By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
With Texas and Florida allowing sports events to have crowds during the novel coronavirus pandemic, it’s no surprise that five of the top seven NFL teams leading the league in home attendance are based in those two states.
Leading the NFL in home attendance are the Dallas Cowboys, averaging 27,418 fans a game for each of the Cowboys’ six home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Another team based in Texas — the Houston Texans — ranks fifth in the NFL in attendance with 12,409 fans a game at NRG Stadium over four home games.
Thirteen of the 32 NFL teams have not had a single fan at a home game, including the Las Vegas Raiders. Raider owner Mark Davis said if all fans cannot attend games at new Allegiant Stadium, then none will. Davis supposedly doesn’t attend Raiders home games either, choosing instead to watch the Raiders games at Allegiant Stadium from the team’s headquarters in Henderson, Nevada.
On Sunday, the Raiders play the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta, where fans are allowed. The Falcons have averaged 7,372 fans a game at home after three home games, or 9.8 percent of capacity.
Two other teams — the Broncos and the Washington Football Club — stopped allowing fans to attend home games, too.
The 49ers cannot even play in their local county because of coronavirus restrictions that do not allow contact sports. Where will they play two upcoming home games? Another COVID-19 issue to be ironed out.
Ranking second and third in the NFL in attendance are the Jacksonville Jaguars with 15,617 fans a game and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 13,348 fans a game. The Miami Dolphins average 11,872 fans a game after five home games — good for seventh in the NFL.
The states of Florida and Texas have opened their states to sports events. Back in early May, Las Vegas-based MMA promoter UFC held the first major sports event during the COVID-19 pandemic in Jacksonville. UFC President Dana White forged ahead to hold love fight shows when many sports leagues were wondering how to have games during a pandemic.
Meanwhile, Texas is hosting two major events normally held in Las Vegas this time of year. The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) normally holds its annual championships at T-Mobile Arena, but PBR will be moved to Texas for this year. And the the National Finals Rodeo is moving its annual 10-day Super Bowl of rodeos from Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus to Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
The Kansas City Chiefs rank fourth in NFL attendance with 13,188 fans a game after five games, while the Minnesota Vikings rank sixth in the league with 12,200 fans a game after five home games. But the Vikings will cap attendance at home games at 250 based on state health department coronavirus guidelines.
NFL stadiums that allow fans usually have about 20 percent to 25 percent capacity to have social distancing. NFL stadium capacities are in the 65,000-82,000 range. Allegiant Stadium has capacity of 65,000, but it can be increased for other events.