The Patriots announced today that stadium capacity for Gillette Stadium will be 20%. Gillette’s max capacity is 65,878. If you do the math, that means the Patriots could have 13, 176 fans in the stands.
#Patriots announce reduced capacity and preliminary protocols for fans at @GilletteStadium: https://t.co/nP9jGEiQFV
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) July 14, 2020
The team also announced that tickets will be allotted in ten blocks or less and face masks will be required inside the stadium.
I am not surprised that the Patriots will be allowing some fans. I always felt that as long as the league didn’t mandate no fans, they would allow some fans to attend games.
Having just over 13,000 fans per game will be odd. It will be even more odd when they play against teams that chose not to have any fans like the Philadelphia Eagles did yesterday. The Patriots were scheduled to play in Philadelphia in the pre-season.
While it is encouraging that the team plans on having some fans in the stands this season, it still will come down where we are in terms of the virus when the season kicks off.
If the virus is where it is now, there will be fans in the stands. If things somehow get worse between now and the end of the summer, that could change.
If you are a season ticket holder and you chose to hold onto your tickets for this season, you must feel pretty good right now. The Patriots home schedule is loaded with great games this season.