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Although the NFL hopes to keep the fan experience as normal as possible for the 2020 season, the league will definitely need to make a few changes, and it appears that one of those changes could involve fans signing a legal document. According to Athletic, the NFL is considering the possibility of fans signing a coronavirus disclaimer before they are allowed to attend a game. By signing the waiver, fans would agree not to hold the NFL accountable if they caught COVID-19 while attending a game. Basically, fans would lose their right to sue the league and take on all the health risks of being in a stadium during a global pandemic.
With an increase in coronavirus cases across the country, an exemption would not be entirely unknown. During a demonstration in Tulsa on June 20, the Trump campaign required all attendees to sign a waiver. The idea of fans signing an exemption is one of several changes the league will soon consider with proposals to be sent to each team sometime next week. According to Athletic, other proposals include asking fans to wear masks and that all stadiums run out of cash (The Falcons are the only team currently conducting a cashless operation).
Filling a stadium with thousands of fans during a pandemic will not be easy, which is why the NFL has been slowly trying to plan how to make everything work. So far, the league has made two major changes that will affect attendance: On the one hand, the league will put a tarp on the first six or eight rows at each stadium. Part of the reason the NFL decided to make that move is so that fans aren’t around any player, which theoretically will limit players’ exposure to the virus while on the bench.
The NFL has also decided that each team will be able to establish its own capacity at the stadium. Teams will be asked to set their capacity based on local health protocols and policies, meaning that some stadiums may have zero capacity, if one state prohibits large public gatherings, while other stadiums may have their capacity established. by 50 percent or more. .
A big reason the NFL is doing everything in its power to try to make sure fans can attend the games is because there’s a lot of money involved. The league has estimated that if fans can’t attend the games in 2020, the 32 NFL teams would collectively lose more than $ 3 billion.
Although the NFL is taking a lot of steps to make sure fans and players are safe, there are still plenty of questions to answer and with less than three months until the first game of the season, the league is running out of time to answer them.
