NFL grandiose Super Bowl fan attendance plans

Article posted by Coliseum, January 25^th, 2021

Image: Raymond James Stadium

The National Football League (NFL) (US) announced on January 22^nd that it is planning for 22,000 fans to grace Super Bowl LV, including around 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers.

This season’s end of season showpiece will take place at the 65,890-capacity Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida (US), home of the NFL team Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on February 7^th. The NFL plans to pay ode to healthcare workers for their selfless service during COVID-19 which continues to cause havoc in the United States, with 14,500 additional fans to be in attendance at the game.

Super Bowl LV, the 55^th Super Bowl and the 51^st modern-era National Football League (NFL) championship game, will decide the league champion for the 2020 NFL season.

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The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC).

The majority of these healthcare workers – all of whom will have received both doses of the vaccine – will come from hospitals and healthcare systems in the Tampa and central Florida area. They will receive free Super Bowl tickets and gameday experiences directly from the NFL. All 32 NFL clubs will select vaccinated healthcare workers from their communities to attend the Super Bowl.

Remarked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, “These dedicated healthcare workers continue to put their own lives at risk to serve others, and we owe them our ongoing gratitude. We hope in a small way that this initiative will inspire our country and recognize these true American heroes. This is also an opportunity to promote the importance of vaccination and appropriate health practices, including wearing masks in public settings.”

The announcement follows deliberations with public health officials, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Florida Department of Health, and area hospitals and healthcare systems. The League said these officials reviewed and provided feedback on the NFL’s comprehensive plans for safe fan attendance at a facility that hosted Buccaneers fans during the regular season.

The League informed that Super Bowl plans enhance the already rigorous COVID-19 protocols implemented by NFL clubs that played host to more than 1.2 million fans at 116 games throughout the regular season and playoffs.

These protocols include mandatory wearing of face covers, social-distancing, and other measures to prevent the spread of the virus. This includes pod seating, touchless in-stadium experiences at concessions, restrooms, and security checkpoints, as well as controlled ingress and egress. In November 2020, the NFL and payment services brand Visa detailed plans to make the Super Bowl game a cashless event from this season.

Derrick Brooks and Will Weatherford, Co-Chairs of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee, stated, “While this was already shaping up to be the most meaningful Super Bowl in our home town’s history, the NFL deciding to welcome and honor our local vaccinated healthcare workers to Super Bowl LV takes the importance of the event to an all new level.”

The duo further maintained, “The unsolicited outpouring of appreciation that we’ve received in support of this initiative from our local healthcare workers across the community has been truly amazing. These heroes inspire us every day, so we couldn’t be more thankful to the NFL for working to safely create this monumental effort to celebrate them.”

In May 2017, the NFL took the decision to move Super Bowl LV to Raymond James Stadium amid delays to the development of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California (US), the spiffy home of the LA Rams and LA Chargers that opened last year. SoFi Stadium will now stage Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

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