If you’re hoping to see an upcoming Dallas Cowboys game, you’ll get your chance, albeit a limited one. The team is currently being forced to cut capacity at AT&T Stadium from its normal operating standard to a maximum of 50 percent, as currently required by Texas Governor Greg Abbott during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and they have the dramatic step already taken from canceling season tickets for 2020. But although some teams are daring to make their fans present, owner Jerry Jones made it clear that the Cowboys will not do such a thing.
“The Dallas Cowboys plan to play football, and we plan to play for our fans,” he told media at the club’s first press conference for training camp. “I find it important. I find it individually important. I find it important for the country.
“The NFL can be an inspiring part of how we approach COVID, not just this year, but how we look in 2021.
The team provided additional info shortly after Jones’ proclamation, including the requirement that each of a fan will turn a face at once on AT&T Stadium property in 2020. There will also be ticketing for mobile only, 100 percent cashless transactions and the Cowboys will also allow tailgating, but with a mandate, each car has at least one space apart and fans will not be allowed to “comele” in the pre-selected tailgating areas.
The question then becomes how many will be allowed in AT&T Stadium, an arena that houses more than 100,000 fans on any given game day.
“I have no expectation,” Jones said. “We are dealing with a moving target. I will not speculate on the number.”
The owner of the Hall of Fame will focus heavily on what he considers to be a “unique” ability of the stadium to facilitate social distance, pointing to his very best classification, as it applies to fan entrances to support his point – specifically how those coming from one site do not have to have contact with those submitted from another. He also floated the idea of a “pod” formula, in which groups of no more than 15 individuals in a “trusted group” (that is, friends and family) sat in different areas, as a creative way to allow fans while still following the very strict NFL policy regarding COVID-19.
“We will follow all protocols,” Jones said. “We will adapt them to the uniqueness of our stadium.”
However, he was not sorry when it came to the corner of liability, seeing as anyone who walks through those doors, in essence, considered taking the novel coronavirus. Jones is confident that all participating fans may do the right thing, however, which involves adhering to protocols that prevent the spread of the disease.
“The people who will be there will be there of their own free will,” Jones said. “… Our fans will be in the stadium because they chose to be. Like we did. … I’m sure we’ve in a very charged situation [regarding how to prevent the spread of COVID-19], and that our fans can come and have a great experience. ”
