Everyone felt the impacts of 2020 across many facets of their lives. For sports teams and their fans, one major impact was the fact that fans were unable to attend games in 2020. Even playing the games was dramatically impacted initially, with seasons being shortened. But, each of the leagues eventually made plans to play at least partial seasons in 2020 and largely succeeded, even if those games were played in empty stadiums and arenas around the U.S.
Various leagues and teams did find creative ways to get their fans involved virtually, like the 2020 NFL Draft, but most sports fans would agree that baseball, US football, and basketball (among many other sports) are best when played in front of a crowd of fans. There is currently no way to truly approximate the excitement of live sports with a crowd.
Now that we’re coming toward the halfway point of 2021, we have seen fans returning to stadiums across the country as restrictions have been lifted. So, where do we stand with fans in the various major professional sports leagues in the U.S.? Apologies for not including a number of leagues that many readers may think should fit into a list of ‘major’ pro sports leagues. We’ll call this a list of my own personal preferences.
NFL
The National Football League has had the benefit of timing and scheduling on their side during the last 18 months. First in 2020, where they were the last of these leagues to kick off their seasons. So, they could watch and learn from how the other leagues handled the pandemic in general and more specifically how they actually played scheduled games. This year, a similar situation is coming into focus, where restrictions on group gatherings, mask-wearing, and other factors are currently being rolled back, enabling the NFL to approach the coming season in a very different way than last year.
Starting with offseason training, many teams (30 at last count) are welcoming fans back to watch practices ahead of preseason games. When it comes time for actual games to be played, 30 of the 32 teams have received approval to have their stadiums open at 100% capacity for the 2021 season.
NBA
The National Basketball Association was among the most impacted when the world largely shut down in early 2020. They were in the midst of their 2019-2020 season when it was suspended. Games were eventually rescheduled starting in late July 2020 with a modified set of playoffs coming in late August through October.
The NBA then kicked off the 2020-2021 season in late December 2020, with only a 72 day break from the end of the previous season. As the playoffs are now underway, teams have been slowly adding more and more fans to stadiums, with several teams now approved for 100% capacity, while others are still moving toward that goal.
MLB
The 2020 Major League Baseball season was cut short due to the pandemic and returned to empty stadiums, like the other major sports leagues. In the playoffs in the fall of 2020, very limited numbers of fans were allowed to attend various post-season games, but the experience was a far cry from a typical ballpark on a sunny day in the regular season.
As the 2021 season is in full swing, attendance at games has continued to ramp up slowly, with a number of teams now announcing dates when they expect to be at 100% capacity. The Texas Rangers were the first to have fans able to attend at full capacity earlier this season, but multiple have joined them in recent weeks, with more on the way shortly.
This trend toward opening up the stand to more fans is happening across other sports as well (NHL, tennis, etc.).
