack of a vaccine at present time, plans remain steadfast that football games will be played in 2020. What’s uncertain to this point is how they’ll be played. Namely with one overriding question dominating the discussion. Will Chicago Bears fans and others be allowed in stadiums?
Obviously the easiest way to prevent the spread of the virus is keeping people distant from each other however possible. That becomes difficult when cramming them into thousands of seats. Fans are wondering how the NFL plans to tackle that elephant in the room. The simple answer? They won’t.
Instead, they’re planning to pass the buck to local governments from the states on down. They, not the league, will determine if fans can attend or not according to David Kaplan of The Athletic.
The NFL will let teams set different attendance capacity limits when the schedule starts in August with the preseason, meaning some clubs could play in front of full, or nearly full stadiums and some before no fans. That could lead to questions about competitive equity, and whether the league should allow teams in empty or near-empty stadiums to pipe in crowd noise when the opposing team is on offense…
…“Attendance will be a state-by-state, county-by-county thing,” said one NFL source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of coronavirus planning in NFL. “It will not be a one size fits all.
“I wish they would push back the start of the year to October to give us more time to learn from these other leagues.”
Chicago Bears fans must look to Mayor Lightfoot
Soldier Field is located in downtown Chicago. That means it falls under the jurisdiction of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. It will be her call as to whether fans can attend games or not. Her stance on anything coronavirus related has been fairly hardline to this point. She’s been adamant about strict medical procedures and not deviating from the overall plan.
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A big reason for this is Chicago being a major hub of public transit as well as a major airline destination. So preventing a breakout of the disease is much more difficult than other cities might experience. The plan is moving into Phase 4 at present, allowing small businesses to reopen like restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters. That is small potatoes though compared to Soldier Field.
According to her five-part plan, no large gatherings of people above 100 will be allowed in Chicago until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed. That may not happen until next year. Hence the desire of several people in the NFL to postpone the start of the season until more information is gathered. Left up to Lightfoot, it doesn’t seem too optimistic for Bears fans.