After months of empty stadiums, the ancient practice of attending in-person sporting events is coming back — and in a hurry.
Driving the news: Sporting Kansas City became the second MLS team to play in front of fans on Tuesday, joining FC Dallas, which played its first home game in front of a reported 2,912 people two weeks ago.
- Real Salt Lake will allow 5,000 fans to attend its game against LAFC tonight.
- The NWSL just announced a seven-week, 18-match fall series beginning in September, and protocols indicate that fans might be allowed.
And of course, the floodgates are set to open on Sept. 10, when multiple NFL teams kick off their seasons in front of limited-capacity crowds.
What they're saying: "The question everyone wants to know the answer to: Is it safe? The answer, unfortunately, isn't easy to determine," writes Neil deMause on his blog, "Field of Schemes."
- "Will you get sick from COVID by going to an NFL game...? Probably not."
- "But in epidemiology, what's important isn't whether you get sick but rather whether somebody gets sick."
- "Really the question, then, is less 'Is it safe to go to an NFL game in the middle of a pandemic?' than 'Is it safe for a nation in the middle of a pandemic to allow people to go to NFL games?'
- "The only way to know for sure is to do a huge experiment, with human subjects — and for better or for worse, that's what we're about to get."