The National Football League is planning to stage its Super Bowl at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 7 by limiting spectators to about one-fifth capacity because of the novel coronavirus and requiring everyone to wear a mask, ESPN reported Wednesday citing unidentified sources.
Raymond James normally can accommodate 65,000 spectators, which would mean a maximum crowd of 13,000, but it can be expanded to seat 75,000, which would result in a potential crowd of 15,000.
Spectators would be able to congregate in ''pods,'' according to ESPN, that would be spaced 6 feet apart.
The ESPN report said that even if the NFL needs to add an 18th week to its schedule to accommodate games postponed due to positive coronavirus tests among players or staff, it would still stage the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. The NFL routinely has two weeks between the final playoff games and the Super Bowl championship game.
The NFL has considered postponing the Super Bowl as much as four weeks to allow for the completion of the regular season.
More than a dozen games have been rescheduled to accommodate postponed games due to coronavirus-related issues.
While the NFL has left the decision whether or not to allow spectators to the individual clubs according to local ordinances and restrictions, about half of the teams have opened their gates to the public.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are 5-2, have averaged 10,961 spectators for two games so far.
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